The strike of the Zenica and Breza coal mines ended today after an agreement was reached at a meeting held today in the premises of Elektroprivreda B&H (B&H Electricity Company) in Sarajevo on unblocking the accounts of the said mines.

-It was agreed that today, or tomorrow by noon, both accounts of the Zenica and Breza mines will be unblocked based on the request of the management of the two mines towards the FB&H Tax Administration. So, the framework is an agreement that will be signed by the Tax Administration with the two mines on debt rescheduling for a period of ten years, and that will be a precondition for unblocking the accounts- said the FB&H Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Nermin Džindić after the meetings.

Reorganization and restructuring of the mines from the position of trade unions, as he pointed out, is a process that they do not want to give up, aware that it is the most important process for employees in coal mines in FB&H.

Muhamed Kozadra, Executive Director for economic affairs of the B&H Power Company, owned by the FB&H, said that they have invested 320 million KM in the procurement of equipment and provided 204 million KM in advance for the mines that have been part of the concern in the last ten years.

-We paid the amounts to some of the mines, gave them more money than they need in order to deliver coal in annual terms. Therefore, we have paid 204 million KM in advance for the production of coal for the needs of thermal power plants- said Kozadra.

The public enterprise 'Elektroprivreda B&H' as a concern, Kozadra emphasized, has obligations to restructure the mining sector, which accounts for 80 percent of the total electricity production.