Dong Ha, Quang Tri (19 Dec 2020) – Quang Tri Province People’s Committee on Friday held a conference to review the performance of its Mine Action Program during 2016-2020 and orientations for action plan during 2021-2025.

Mr. Hoang Nam, Deputy Chairman of Province People’s Committee and Head of the Provincial Mine Action Steering Board chaired the conference with the participation of representatives from Vietnam National Mine Action Center, international non-governmental organisations and leaders of provincial agencies and localities.

The past five years have seen some remarkable achievements in the field of humanitarian mine action such as establishment and operation of Quang Tri Mine Action Center, upgrading and finalizing the database of persons with disabilities including survivors of explosive ordnance accidents, development of a provincial standard operating procedures for mine action based on the national and international standards.

The total funds raised and earmarked for the mine action programs amounted to nearly 65 million USD. Mine action organisations have cleared and released 96,895,087 square meters of land, found and safely destroyed 142,018 items of explosive ordnance, and undertook 5,467 explosive ordnance disposal spot tasks in response to people’s discoveries reported to the hotline number.

Much attention has been focused on reinforced awareness of the communities on the risks of explosive ordnance. During 2016-2020, 565,840 children and adults have exposed to explosive ordnance safety information conducted by non-governmental organisations. Quang Tri Province has zero accidents related to bomb and mine for the past three years.

Six organisations and individuals from non-governmental organizations and provincial agencies have been awarded Certificate of Merit by the Chairman of Quang Tri Province People’s Committee for their contributions to addressing the problem of explosive ordnance left from the war during 2016-2020.

Deputy Chairman Hoang Nam appraised the important role and assistance of donors and international non-governmental organisations in helping Quang Tri achieve its goals of socio-economic development, poverty reduction and improvement of people’s living conditions, including the goal of becoming the first province in Vietnam to be declared safe from the impact of explosive ordnance.