President Bharrat Jagdeo and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds met with workers of BERMINE at the Office of the President. The Government and the Workers/Management of BERMINE agreed on the following:

1. BERMINE Board will meet on Friday to ratify a proposal from Viceroy Shipping to allow third party ships continued use of the mooring facility in the Berbice River.

2. Any employee of BERMINE who wishes to voluntary leave will receive payment calculated in accordance with the severance formula contained in the Union Agreement, with said cost being funded by Government.

3. Management represents that subject to the continuance of the ALCOA contract and the payment of the voluntary severance cost by Government, BERMINE will be able to achieve a break-even position this year.

4. Government will take over certain responsibilities at Kwakwani that are funded by BERMINE. These include water, schools, hospitals and electricity.

5. Government expressed its willingness to receive and consider the management/employee proposal to take over BERMINE. Government is currently awaiting a response from the BERMINE Employee Group on whether their earlier proposal is still on the table.

6. Workers of Kwakwani urged that a merger of ABC and BERMINE be considered now.

7. Workers of Kwakwani requested that the Linden/Kwakwani road be fixed. Government committed to fixing same at the end of the rainy season.

8. The President committed to visiting both Everton and Kwakwani in the upcoming weeks.

9. Both sides welcomed the cordial and cooperative nature of the discussions, which resulted in the decision taken to address the current situation.