HEADLINE-grabbing figures detailing tens of thousands of jobs being created with the help of hundreds of millions of pounds of investment are good for our region.

They are indicative of success and prosperity - both attributes the North-East is desperate to garner and progress.

Key to this progress are the five centres of excellence - core areas where the existing skills of the region can be harnessed to drive forward future growth.

Speaking in the Business Echo supplement today, Bob Coxon, chairman of the process innovation centre, describes the "tremendous future" he hopes they will provide.

Few would attempt to argue that playing to one's abilities and strengths is not a good idea.

But, while doing so, we must not forget aspects of industry which have helped shape the region's economy in the past.

Developments at Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus will be watched with interest (and trepidation) during the coming months.

Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, has long fought to protect the future of the Teesside works where he was once employed.

This is a plant which, for decades, has exemplified the best attributes and skills of the steel industry.

It was a world leader in its heyday and holds its own in a harsh economic climate.

But leaving it to fend for itself against state-subsidised behemoths worldwide has raised new challenges - challenges the whole region must respond to, because the success or failure of Corus will impact on us all.

Mr Kumar yesterday declared to the House of Commons that Corus management was "on parole" - a pound to a pinch of salt that parole will be broken, like all the promises made to the hard-working labour force.

It is the responsibility of the region to consider how best to help that parole period to be successful.

Creating jobs is all well and good. But we must also maintain the ones we already have. It is pointless creating thousands of jobs with one hand, if thousands more are slipping through the fingers of the other.

The Northern Echo was promised by Corus that it would take at least two years for its Teesside plant to establish a substantial footing in the global marketplace.

That gives the North-East time to work out how it can best make sure that there are thousands of steelworkers and associated suppliers still in employment, alongside the jobs boom promised during the coming years.