Remarks at the Jugos del Valle Bottling Plant Opening

Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company
Mexico City, Mexico
August 20, 2009

As prepared for delivery

President Calderon... Distinguished Guests and Friends... It is my pleasure to welcome you to our home, your home. Bienvenido a su casa!

We are honored that you could join us here in our new Jugos del Valle plant. On behalf of The Coca-Cola Company, I want to thank you all. My heartfelt welcome also goes out to all of our co-workers and friends in Mexico. Thank you so much for your support and for helping us develop this great business in this great nation.

Today marks the completion of the first phase of a grand vision that started taking shape two years ago. That's when The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola FEMSA came together to create a new innovation model for the juice and nectar industry. Since then, all of our wonderful Coca-Cola bottlers in Mexico have joined this initiative, providing the support, insight and local knowledge necessary to bring this facility to life.

Today's opening is the result of a $200 million USD investment, further evidence of our long-term commitment to Mexico's economic development and the health of this nation's communities and 110 million citizens. This is also part of a 5-year master plan of infrastructural and community sustainability developments that we have made across Mexico. These investments have totaled $4.5 billion USD -- and $700 million USD in 2009.

This new Jugos del Valle plant comes with a host of leading-edge and environmentally-friendly technologies that leave a positive footprint on the planet. At the same, it's creating over 1,500 direct jobs, and supporting over 300,000 indirect jobs within our juice supply chain.

This means that the Coca-Cola system is now among the five-largest employers in all of Mexico, with more than 80,000 direct jobs created across the country. All of this activity further helps support more than 1.4 million customers who sell our beverages across Mexico.

Jugos del Valle is special for a number of reasons. It has the longest history of any juice company in Mexico, dating back to 1947. Its brands are entrenched in the hearts and minds of Mexican consumers. It is also the second-largest consumer of Mexican fruit, with over 66,000 tons purchased last year from farmers in 9 Mexican states.

This plant is joined by two other production facilities in Mexico -- one in Monterrey and one in Zacatecas. All total, we now have 26 production lines, with a production capacity of 180 million unit cases.

President Calderon, this investment is the same commitment we talked about earlier this year in Davos, when I had a chance to share with you our plans for the future. We believe this is fully aligned with your vision of bringing new investment and opportunity to Mexico during these trying times.

At Coca-Cola we firmly believe the path to economic revitalization in times like these is one that promotes investment... maintains macroeconomic balance... decreases unnecessary bureaucracy... and creates an environment where taxes do not inhibit investment. All of these actions are designed to encourage more funding to support economic growth.

This, of course, is not a new philosophy for us. For the past 83 years, The Coca-Cola Company and our bottlers in Mexico have consistently invested in times of both prosperity and challenge. This philosophy has resulted in an operating environment here in Mexico that is among the most robust, innovative and productive of any market in the entire global Coca-Cola system.

Today, we're proud to offer more than 60 brands and 200 products across the nation -- beverages that are aligned with the taste, values and lifestyle expectations of Mexican consumers. Thanks to our bottlers here in Mexico, we have gained deep insights into the values and expectations of consumers across this land.

This local community focus is extremely important to us. As you know, Mexican consumers today are growing more and more conscious about issues of community sustainability and environmental protection.

In fact, a recent survey conducted by National Geographic, shows that Mexican consumers are more likely than most to consider social and environmental factors when making purchasing decisions. At the same time, they are more likely than most to believe that government and industry can have a positive and sustainable impact on the world by working together to provide solutions. In other words, consumers are looking for our leadership.

We've had good success so far in partnering with government, community and NGO leadership in Mexico to advance our water stewardship, sustainable packaging, workplace safety, climate change and active lifestyle and health efforts.

President Calderon, you may also recall in Davos that we had the chance to discuss Coca-Cola's reforestation program -- which has become the biggest ever launched by a private initiative in Mexico. All of these efforts are part of a broader philosophy at Coca-Cola that we call Live Positively. The idea is to make sustainability an integral part of how we work and live in our quest for a better world.

This commitment is also in line with the government's campaign -- Vive México.

The timing of these two philosophies and campaigns coming together is also important. We look forward to celebrating the Bicentennial of this great nation's independence next year and see this as fantastic opportunity to recognize and promote all that is positive, sustainable and inspirational about Mexico.

Thank you again, Mr. President -- and thanks to all of you for your presence with us today.

Here's to a great future together.