Largest PepsiCo bottling plant in world opens in Russia

US soft drink giant PepsiCo on Wednesday opened the new largest bottling plant in its world network, 50 years after it brought Pepsi to the Soviet Union, in a ceremony outside Moscow.
The opening came amid pledges to boost the company's Russia portfolio during US President Barack Obama's visit to Moscow this week.
"Russia is vitally important to PepsiCo," the corporation's chief executive Indra Nooyi said at the inauguration of the plant at Domodedovo, a town on the outskirts of the Russian capital.
"We will invest one billion dollars in the next three years."
The increased investment will bring PepsiCo's total outlay in Russia to four billion dollars (2.9 billion euros).
US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who traveled with Obama to Moscow, hailed PepsiCo's Russian investment as a model for trade ties: "PepsiCo was the first foreign product sold in the USSR."
He emphasised that the plant would "create batches of jobs" in Russia at a time when unemployment is steadily climbing amid the global financial crisis.
Russian Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina applauded the beverage giant's creation of "well-paid jobs" with the launch of its new plant.
"Russia welcomes foreign investment. The Russian market is vast and open," she told reporters.