Coca-Cola Will Quench Albania's Thirst, at Last

TIRANA -- Coca-Cola has opened a bottling plant in the former Stalinist bastion of Albania, giving the country its first big foreign investment.The $9.5 million bottling plant near the capital Tirana was finished in 83 days, in time for the official opening Thursday by Albanian President Sali Berisha.Berisha welcomed the plant, employing 70 people, and vowed to maintain the economic "shock therapy" which he said was the best way to move towards the market economy.Market research showed Coca-Cola that despite the fact it was not produced in the country, Albanians were Eastern Europe's second largest consumers of the soft drink. Coke will cost Albanians around 25 leks (25 cents) in the bars and shops that have burgeoned since the fall of Communism. So far, only a small part of the plant has been developed to produce 16,800 bottles of Coke every hour. In the usual Coca-Cola manner, the Albanian franchise will also distribute the drink throughout the country. E. Neville Isdell, senior vice president of the Coca-Cola company and head of its North-East Europe and Middle East division, said the opening was symbolic of the huge changes in Albania: "The (Coca-Cola) business system provides investment capital, jobs and skills to the Albanian economy." Coca-Cola awarded the bottling franchise in Europe's poorest but fastest growing country to Coca-Cola Bottling Enterprise Tirana sh.p.k., a joint venture between Coca-Cola, the state controlled Invest p.f. and majority shareholder ACIE, part of the Busi Group, Italy's biggest Coke bottler.The Albanian opening means Coke is now absent only from countries where it is not allowed, such as Iraq, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and Serbia.Assembled guests had a chance to sample the Albanian Coke, but later at Tirana airport the bar could not supply the beverage. It did, however, have several alternatives, including Pepsi-Cola, Coke's archrival.