ATLANTA - For Coca-Cola Co, a brand that has a presence in more than 200 countries worldwide, one thing remains: vision. After 125 years, the beverage company continues to expand its presence globally.

A few days ahead of its anniversary, president and CEO of Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent, shared the company's 2020 vision with more than 100 journalists from more than 25 countries.

In 2008, Kent met with 45 top bottlers from the world and created a road map for Coca-Cola. A number of key goals were mapped out for the company to achieve by 2020, including doubling its revenue while increasing margins and more than doubling its servings to more than 3 billion a day.

Kent said an additional 1 billion people are expected to enter the middle class around the world by that time.

"(It's) the greatest economic history, if you like, and more than 60 percent of this new wealth for this particular purpose will be from the emerging nations," he said, adding that massive urbanization is taking place in the world.

Kent sees great potential in emerging markets, apart from the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

China is Coca-Cola's third largest market after the United States and Mexico. Coca-Cola's vision for China, which has a rapidly growing consumer market that many experts say is far from saturated, includes an investment of $2 billion over the next three years.

During his visit last year to Hohhot, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, to announce the opening and near completion of three new bottling plants in China (worth $240 million), Kent was impressed by the dynamic of the city.

Kent talked to local people, from shopkeepers to government officials, and the company's vision in emerging markets was confirmed.

"I got the sense that they are the people who believe in their community - the community with tremendous promise and they want Coca-Cola to be part of it," he said.

"It was like the atmosphere of a FIFA World Cup match - it was something I will not forget for a long while."

The company's sales for 2010 in China rose 6 percent despite a 3 percent drop in the fourth quarter against the same period last year.

But Kent thinks the long-term plan is on the right track and he is happy with the projections about the Chinese market.

Minute Maid Pulpy, which was first launched five years ago in China, is becoming more popular across the world, he said.

"(It's) the first billion-dollar brand we have that has emerged out of China. So, that gives you the signal of progress in China which we are very happy about," he said.

China Daily