PM Dung calls for effective removal of UXO

April 15, 2013 | 10:16

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Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has emphasised the need to drastically and effectively settle the consequences of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left from wars fought in previous decades.

At a meeting on the issue held in Hanoi on February 26, Dung suggested the State Steering Committee of the National Action Programme on Settling Consequences of Unexploded Ordnance (known as Steering Committee 504) negotiate with donors to sponsor the implementation of the programme, disseminate the programme to mobilise financial resources and help people avoid the consequences of UXO, as well as assist UXO victims.

The PM said the Government has drawn up many policies and spent hundreds of billions of VND dealing with the issue.

Thanks to the public’s help and the support of the international community, Vietnam ’s efforts to clear bombs and mines left over from the war have recorded important results, Dung added.

He agreed with the tasks set for 2013 presented by Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, who is also Head of the Committee, at the event.

As intended, the committee will present a plan for deploying the programme up until 2015 that will be submitted to the Government for approval, build a decree on the management of activities to remove UXO, a coordinating and financial management mechanism and a dissemination strategy.

It will also map UXO in the remaining 14 provinces and organise an international donor conference on the issue in Hanoi at the end of the year, study the technology to clear UXO and hold an exchange programme to jointly overcome the consequences of UXO on April 4.

The conference heard that around 800,000 tons of unexploded bombs and mines remain over an area of 6.6 million hectares, and that more than 1,000 people fall victim to UXO every year.

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