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CNN WORLD REPORT

Private Kazakhstani Company Acquires Steel Plant in Romania

Aired August 5, 2001 - 14:21 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN ANCHOR: A private company from the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan recently acquired Romania's largest steel manufacturer. The deal is being welcomed by Rumanians who see it as an opportunity to turn around the plant and provide a better life for more than a million people. Rumanian TV tells us why people are placing so much confidence in the new steel plant owner from Kazakhstan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since the LNM (ph) Group acquired the government of Kazakhstan's steel manufacturing facilities in the Karaganda region at the end of 1995, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has grown into one of world's major steel supplies. The unit covers 5,000 acres and is the largest in Central Asia. The proximity of coal, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and natural deposit of iron ore cut the cost of production.

The basic philosophy (UNINTELLIGIBLE) high-quality products at optimum costs took the company out of the red within two years after its purchase. The annual output has grown a little more than four million tons to almost five million tons last year.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) emerging economy market-oriented societies is unemployment. In case of the Kazakhstan steel plant, the downsizing of the labor force was conducted by natural means, mainly by retirement and not by massive layoffs. The unit currently employs 25,000 people, but almost one million people's lives depend on its operation. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) profitability, covered by (UNINTELLIGIBLE), can be a shortcut to put the remaining steel plant of Galatz (ph) back on its track.

NARENDA CHAUDHARU, STEEL SUPPLIER: The Rumanian situation is definitely not as bad, but we have -- we can apply the experience of this place in Romania a great deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The takeover of this impressive unit by a private foreign investor brought back to life the whole town of Temiratau, initially a small village of Ukrainian and German immigrants who arrived here at the turn of the 20th century. Its history is counted in decades, dominated by happy-go-lucky communist tycoons.

The new investor involved itself in the social protection of its employees and of the local community from the very beginning. It brought new life in the traditional preservation center, in student's summer camps and in local orphanages.

SERIK AHMETOV, MAYOR OF TEMIRATAU (through translator): The living of our town's inhabitants is closely connected to the survival of the steel plant. For me as a mayor, a constructive, two-way relationship with the company's management is extremely important.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) much money in nature protection, and the outcome was a reduction of the pollution level by 10 times. Rumanians in Galatz (ph) hope that their own city too will benefit from the arrival of a powerful foreign investor.

This report was produced by (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for the Rumanian Television for CNN WORLD REPORT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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