Decisive step for the future of Segezhabumprom

Decisive step for the future of Segezhabumprom The crucial issues for the future of Segezhabumprom were discussed in Moscow on Wednesday, when Lennart Ahlgren, CEO of AssiDomän and Sören Öberg, General Director of Segezhabumprom met with Mr Chubais, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. Also participating in the talks was Mr Stepanov, President of the Karelian Republic. They discussed the vital issues which will have to be solved before a restart of the Segezhabumprom mill. These issues are tax debts, postponed payments to the pension fund, environmental licences and fees and long-term forest land leasing in order to control raw material supply. Anatoly Chubais expressed his positive view on the fact that AssiDomän intends to be a long term owner and investor in Segezhabumprom: "We will within the framework of the Russian legislation help as much as possible. The Russian Federation is also giving its support to the Karelian government in solving the remaining issues on regional level together with AssiDomän." A working group has already been established, consisting of representatives from tax authorities, the ministry of economy, the Karelian government and the pension fund. The group is being chaired by Vladimir Jevsukov, Deputy Minister of Economy. Their task is to solve the remaining problems as soon as possible. Mr Lennart Ahlgren also expressed his positive attitude and said the owners are prepared to restart the operations in Segezha after the decisions are enforced. At a press conference following the meeting in Moscow, Sören Öberg, General Director of Segezhabumprom, also explained that the salaries to the employees of the mill for January, February and half of March will be paid from Thursday th the 24 . AssiDomän AB Corporate Communications April 23, 1997 For further information, please contact: Hans Palm, AssiDomän Corporate Communications, +46 70 522 0865. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1997/04/23/19990331BIT00170/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1997/04/23/19990331BIT00170/bit0002.pdf