Bowater Elects Togo D. West, Jr. Director.

Business Editors

GREENVILLE, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 2002

The Board of Directors of Bowater Incorporated (NYSE: BOW) today elected Togo D. West, Jr., to the company's Board effective March 1, 2002.

Mr. West, 59, is Of Counsel to Covington & Burling, a law firm headquartered in Washington, DC.

Mr. West served as Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Clinton Administration from 1998 until 2000 and as Secretary of the Army from 1993 until 1998.

Bowater Incorporated, headquartered in Greenville, SC, is a global leader in newsprint. In addition, the company makes coated and uncoated groundwood papers, bleached kraft pulp and lumber products. The company has 12 pulp and paper mills in the United States, Canada and South Korea and 13 North American sawmills that produce softwood and hardwood lumber. Bowater also operates a facility that converts a groundwood base sheet to coated products. Bowater's operations are supported by approximately 1.5 million acres of timberlands owned or leased in the United States and Canada and 33 million acres of timber cutting rights in Canada. Bowater is one of the world's largest consumers of recycled newspapers and magazines. Bowater common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, U.S. regional exchanges and the London Stock Exchange. A special class of stock exchangeable into Bowater common stock is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE: BWX).