Coke Returns To Country After 60 Years

Coke Returns To Country After 60 Years, There are now only two places left in the world where the soft drink giant doesn’t do business. Coca-Cola Co. (KO) plans to return to Myanmar for the first time in more than 60 years, leaving Cuba and North Korea as the only nations where the maker of the world’s most popular soft drink doesn’t do business.

The company will start operating in Myanmar as soon as the U.S. government issues a license allowing investments in the Southeast Asian country, a move that may be “imminent,” the Atlanta-based company said in a statement distributed by Businesswire yesterday.

Myanmar is enhancing economic, military and political ties with Western nations after years of isolation that left its 64 million people among Asia’s poorest. The country’s transition to democracy in recent months after about five decades of military rule prompted the U.S. to ease sanctions in May.

“Coca-Cola’s planned entry into Myanmar, following the suspension of sanctions, will be governed by its well- established global standards for corporate ethics including strict adherence to its global human and workplace rights policy, supplier guiding principles, code of business conduct, and anti-bribery policies,” the company said in the statement.

Coca-Cola will initially import some products from neighboring countries before “making significant investments in Myanmar over the next three-five years,” the company said, adding it will work with local partners to support the country’s long-term economic development.