Toray Industries, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) announced today that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Public Utilities Board of Singapore (hereinafter referred to as “PUB”), the country’s national water agency, for joint development in the field of water treatment.

Under the agreement, the Company will provide water treatment membranes and technical expertise on their usage while PUB will bring in its expertise in plant operation and management and a joint testing platform. Together, the two parties aim to develop water treatment-related technologies and products that would help in coping with the anticipated global water shortage.

In the first phase of the project, Toray and PUB plan to conduct pilot tests of new water treatment products aimed at putting them to practical use at an early date. The pilot test on recycling of wastewater, using the Company’s new PVDF hollow fiber UF membrane module and the 16-inch RO membrane element, is scheduled to begin early 2008. Furthermore, the two parties will work on the development of new permeation membranes to develop innovative water treatment technologies in the medium- to long-term while also implementing a research exchange program between the Company and universities in Singapore to educate and nurture young researchers.

Over the past 20 years, PUB has built a significant track record in desalination plant construction as well as in technological developments such as in wastewater recycling, known by the NEWater brand name. The Company has been collaborating with PUB as a supplier of membranes until now, and both parties expects this memorandum to enable greater success in the water business.

The Singaporean government has identified water and environmental technologies as one of the three key growth sectors and plans to invest S$330 million over the next five years to develop the industry. The Environment and Water Industry Development Council (EWI) was set up to spearhead the growth of the water and environment industry in Singapore under the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, and is expected to play a key role along with PUB and the Economic Development Board (EDB).