UKRAINIAN BUSINESSES TAKE OVER POLISH STEEL MILL, CAR MAKER

The presidents of Poland and Ukraine -- Aleksander Kwasniewski and Viktor Yushchenko, respectively -- attended the signing of two major deals at an annual Polish-Ukrainian economic forum in Gdynia on 30 June, Ukrainian and Polish media reported.

The Industrial Union of Donbas finalized the purchase of the Huta Czestochowa steel mill, following a lengthy and controversial privatization duel with the Indian-Dutch-British holding LMN in 2003-04. Moreover, Ukraine's AvtoZAZ motor company signed a deal for the takeover -- for a symbolic 1 zloty ($0.3) -- of 20 percent of the troubled Warsaw-based FSO carmaker's shares. AvtoZAZ has promised that it will not lay off anyone from the 2,000-strong workforce within the following six months. The remaining 80 percent of the shares in FSO belong to the South Korean company Daewoo, which became insolvent in 1999.