City Award for Christopher Navetta

One of the topics on the agenda for the 15^th session of Kosice Municipal Council, which took place on Thursday of last week, February 24^th, was the proposal for presentation of the Kosice City Awards. As part of the now traditional City Days celebrations, they will be presented on May 7^th this year at the customary official ceremony to nine individuals and three teams who have contributed in considerable measure to the development of the city. One of the individuals this year will be U. S. Steel Kosice President Christopher Navetta.

New plant to make HDG sheets for the car industry

The United States Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh has announced the building of a new plant producing hot-dip galvanized (HDG) sheets for the automobile industry at the U. S. Steel Kosice steelworks. The annual capacity of around 350 000 tonnes means that the plant will satisfy the increased demand for high-quality surface-treated sheets coming from the automobile-manufacturing and construction companies in Central Europe. The building of the new plant, involving capital investment worth 160 million USD, is to start this year, and it is expected to come into operation in 2007. U. S. Steel Kosice President Christopher J. Navetta commented on this event as follows: "U. S. Steel Kosice is committed to providing its customers with high-quality products and to supporting the economic situation in Kosice and Eastern Slovakia. Our new plant making HDG sheets for the automobile industry should fulfil both these aims. In this way our Central European customers in the automobile and construction industries will gain a local source of high-quality zinc-coated steel material which will meet their growing requirements."

Students from Kosice and Presov at the Bush-Putin Summit

Last week, after weeks of preparations and under the gaze of the world's media, Slovakia successfully hosted the visit by representatives of the two most powerful countries in the world. Thanks to Goverment Relations office in Bratislava the opportunity to get to the heart of the action was enjoyed by a number of students and steelworkers. The train heading for Bratislava in the early hours of Thursday morning contained 57 secondary-school students, 41 university students and five of our employees with members of their families. This more than a hundred-strong group traveled to Hviezdoslavove namestie to hear the speech by American President George W. Bush. Their unmistakable signs of identification were caps and scarves bearing the U. S. Steel Kosice logo.

Another investor comes east

Assisted by U. S. Steel Kosice, another foreign investor will soon be established in Eastern Slovakia. Australian producer of leather materials for the automobile industry Howe and Co Pty Ltd officially announced on Monday of this week, February 28^th, the opening of their new operation in Kosice. The Kosice plant will complement the Howe Leather company's existing network of similarly-focused operations in Mexico, China and Australia. At the outset it will employ around 60 people in a single shift, but rapid growth and transition to three-shift operation is expected. An excellent impression was made on Company Managing Director Anton Mayer by the quality of the available workforce. At the press conference he was particularly appreciative of the help given by U. S. Steel Kosice President Christopher Navetta and EDC Director Juraj Augustin and his team in selecting the location and the actual process of setting up the commercial company.

Cost-saving Program meeting

For five years now no small contribution has been made to the success and outstanding business results of U. S. Steel Kosice by the Company's Cost-saving Program. On Wednesday of last week, February 23^rd, the main hall of the Ferrocentrum Social Club was the venue for a meeting at which representatives of Company management, General Managers, managers of sectors, divisions and plants, and project team leaders assessed the accomplishment of their cost-saving aims from last year and presented their aims in this area for this year. The planning meeting for the 2005 Cost-saving Program was opened by Vice-president Opearions Scott C. Pape. The meeting continued with twenty presentations of cost-saving plans from individual sectors, divisions and plants for this year. As is now traditional, the meeting also featured the award of prizes for the best cost-saving teams and projects from last year.

Regional conference on support for science, research and innovation

Last week in Kosice saw the start of a series of regional conferences on support for development of science, research and innovation in the context of the Lisbon Strategy. These are being organized by the SR Government Office and the British Embassy in Bratislava not only for scientists and researchers in the education field, but also for the wider business sphere, whose active support is most likely to move forward the development and progress of science and research. In the words of Kosice Technical University Rector Juraj Sinay, science, research and innovation can only be done in cooperation with the business sphere. As an example Professor Sinay quoted the successful cooperation between Kosice Technical University and U. S. Steel Kosice in the area of science, research and innovation, which is beneficial for both sides.