Tata Steel signs memorandum of cooperation with Vietnam Steel Corporation
July 6, 2007

Tata Steel signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with Vietnam Steel Corporation (VSC), Vietnam's largest steel company, in New Delhi today for cooperation in the areas of training and development of the VSC employees, assistance in product development, development of Vietnamese markets, sharing of know-how in steel making and mining, and assistance in developing a steel strategy for Vietnam.

The MoC was signed between Dau Van Hung, president of VSC and Dr T Mukherjee, deputy managing director of Tata Steel, in the presence of Nguyen Tan Dung, prime minister of Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Dr Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India. Also present on the occasion were other dignitaries from both the countries.

Earlier, on May 29, 2007, Tata Steel had entered into a memorandum of understanding with VSC for proposed steel and mining projects in the Ha Tinh province in Vietnam. In this connection, Nguyen Tan Dung also visited the Tata Steel plant at Jamshedpur during his current visit to India and reaffirmed his full support to Tata Steel for its projects in Vietnam.

This memorandum is another step by Tata Steel to strengthen the partnership with VSC and its commitment to be a 'partner in progress' with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The cooperation between the two companies also signals the beginning of strong growth in the steel industry in Vietnam.

While the government of Vietnam is proactive and keen on setting its economy on a fast growth path, it also wants to achieve this on a sustainable basis. VSC recognises the development opportunities that can be created with association with Tata Steel, India's premier steel making company and one of the lowest cost producers of steel in the world.