THE Duke of York has again shown his support for the restart of North-East steelmaking during a visit to Thailand.
Prince Andrew met Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) president Win Viriyaprapaikit and representatives of the company at its offices in Bangkok.
SSI bought the former Teesside Cast Products plant, which is due to restart production early this month, in March last year and have created 1,000 new jobs on top of retaining 700 workers already employed at the facility.
Mr Viriyaprapaikit said: "We are delighted to be welcoming the Duke of York for a second time."
In July last year the Duke visited the Redcar, plant, in his role as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.
During that visit the Duke unveiled a plaque to mark the upcoming restart of steel-making on Teesside and said he planned to return once it resumed.
The Duke is not the only prominent member of the royal family to lend support to the North-East steel industry.
In October The Prince of Wales visited the plant in Redcar, having previously traveled there in May 2010 when it was in the process of being mothballed by previous owner Tata Steel.
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