Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam has put a lot of efforts into removingexplosives remnants of war (ERW), but the issue is still a great challenge forthe country, a high-ranking army officer has said.

ColonelNguyen Hanh Phuc, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Mine Action Centre(VNMAC), made the statement at a meeting in Hanoi on September 16.

Thenational consultative meeting 'Enhance awareness programmes on the dangers ofmine/explosive remnants of war' was organised by the VNMAC, the ASEANRegional Mine Action Centre (ARMAC) and the Japan-ASEAN Cooperation.

Phuc saidthat during the past 40 years, the country has seen improving consequences ofmine and explosive remnants of war as an urgent, important, regular andlong-term duty.

To createa legal corridor for the work, the then Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2010approved the national action programme to tackle the impact of post-war bombsand mines in 2010-2025, often called Programme 504. 

Programme504 helps guide and manage post-war mines and ERW, creating coordinationbetween State management agencies and localities in the work.

Animportant policy was strengthening support to help victims of mines and ERWintegrate into the community, he said.

Phuc saidmore education on preventing mine and ERW accidents should be given tocitizens.

HalJudge, ARMAC’s mine risk education expert, said Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnamand Thailand were affected by mines and ERW, and ARMAC, through a set ofconsultative meetings, aimed to bring these countries together to share theirknowledge and experiences to build a regional approach to mine risk education.

The goalof the project would be to establish a platform for ASEAN countriesto learn from one another so a collaborative community of mine riskeducation experts could be established.

Incomplete statisticsshow the number of bombs left after the war in Vietnam is about 800,000tonnes, with the total area suspected of bomb and mine pollution about 6.13million hectares, accounting for 18.71 per cent of the country, according tothe VNMAC. The largest amount is said to be in central provinces.

From 1975until now, bombs and mines have killed more than 40,000 people and injured60,000.

TheUnited Nations Sustainable Development Programme to 2030 considers tacklinglandmines and war consequences to be a major goal.

In recentyears, the Ministry of National Defence has sped up the process ofovercoming the consequences of mines and ERW in polluted areas, especially QuangTri, Quang Nam, Binh Dinh and Ha Giang.

Despitethe positive results, the country needs tens of billions of dollars, notincluding billions of dollars for resettlement in the contaminated areas, andmore than 100 years to finish the work, according to the ministry./.