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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No. 19. July 31, 1974

New Zealand

Dr C.S. Withers.

New Zealand.

Dear Dr Withers,

Thank you for your letter of 14 August.

I assume that the dam project referred to in the film you saw is the Cabora Bassa Dam. An associated company of ICI, AE & CI Ltd, supplies industrial explosives for the construction of this dam, in the ordinary course of its business. AE & CI is a South African public company in which ICI has only a minority interest, the majority interest being in the hands of South African nationals, and ICI does not control its trading policy. The manufacture of industrial explosives is only part of AE & CI's activities: chemicals, fertilisers, plastics and paints are also among the products which it distributes throughout Southern Africa. Whether aspects of the Cabora Bassa Dam project which have aroused criticism outweigh the benefits which are bound to flow from it, is a matter on which each person must come to his own judgement.

It is always difficult for companies such as ICI, with an export trade, to pick and choose between countries they supply on the basis of their internal policies. Companies therefore tend to adopt a neutral position and, unless specifically prohibited from doing so by their own Governments, trade with other countries on their commercial merits, believing this to be in the interests of the company and its stockholders as well as in the interests of the receiving territories. I feel sure that this is the right policy to pursue and that essentially political decisions should be left to Governments.

P.S.G. Flint

(Assistant Secretary)