The concept of reforming the coal industry has been agreed with all interested bodies, it is to be approved by the government committee at the first meeting in 2021 and then approved by the government, Deputy Energy Minister Maksym Nemchynov has said.

"According to my forecast, in the first days of the new year, the concept can be agreed upon by the government committee and then approved at a subsequent government meeting. We expect that it will come into effect in mid-January," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, the concept retained the previously announced approaches.

"First of all, the concept stipulates that there should be no state coal mining sector. Some of the mines will become the resource base of Centrenergo with subsequent privatization, some will be privatized separately, and those that do not find a private investor will be liquidated," he said.

At the same time, he stressed that one of the most important issues of the concept is the social protection of employees of enterprises subject to liquidation, and residents of those settlements in which they are located.

"Here we are working together with the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, which is responsible for the transformation of coal regions," Nemchynov said.