Pepsi set for Baghdad return

Pepsi cola is to return to the streets of Baghdad after an absence of 14 years, it was reported today.

The soft drink was driven from Iraq by United Nations economic sanctions in 1990.

But the Wall Street Journal reported that PepsiCo Inc had reached a franchise agreement with one of its former Iraqi bottlers, Baghdad Soft Drinks Co.

It was reported that Pepsi would start shipping concentrate of the fizzy drink, as well as new glass bottles, to Iraq in the next few months.

The move was expected to be combined with a big marketing campaign.

For more than a decade, street vendors in Iraq have sold home made cola in Pepsi brand bottles – a black market which the drinks giant was reportedly keen to bring to an end.