Nestle unveils $100 million Colombia investment to grow capacity

BOGOTA (Reuters) -Global food giant Nestle is set to invest $100 million over the next three years in its Colombian operations, President Gustavo Petro said on Friday, part of his push to boost industrialization.

The Colombian leader outlined the announcement in a post on Twitter late Friday.

The new investment plan builds on $13 million already spent by the world’s largest food and beverage producer in the South American country, the government said in a statement, with the new funds to be focused on increasing production capacity and updating technology.

“Industrializing Colombia is essential if we want to get out of poverty,” Petro wrote on Twitter.

Nestle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But the statement quoted its top executive for Latin America, Laurent Freixe, as saying that the plan will allow the company to strengthen its product portfolio as well as align with some of the government’s priorities, such as promoting youth employment.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta and Carolina Pulice; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Sandra Maler)