OREANDA-NEWS. March 29, 2010. A second stakeholders meeting took place at OJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih”, involving participants from local authorities, public institutions and NGOs. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss OJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih”’s community engagement program.

In his welcome speech Jean Jouet, CEO, ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih, noticed that not only stakeholders, but also friends were among the guests today. Many of the representatives of the local community have been cooperating with the company for a long time. “A friend is someone you can turn to for help when you are in trouble and who will turn to you for help when he/she is in trouble” – said Jean Jouet.  His words were confirmed by one of the company’s contractors. CJSC “Krivorozhindustroy” Technical Director Alexandr Shefer said: “Our company survived last year thanks to orders from “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih”.

One of the main points of interest was OJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih”’s ways of information sharing with stakeholders. Vitaliy Filimonov, Head of Environment Department City Executive Comity, was positive: “Every month we receive progress up-dates from OJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih” on topics such as the environmental crisis management program, the 2007-2015 Dnipropetrovsk region ecological program, and environmental measures (pollution control). We also receive quarterly information on soil re-cultivation initiatives. We would like to propose to consider the possibility of regular environmental information publication in the local media”.

Representatives of the environmental NGO “National Ecology Center of Ukraine” asked about the company’s environmental reporting. OJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih” confirmed that it will soon launch the publication of a quarterly environmental report on its website. The Q1 report will be published by the end of April at www.arcelormittal.com.ua.

Besides information sharing and transparency, other points discussed were: public health and orphanage support, sport facilities and events sponsoring, environmental awareness raising, health and safety, and supply chain engagement.

President of Ukrainian Quality Association Petro Kalyta mentioned that in order to fulfill stakeholders expectations, the company has to be competitive and grow in a sustainable way, especially in today’s challenging economic environment.

Commenting, Jean Jouet, CEO, ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih, said: “We all live in the same community and we have many common interests.  We share the same expectations and concerns.  Large companies, in sectors like ours, have a responsibility to operate in a responsible manner.  We invest in our people by providing job security, ensuring workers safety and creating a fair engaging and enriching work experience. Together, we need to demonstrate productivity, quality and leadership in order to walk the road of recovery and be competitive in today’s world. We have responsibilities at both local and national level. We need to ensure timely payment of employees’ wages, government taxes and fees. Therefore our priority task this year is to build a sustainable business and to fulfill our obligations as a responsible company”.