The Coca-Cola Company

Tackling Water Challenges In Europe And Asia

November 10, 2006 edition

Our Company's Eurasia and Middle East Division and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed a five-year partnership agreement to address water challenges in Eastern Europe, Turkey and Central Asia.

The $7 million "Every Drop Counts" public-private partnership will help local communities solve water-related development problems by providing financing and expertise for a number of initiatives -- ranging from infrastructure improvements and sharing cleaner industrial technologies to local awareness campaigns on environmentally sound water management practices. Projects in four pilot countries (Croatia, Kazakhstan, Romania and Turkey) are slated to start in late 2006, with additional countries joining later next year.

Water challenges are among the most critical global issues. For example, almost 6 million people in Turkey lack access to safe drinking water. The "Every Drop Counts" partnership demonstrates the increasingly important role global companies play in finding solutions to development problems.