Vietnam, US work on settlement of war aftermath

Ted Yoho (R), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific under the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, during a field trip to the dioxin treatment site at Da Nang airport

The Vietnamese delegation was led by Deputy Commander of the Air Force - Air Defence Major General Bui Anh Chung, while the US delegation was headed by Ted Yoho, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific under the US House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The two sides discussed a range of contents, including the treatment of toxic/dioxin contamination at Da Nang Airport. The Vietnamese side suggested the US congress and government to continue providing non-refundable ODA capital for detoxification at toxic/dioxin hotspots, including Da Nang, Bien Hoa and Phu Cat airports, and clearance of unexploded mines and bombs.

They also agreed to conduct cooperation activities to support Vietnamese AO/dioxin victims and to search for remains of US and Vietnamese servicemen missing in action during the war.

Official statistics showed that nearly 61,300 square kilometres of land in all 63 provinces and cities across Vietnam, or 18.82 percent of the country’s total area, have been contaminated with explosive objects left from the war, with the central province of Quang Tri being the most contaminated locality.

The Ministry of National Defence and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have coordinated to decontaminate about 90,000 cubic metres of land at the Da Nang airport. Funding for the project included 100 million USD from the US government’s non-refundable ODA and 2.7 million USD from the Vietnamese government.

Since 2003, the US has provided Vietnam with 103 million USD for post-war bomb and mine clearance in residential areas and improve units’ ordnance treatment capacity.

Vietnam and the US began their join search for remains of US servicemen in 1988, with 1000 sets of remains handed over to the US government to date.