Vietnam PM Approves Denmark-granted UXO Disposal Project

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a demining project receiving financial support from a Danish non-governmental organization in the central province of Quang Tri, the largest-contaminated bomb locality in the country. Danish Demining Group (DDG), which specializes in clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the most-affected countries will provide $1.28 million worth of non-refundable aid to the project which will last until the end of 2018. With the function in clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war, DDG will help Quang Tri in UXO disposal activities in the next two years and a half. Quang Tri, one of the hardest-hit localities by war-left consequences after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, has some 391,500 hectares of land contaminated by UXOs or 83% of its land. The province is the first locality in Vietnam to receive global support in defusing bombs and mines. So far, many foreign organizations have conducted demining projects in the locality. The U.S. army used more than 15 million tons of UXO in Vietnam in the war and 10% of them are unexploded and scattered everywhere. Landmines and dioxin remain a thorny issue preventing the further development of the bilateral ties despite efforts to overcome the consequences that killed and caused injury to more than 100,000 Vietnamese people since the end of the Vietnam War. (Baochinhphu.vn Nov 30, Baotintuc.vn Nov 30)