41. A provisional agreement between the two sides could end the strike by power workers, who are demanding an end to government plans to privatize their industry. 42. Besides Asseman, half a dozen small private airlines have started operating in the past three years as part of efforts by the government to privatize the industry. 43. Run by the state during the Soviet era, the cotton industry was privatized six years ago and is today shared between private farms and small agricultural cooperatives. 44. The factory had been sold to the private sector as part of a government program to privatize industry and make it more efficient. |