KOICA helps Vietnam recover from post-war bombs, mines

An agreement on a project to this effect was signed in Hanoi on June 14 between Deputy Defence Minister and member of the Steering Committee for the National Action Programme on overcoming post-war bombs and mines (Steering Committee 504) Nguyen Chi Vinh and KOICA Country Director Chang Jea-yun. 

Managed by the Defence Ministry and conducted by VNMAC, the 2016-2020 project aims to improve the management capacity of VNMAC, clear bombs and mines on a site of 8,000ha in the central provinces of Quang Binh and Binh Dinh, raise public awareness of bombs and mines’ dangers and help victims re-integrate into the community. 

Both sides will establish monitoring and management boards for the project and launch regular consultation mechanisms throughout the process. 

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Deputy Minister Vinh hailed the move as a significant beginning to realise the commitments in a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in post-war bomb and mine recovery signed in 2014, and the framework agreement on non-refundable aid signed between the two governments in 2009. 

The project reflects the goodwill to cooperate in humanitarian and development issues between the two governments in the spirit of the strategic cooperative partnership built by the two countries, he said. 

Korean Ambassador to Vietnam Lee Hyuk, for his part, pledged to help victims of bombs, mines and explosives with rehabilitation and raise public awareness of how to avoid those accidents.