PM Dung calls for effective UXO clearance
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has emphasised the need to drastically and effectively settle the consequences of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left from the past wars.
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, mobilise financial resources, help people avoid the consequences of UXO, and 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 international assitance, Vietnam’s efforts to clear bombs and mines left over from the war have recorded important results, Dung added.
He asked the committee to present a plan for deploying the programme up until 2015 to be submitted to the Government for approval, and build a decree on the UXO clearance management.
Around 800,000 tonnes 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.