SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

The Chairman of the state-owned holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), Mr. Enrique Martínez Robles and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (Patronato) of the Fundación de Trabajadores de la Siderurgia Integral (Foundation for the Iron and Steel Workers), hereinafter The Foundation, Mr. José Luis Leal Maldonado, have signed today, in Madrid, an agreement by which SEPI commits itself to collaborate with the Foundation, making a 1 Million euros contribution and entering into the Foundation¿s Board of Trustees.

The main social purpose of the Foundation is to preserve alive in the memory of future generations the History of the Spanish iron and steel industry, as a standing homage to the workers who, with their initiative and efforts contributed to its creation and development. For this purpose, the Foundation seeks to contribute to the promotion of quality at work, seen from a social point of view, as a value which, without renouncing to productivity, must be compatible with the improvement of the workers¿ social and working conditions; compatible also with the work experiences and initiatives which strengthen solidarity, as well as the continuous improvement of training, from a basically practical standpoint, linked to the world of work.

The Fundación de Trabajadores de la Siderurgia Integral was created on November 23rd, 2006 for the former workers of the company Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, S.A., through the Liquidating Commission of the 'Entidad Social Voluntaria Para Obreros y Empleados de Altos Hornos de Vizcaya' (Voluntary Social Body for the Altos Hornos de Vizcaya Workers and Employees); an initiative which was joined by former workers from the other two large companies which existed in the Spanish iron and steel industry, ENSIDESA and Altos Hornos del Mediterráneo. SEPI maintains a deep affinity with the Foundation¿s goals and thinks that these are consistent with its own corporate goals.

In the fulfillment of the general interest social goals of this Foundation, the former workers of the iron and steel industry provide their experience through their voluntary and altruist collaboration in the execution of the professional training. Besides, its activity includes the award of prizes and grants for promoting excellence among young people; activities for promoting solidarity with immigrants and development projects in developing countries, and the acquaintance with the norms for preventing professional risks at the workplace.

In order to preserve the memory of the iron and steel industry, the Foundation also has as a priority action line the promotion or management, directly or indirectly, of all kinds of cultural or museum activities. It is as part of this action framework that the Foundation intends to study the feasibility that the declaration by the Basque Government of AHV¿s Blast Furnace 1 as an artifact of cultural interest might be a social opportunity, for which it assesses the possibility of being the one in charge of the cultural project which might arise around the above Blast Furnace.