(Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) sees big potential in Myanmar (former Burma) and is in talks with prospective local partners, but it will be a long time before it begins operations, its regional head said on Friday.
Myanmar, emerging from decades of military rule and one of only three countries in which the company has no operations, is an attractive market for Coca-Cola.
"Anyway, we won't rush into hasty agreements", said Manuel Arroyo, president of Coca-Cola's ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Unit.
"There's no doubt about the potential of the market, but obviously we need to walk a very clear, open and transparent line before operating there," he told Reuters in an interview during a meeting of U.S. businesses in Cambodia.
"We're assessing different options to decide who will be our best partners, or whether we'll go on our own. Of course all of this will require quite a lot of work, and many, many months ... to do the proper due diligence," he added. "We're still in the very embryonic stage."
The firm will work closely with the U.S. State Department to make sure prospective partners are appropriate, as required by new U.S. rules on investing in Myanmar, a country of 60 million people, announced by President Barack Obama last June.
Myanmar's quasi-civilian government took office in March 2011 and is overhauling its economy, easing media censorship, legalizing trade unions and protests as well as freeing political prisoners.
Despite ceasing operations in 1960, Coca-Cola drinks have been smuggled into Myanmar for years over the border from Thailand.
The agreement will leave Cuba and North Korea as the only Cokeless nations in the world.
from Reuters
