KIEV, Oct. 21 - President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday met Lakshmi Mittal, the chairman and majority owner of the world’s biggest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, seeking to ease concerns the government may try to seize the company’s Ukrainian assets.

The meeting comes three weeks after Yanukovych, in Paris, assured French President Nicolas Sarkozy that the government would not pursue re-privatization of ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih, Ukraine’s biggest producer of steel.

“I believe we have an opportunity to discuss all these issues and to find a compromise,” Yanukovych told Mittal, according to a report posted by the presidential press service.

ArcelorMittal warned earlier this month that the Ukrainian government could seize control of its $4.8 billion steel plant, AMKR, after charging it with violating terms of a 2005 purchase agreement.

The dispute focuses on whether ArcelorMittal was granted valid permission in April 2009 to delay a $200 million investment in the AMKR.