Dong Ha, Quang Tri (26 June 2019) — Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) continues providing support to Quang Tri Province with survey and clearance operations and capacity development activities in the coming time, NPA Humanitarian Disarmament Director confirmed that to the provincial authorities when they met on Tuesday in Dong Ha.

During his first trip to Vietnam since he took the role of NPA Humanitarian Disarmament Director, Per Håkon Breivik paid a courtesy visit to Deputy Governor Hoang Nam who heads the provincial Mine Action Steering Committee. Accompanying him were NPA Vietnam Country Director Jan Erik Støa and Project RENEW management staff.

From 24 to 25 June, Per Håkon Breivik and representatives of NPA programs from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam were in Quang Tri Province for an internal discussion meeting held by NPA Vietnam. The meeting was aimed to discuss and agree on best practices of Cluster Munition Remnants Survey in Cluster Munitions and other Explosive Remnants of War contaminated areas in South East Asia.

The visit included a field trip to Hai An Commune, Hai Lang District where participants observed NPA-Project RENEW clearance operations.  It was an opportunity for the NPA colleagues to see mine action work in Quang Tri with fruitful cooperation and support from the local authority in the joint efforts to make people of Quang Tri Province safer.

“NPA is one of the international NGO partners who has engaged from the early days in building capacity and transferring knowledge to local staff in Quang Tri Province to sustainably deal with the problem of unexploded ordnance,” said the Deputy Governor of Quang Tri Province Hoang Nam who heads the Mine Action Steering Committee during his reception of NPA HD Director.

Having visited Quang Tri Province for the first time in 2008, Per Håkon Breivik expressed his impressions on the achievements that the Quang Tri authorities and NPA-Project RENEW, Mines Advisory Group and PeaceTrees Vietnam have made during the past decade.

“Quang Tri has the best practices in mine action and this should be shared to other 63 provinces of Vietnam where unexploded ordnance still exists and endangers people’s safety,” said Per.

Project RENEW was established in 2001 as a joint effort between the government of Quang Tri Province and interested INGOs to “restore the environment and neutralize the effects of the war” – with the main focus on unexploded ordinance.

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) is one of the leading organizations worldwide in humanitarian disarmament. NPA has worked in Vietnam since 2008 following the signing of an MOU with the government of Quang Tri People’s Committee to support the development of Project RENEW’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) capacity. NPA’s operational footprint now covers all of Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue Provinces, with an increase of assets to four Battle Area Clearance teams, one Non-Technical Survey team, four EOD teams, and 25 Technical Survey teams.