Peter Franklin, worldwide director of Olympic management for the Coca-Cola Company, made his first trip to China just ahead of the first anniversary of Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Games.

He said it was still too early to talk in detail about the activities his company will be organizing. But he said the company would help people from around the world travel to China and bring many people from other parts of China to Beijing. Coca-Cola would organize different types of parties, as it did for previous Games, he said.

Franklin said the Olympic movement will be boosted by its being held in a country with such an ancient civilization, and China is expected to make it a sports festival with Chinese culture.

As a long-time sponsor of the Games, Coca-Cola has extended its sponsorship contracts with the International Olympic Committee up to 2008, which means US$1 billion in funding for the Beijing Games.

Franklin said his company's support for the Games is based on the fact that China is Coca-Cola's sixth-biggest market in the world and is growing rapidly.

On average, Chinese people each drink an average of nine cans of Coca-Cola every year.

Franklin said he believed his firm's sponsorship and activities would improve the image of Coca-Cola among the Chinese.

He said Coca-Cola will spend at least twice the amount of the sponsorship fee to let people know about its sponsorship and to organize innovative activities to attract targeted consumers.

Coca-Cola is also in discussion with the Chinese Committee of the IOC about sponsoring the torch relay, which will start in Athens, pass through the Himalayas and end in Beijing.

(China Daily July 9, 2002)