Assurances on jobs and the future of a plant network in western Europe are likely to form a central part of the plan for a combined Mittal Steel/Arcelor group that Lakshmi Mittal will present to the French government in the next few days.

The meeting comes as Guy Dollé, Arcelor's chief executive, prepares for a second round of investor meetings next week to convince them to reject Mittal Steel's hostile €18.6 billion bid.

He will go armed with Arcelor's latest deal, announced yesterday, to take a stake in a leading Chinese producer.

Arcelor is paying €219 million for a 38.4 per cent stake in a subsidiary of Laiwu Steel, giving the group access to seven million tonnes of Chinese steel a year.

Mr Dollé said Arcelor planned to help the Chinese move into higher-end products. The added-value strategy is a key point in resisting the Mittal bid.

He said he was not worried about Mr Mittal's proposed meeting with French finance minister Thierry Breton, who has criticised the Mr Mittal for failing to present "an industrial project".

The strategy Mr Mittal would outline to Mr Breton "is not Arcelor's strategy so I think we have an advantage", he said.

Mr Mittal, chairman and main owner of Mittal Steel, intends to provide Mr Breton with details of the plan at a meeting in Paris.

The plan will contain details of Mr Mittal's thinking of how a combination of Mittal Steel and Arcelor could form a credible business.