| Tesco suspends Zimbabwe trade |
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| Written by Adrie van der Luijt | |
| Tuesday, 01 July 2008 | |
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Tesco has decided to stop sourcing any products from Zimbabwe as long as the political crisis persists in that country.
The supermarket giant said that the amount of produce it sources from Zimbabwe – worth around £1 million per year – is insignificant in terms of global trade and influence. Growing consensus “This is a difficult decision to take. We have to date sought to balance wider political considerations against a desire to support our suppliers in Zimbabwe and enable them to support the workers who depend on that trade for their livelihoods,” according to Tesco. It added, however, that it could not ignore the escalating political crisis in Zimbabwe, and the growing consensus in the international community - including from UK politicians on all sides - that further action must be taken to maximise the pressure for change. “In these circumstances, we think the right decision is to stop sourcing products from Zimbabwe until there is an end to the current political crisis,” Tesco said in a statement. The firm stressed that it attached a very high priority to ensuring that this decision does least harm to the workers and their dependents who have supplied Tesco from Zimbabwe. Internationally-recognised regime “We cannot continue to support them through trade, but are urgently finding ways to support them by other means,” Tesco concluded. The group said it would keep the situation under review, with the aim to re-engage with its suppliers and their workers once stability, and “an internationally-recognised regime”, had returned to the country. At its annual shareholders’ meeting in Birmingham last Friday, Tesco faced criticism on a range of issues, including trade with Zimbabwe. Tesco said before the meeting that it would not pull out of Zimbabwe as it would be "irresponsible" to leave now. It added that by selling produce from the starving country, it was supporting local farmers and not the Mugabe regime. Related articles
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