OREANDA-NEWS. July 31, 2013. Coca-Cola Icecek (CCI) is the 6th largest bottler in the Coca-Cola System in terms of sales volume. CCI’s core business is to produce, sell and distribute sparkling and still beverages of The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC). CCI employs more than 10,000 people and has operations in Turkey, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Tajikistan. Coca-Cola Bishkek Bottlers is the part of CCI system.

CCI has a total of 23 plants and offers a wide range of beverages to a consumer base of over 360 million people. In addition to sparkling beverages, the product portfolio includes juices, waters, sports and energy drinks, tea and iced teas.

During last 18 years Coca-Cola in Kyrgyz Republic operates according to International Financial Reporting Standards and have International certifications of Quality and Environment standards, and always work to serve high quality products. In the market of food industry, Coca-Cola is in top of the list on 2nd place in Kyrgyz Republic. For today 350 employees are working on company directly, and more than 1000 indirectly.

We, Coca-Cola Bishkek Bottlers, sincerely share the concerns of the relevant authorities on the negative impact of a black market on the overall performance of the country’s economy and fully support the initiatives to fight against such illicit activities, which also diminishes fair chance of our Company to compete in the industry.

That said, we are of the opinion that the recently suggested regulations and practices are highly likely to increase the black market practices by some players in the industry let alone providing an effective solution to the problem, and thus, will create an even more unfair competition environment for those companies like ours who conduct their businesses very transparently, diligently and with utmost care, attention to and compliance with laws and regulations, and that create significant value for the Kyrgyz economy.”