Hopes are running high in this resource-rich country but recovery is dependant on securing fair deals with foreign corporations...Last year steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal signed a contract with the then transitional government that gives his company virtual control of the vast Nimba concession area...In return, the company is tasked with providing services like schools and health facilities for people in the area. Critics say that ceding sovereign and economic rights to a powerful foreign corporation is in effect creating a state within a state. [report also refers to Bridgestone Firestone]