The Coca-Cola Company

Company Sponsors Dialogue On Role Of Business In Promoting Peace

August 4, 2006 edition

Speaking at a conference on the role of businesses in promoting peace, Ed Potter, our Company’s director of Labor Relations, suggested that Colombian and multinational companies form a working group to develop voluntary principles for ensuring human rights and security in the workplace.

His suggestion came in Bogotá during the conference, titled Dialogue on Business, Development, Peace and Human Rights in Colombia, which the Company sponsored and was co-hosted by International Business Leaders Forum, a U.K.-based organization chaired by the Prince of Wales, the United Nations Global Compact and the Fundación Ideas para la Paz (Ideas for Peace Foundation), a Colombia-based non-government organization.

Potter was a panel member at the event -- the first of three conferences our Company is sponsoring to open dialogue about how businesses and civil society can make a greater contribution toward advancing peace, development and security in Colombia as well as in other countries affected by internal conflict. We will be working with leading non-government organizations, labor and social justice groups and the local government to look for solutions to anti-union violence in Colombia, which we can then expand to other zones of conflict around the world.

Colombia has experienced violence for many decades. Political leaders, multinational and Colombian corporations, labor leaders, journalists and civil society have all been affected. Despite the volatile environment, The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers have maintained operations and have worked to provide safe, stable economic opportunities for the people of Colombia for more than 70 years.

This week’s conference brought together leaders from the Colombian and multinational business communities, Colombian government officials, representatives of civil society, and media. Other multinational companies participating included BP, Nestlé, Occidental Petroleum and Shell.

The two additional dialogues will be held later this year in the United States and in the United Kingdom.

Coca-Cola representatives also met with Colombian government officials and representatives of several leading civil society organizations during their visit to Bogotá. The meetings were designed to expand our Company’s dialogue with a variety of stakeholders in Colombia, and explore ways that we can contribute to improving economic and security conditions.

The Coca-Cola system has been a leading business partner in Colombia’s development and currently employs more than 2,000 workers at its bottling facilities throughout the country. We also has an active charitable and community relations program, including establishment of a $10 million fund to promote education and employment opportunities in Colombian communities that have suffered from violence.