PM gives nod to form Mine Action Partnership Group

Soldiers are handling bombs and mines left over from war. (Source :baodansinh.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, head of the State Steering Committee for the National Mine Action Programme, also known as Programme 504, has agreed to establish the Mine Action Partnership Group (MAPG).

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the overall objective of the MAPG is calling on donors and international sponsors to effectively implement the programme.

The MAGP also aims to bolster mutual understanding on policies, plans and measures to implement the programme, ease the impacts of bomb and mine pollution on Vietnam’s socio-economic development, and team up with domestic and international organisations to deal with the aftermath of bombs and mines left over from war.

More than 800,000 tonnes of unexploded bombs and mines are buried across 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 people and injured others 62,160, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.-VNA