BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO CALLS ON PANKRETIC TO PROVE CLAIMS ON BAT, TDZ

ZAGREB, May 7 (Hina) - British American Tobacco (BAT) and the Zadar Tobacco Factory (TDZ) on Monday called on Croatian Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bozidar Pankretic to submit evidence for his claims directed against BAT and TDZ. A statement issued by TDZ's Zagreb office said TDZ was not only a plant for cigarette packaging but had a fully equipped unit for the processing of tobacco, which, it said, was ready for the start of production. Minister Pankretic is fully aware of this, the statement reads, adding TDZ had never packaged or sold Hungarian tobacco. The claim saying that TDZ will be using Hungarian tobacco in the production of cigarettes is not true and cigarettes will contain more than 60 percent of Croatian tobacco, in line with the Croatian Law on Tobacco, the statement said. A total of 550 tonnes of domestic tobacco has already been purchased and has been waiting for production to begin for more than a year, TDZ said. TDZ has been aware for months that false information about BAT and TDZ has been disseminated in the Croatian government and that Minister Pankretic, despite the fact that BAT and TDZ has provided complete and correct information, is not relaying the true state of affairs, reads the statement. The factory further describes instances where wrong information on TDZ and BAT was communicated. BAT's arrival on the Croatian market will not jeopardise domestic tobacco growing or decrease state revenues from the sale of tobacco, TDZ said. (hina) rml