NEW YORK, (Reuters) – U.S. soft drinks and snacks maker PepsiCo Inc plans to invest $100 million in Egypt next year, a senior company official said in a speech on Thursday.

The company’s vice president for global public policy and government affairs, Elizabeth Avery, said “PepsiCo is investing $100 million in Egypt.”

A PepsiCo spokesman later confirmed the amount and that it would come in 2010.

Avery spoke briefly at a luncheon given by the Business Council for International Understanding in honor of Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid.

Emerging markets, which are seeing growing urbanization and widening middle classes, are critical to Pepsi and rival Coca-Cola Co, as growth slows in more developed markets.

Coke said earlier this week that it expects emerging markets to contribute 60 percent of its incremental sales volume growth from now until 2020.