Bowater Inc.

               Bowater Elects Douglas A. Pertz Director;
              Names General Counsel and Declares Dividend

The Board of Directors of Bowater Incorporated (NYSE: BOW) today elected Douglas
A. Pertz to the company's Board. Mr. Pertz, 49, is Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of IMC Global Inc. Prior to joining IMC, he was President and Chief
Executive Officer of Culligan Water Technologies, Inc.

Bowater also announced that Ronald T. Lindsay has been named Vice President -
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Lindsay, 53, will be responsible
for the legal affairs of the company. Mr. Lindsay is the former Senior Vice
President and General Counsel for a NYSE - listed multinational manufacturer.
Previously he had been in private law practice. He earned his J.D. degree from
the University of North Carolina, School of Law and a B.S. degree in Chemical
Engineering from North Carolina State University.

In other Board action today, Bowater declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20
per common share payable April 1, 2004 to holders of record at the close of
business on March 10, 2004. Simultaneously, Bowater's subsidiary, Bowater Canada
Inc., declared a quarterly cash dividend to holders of its exchangeable shares
(TSE: BWX) in the same amount with the same record and payable dates.

Bowater Incorporated, headquartered in Greenville, SC, is a leading producer of
newsprint and coated groundwood papers. In addition, the company makes 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 lumber. Bowater also operates two
facilities that convert a groundwood base sheet to coated products. Bowater's
operations are supported by approximately 1.4 million acres of timberlands owned
or leased in the United States and Canada and 32 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, the Pacific Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. A special class of
stock exchangeable into Bowater common stock is listed on the Toronto Stock
Exchange (TSE: BWX).

All amounts are in U.S. dollars.