Competition lands Pakistan $1.4 billion

Abattle between beverage giants is shaping up in Pakistan. Anadolu Group, one of the most important foreign investors in Pakistan, has invested $500 million over 10 years with its subsidiary Coca-Cola Icecek. At the ceremony of the 6th facility opened in Pakistan, the Chairman of the Anadolu Group, Tuncay Ozilhan, had said that 3,000 people were employed on these premises and indirectly 35,000 people were supplied with job opportunities.

In an interview with daily DUNYA on April 20, 2018, Ozilhan stated that Coca-Cola Icecek’s had five warehouses in the country, a production capacity of 2.5 billion liters with 330,000 sales points and a gross turnover approaching one billion dollars. Another striking figure Ozilhan mentioned while describing the market was the country’s population. “It is now around 210 million. In 2025 it will reach 230 million. It is estimated that this population will consist of 135 million young people under the age of 30, more than half of the young population in all of Europe. Therefore, Pakistan has a great potential with its young population.”

It has been 9 months since Ozilhan said that Anadolu Group and its subsidiary Coca-Cola Icecek would invest another $250 million over three years. That plan has led to another important step in Pakistan: Coca-Cola Icecek met with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan once again last week and reached the final stage for investment. However, Pepsi’s delegation, which is another big player in the beverage sector, went to Pakistan and started negotiations for investments.

Investment plans w ll be adopted n 5 years

Khan made a statement last week from the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office saying that the investment of Coca-Cola Icecek is a milestone and he had successive meetings with PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and North Africa CEO, Mike Spanos in addition to Coca-Cola delegations. “They [Pepsi Co] also announced their investment plans of $1.2 billion over five years,” the prime minister said following his meeting with Spanos.

Anadolu Group’s investment in Pakistan is not only important for Coca-Cola and Turkey but is also very important for Pakistan. The competition between major companies in the country has produced an investment of more than $1.4 billion over the next five years with the potential for employment for thousands of people.

An Indian executive, Indra Nooyi, had served as CEO of Pepsi for 12 years. Pepsi’s decision to invest in Pakistan immediately after the resignation of the Indian CEO in October is an interesting coincidence because the two countries have been in conflict for 60 years and the problems still continue over the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, not to mention the nuclear arms race between the two.