27 January - 2 February 2000

Malta included in Coca Cola's central Europe and Eurasia group

by Franco Aloisio

The international company Coca Cola has set up two operating groups to manage its Greater European business operations, the West Europe group and the Central Europe and Eurasia group.

The company's operations in Malta, represented by General Soft Drinks Co. Ltd, is included under the second grouping.

This move does not affect the local operation and General Soft Drinks will still be reporting to the Italian office which, in turn, will report to the head office in Vienna, Austria.

The West Europe Group, based in Madrid, Spain, will head the company's local operating units in Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The Central Europe & Eurasia Group will be based in Vienna and will include the company's operations in 35 countries: Albania, Greece, Poland, Austria, Republic of Moldova, Belarus, Hungary, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Cyprus, Malta, Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Lithuania, Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Turkey.

Coca Cola said that this new structure for Greater Europe reflects the company's strong desire to make sure that it is managing its business on a local basis. Both groups will report to the London office of Coca Cola.