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The Municipality of Breza, located about 30 km north of Sarajevo in the Zenica-Doboj Canton, counts roughly 16,000 inhabitants. The population is distributed throughout 29 villages, some of which relatively close to the town while others are as far as 20 kilometres away, scattered on the surrounding hills and only reachable on non-paved roads. The council area, with an altitude ranging from 460 to 1,200 meters on sea level, has an overall surface of approximately 70 km2, 50% of which dedicated to agriculture and pasture. The industrial area, characterised by the coal mine - founded in 1907 – which the area’s economy historically depends on, is located in the southern part of Breza. The coal extracted from the mine is mostly destined to the thermo-electric power unit that stands roughly 15 km away.
There are some small local manufacturing companies in this area. Altogether, they employ about 500 people; the remaining productive activities are all in the fields of services and agriculture. The productive system’s crisis that followed the war has heavily struck both women and young people: women were penalized by the overstaffing reduction, youngsters by the lack of new business opportunities. Further, the economic crisis has greatly reduced access to local financial support.
The farmland currently cultivated, all privately owned, covers an extension of roughly 1,500 hectares. The fruit orchards mainly grow apples, pears and prunes but their quality - together with the lack of soil fertilizers - leads to yields which are poor for both quality and quantity. Prunes are the prevalent fruit grown locally and they’re also used for alcoholic drink production. The land situated below 600 meters above sea level is used to grow vegetables (especially potatoes, garlic, onions and carrots) and grains; beyond 600 meters the farming of sheep, cows and goats prevails.
USEFUL LINKS
www.breza.com
The reasons behind the City of Turin’s decision to approve a cooperation protocol with the City of Breza – first signed in 1997 and renewed in 2005 – can be summarised as follows:
Ultimately, the cooperation protocol with the city of Breza should be read in relation to the agreements stipulated in 2005 with the City of Kragujevac (Serbia) that define actions geared to promote pacific talks - between the cities of the former Yugoslavia that were once in conflict. Indeed, this is the philosophy behind the many tri-lateral exchanges (among students, administrators, economics professionals…) promoted by the City of Turin with the Cities of Breza and Kragujevac.