Delegates at the event (Source: qdnd.vn)
Hanoi (VNA) – The State Steering Committee on National Mine Action Programme, also known as Steering Committee 504, called on donors and non-governmental organisations to constructively take part in the Mine Action Partnership Group (MAPG).
The committee made the appeal at a consultative conference in Hanoi on December 17, during which the donors and non-governmental organisations were urged to give more advice to the Vietnamese Government in order to effectively implement the National Mine Action Programme in the 2010-2015 period.
The move aims to ease impacts of bomb and mine pollution on Vietnam’s socio-economic development, they said.
Cao Manh Cuong, deputy head of the Planning and Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said the Party, State, army and people of Vietnam have teamed up with domestic and foreign international and non-governmental organisations and donors to deal with aftermaths of bombs and mines left from the wars.
However, he said, the work have encountered a range of difficulties due to limited financial resources.
Participants at the event also proposed solutions to mobilise more resources in service of bomb and mine clearance and the settlement of bomb and mine consequences.
More than 800,000 tonnes of unexploded bombs and mines left from wartime are buried in 21 percent of the country, mainly in the central provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai.
Wartime bombs and mines have killed about 42,130 and injured another 62,160, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.-VNA
