STATEMENT XMINY, A SEED-EU and BCN

[bcn@xxxxxxxxx]

Subject: STATEMENT XMINY, A SEED-EU and BCN on WITHDRAWAL BY HEINEKEN

PRESS RELEASE



Solidarityfund XminusY, The Burma Centre Netherlands and A Seed-Europe are 
glad that Heineken withdraws from Burma. In January, the three organisations 
started a campaign to get Heineken out of Burma. With this we supported the 
call by Burma's opppositionleader Aung San Suu Kyi to the international 
business community not to invest in Burma as long as democracy has not been 
restored.

We hope Heineken's initiative will result in  support from the Dutch 
government to the democratisation-porcesses in Burma. We expect The 
Netherlands to support the call from Denmark for a boycott of Burma by the 
European Union. The Danish request will be discussed on the 15th of July in 
the EU's Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
The European Parliament next week will vote on a resolution that calls for a 
boycott of Burma. We expect this resolution to be adopted.

It is inspiring that the beer-brewer - exactly one year after the 
oppositionleader and Nobelpeacepricewinner Aung San Suu Kyi was released 
from six years of house arrest - realises that to invest in Burma at this 
moment is not done. It is good that an internationally operating company as 
Heineken listens to pubvlic opinion. We hope that other companies investing 
in Burma - eg Nutricia, ABN Amro and IHC Caland - will reconsider their plans.

For Futher Information call:
XminusY
31-20-6279661
BCN
31-20-6716952 
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BCN is onafhankelijke stichting. Doel: Nederlandse samenleving informeren 
over Burma. Het initieert en co-ordineert aktiviteiten die democratisering 
en duurzame ontwikkeling bevorderen. Het geeft een positieve bijdrage aan 
een constructieve dialoog tussen de diverse groeperingen.

BCN
Paulus Potterstraat 20
1071 DA AMSTERDAM
THE NETHERLANDS
(31)20-6716952 (tel)
(31)20-6713513 (fax)

visit these sights:
http://sunsite.unc.edu/freeburma/freeburma.html
http://www.uio.no/tormodl
http://danet.wicip.org/fbc/freeburma.html