Dong Ha, Quang Tri (18 April 2018) — The signing of a new cooperation agreement between Norwegian People’s Aid Vietnam (NPA Vietnam) and the government of Quang Tri Province today marked 10 years of NPA’s commitment to clearing the province of cluster munitions and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) that still endanger the lives of people and hinder local development efforts.

NPA Vietnam Country Director Resad Junuzagic and Standing Vice Chairman Mai Thuc of Quang Tri Province People’s Committee sign the agreement under witness of representatives from Department of Foreign Affairs, Provincial Military Headquarters, Office of the Province People’s Committee and Project RENEW.

In view of the size of ERW impact in Quang Tri Province, the two parties have agreed to work upon building a safe province where ERW no longer pose threat to civilians and constrain development.

The project will focus on the following key activities:

• Continue the Non-Technical and Technical Survey operations in support of the release of ERW contaminated land for the socioeconomic development.
• Sustain Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) quick response to dispose of ERW located during technical surveys and ERW discoveries reported by local residents.
• Build up coordination and management capacity of Project RENEW.

NPA has worked in Vietnam since 2008 for development of Project RENEW’s EOD capacity and later implementation of the ERW Survey and Clearance Program. Since then, NPA-RENEW teams have identified and mapped out in Quang Tri Province more than 131 million square meters as Confirmed Hazardous Areas (CHAs). These CHAs have been tasked by Quang Tri Provincial Legacy of War Coordination Center (LWCC) to Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and PeaceTree Vietnam (PTVN) for clearing and releasing safe land to the community.

During the survey and clearance process, NPA-RENEW teams also have found and safely destroyed nearly 70,000 ERW, 42% of which have been cluster munitions (the leading cause of post-war accidents in Quang Tri Province since 1975), contributing to eliminating the risk of death and injury for the local people.