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 You are in: Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs: Press Relations Office > Press Releases (Other) > 2007 > January 
Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 9, 2007


More Equipment to Clear Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance in Vietnam

Logo: Entwined versions of the flags of the United States and Vietnam. As part of the U.S. commitment to strengthen U.S.-Vietnamese relations, the Department of State recently provided nearly $1 million worth of state-of-the-art equipment to Vietnam to help clear unexploded ordnance and landmines left there from past conflicts. Since joining the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program in 2000, Vietnam has received more than $37 million in U.S. assistance for demining, mine risk education, survivors assistance, an ongoing Landmine Impact Survey, and demining equipment.

This latest lot of equipment was provided by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, and turned over by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi to the Vietnamese Army Engineer Command's Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN). It included mine detectors, bomb locaters, spare parts, personal protective equipment, explosive ordnance disposal suits, and medical trauma kits to treat any Vietnamese deminers injured during the course of clearance. See related photos at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/b/78448.htm.

The equipment will enable Vietnam to increase its national capacity to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance and some will also be used by Vietnamese explosive ordnance disposal teams which are supporting the Landmine Impact Survey in selected provinces in Central Vietnam that are severely affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war. This multi-million dollar survey, managed by the Veterans for America (formerly Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation) in partnership with the Vietnamese government, is also funded by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement.

To learn more about United States humanitarian mine action assistance to Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia and around the world, refer to the Sixth Edition of "To Walk the Earth in Safety," the annual report of the inter-agency U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program, at http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rpt/walkearth/2006/.

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