Muhtar Kent chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola CEO says local govts are 'willing and supportive'HUHHOT - China has been on the right track in encouraging foreign trade and investment, and the local environment for foreign investors has been very favorable, the US-China Business Council said on Friday.
"Wherever I have been in China, there have never been more willing and supportive local governments, and there is great entrepreneurial spirit in government officials to promote (inbound) investment. That is what we always see, (and) I think that continues," said Muhtar Kent, chairman of the council. "That is also why Coca-Cola continues to invest and builds factories very quickly, more quickly than in other parts of the world," said Kent, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of the Coca-Cola Company.
He made the remarks during a visit to Huhhot in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, where he announced the opening of three new bottling plants with a total investment of 1.6 billion yuan ($176 million), part of a $2 billion investment plan spanning three years ending 2011.
The three plants are located in Hohhot, Luohe of Henan province and Sanshui in Guangdong province, with the first two in central and western regions of the country. The company has established more investment projects and is opening new factories in the central and western regions as the government calls for more investment into those less-developed areas, he said.
Foreign businesses have criticized China for its investment environment in recent months despite government pledges and new policies to improve it.
Kent said that, as head of both the US-China Business Council and Coca-Cola, he does not agree with those critics.
"There are (investment) barriers in all countries, but a more important thing is whether they try to minimize the barriers and to move forward. China is on the right track and has quite an equilibrium environment ... (We) enjoy huge competitive edges, investment incentives, not too much bureaucracy, and fast speed," he said.
Speaking about the $2 billion investment in the country during the 2009-2011 period, he said: "The investment plan has been going well, and we will be ahead of schedule (in implementing the plan) by the end of this year. This is all attributable to the friendly economic and investment environment in China."
The Chinese government has vowed to rapidly increase individual income during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015)."The new plan will benefit consumer-product companies like Coca-Cola, and we are confident about (our) China business," he said.
