Vietnam seeks aid to clear ordnance
Source: Agencies |
December 6, 2011, Tuesday
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HANOI is seeking US$500 million in assistance from domestic and international sources to help clear Vietnam War-era bombs and mines, officials said yesterday.
Vietnam already has US$200 million available to demine 500,000 hectares in 14 provinces by 2015 - or 7.6 percent of affected land, Deputy Labor Minister Bui Hong Linh told an international seminar.
Unexploded ordnance has killed more than 42,000 people and injured more than 62,000 in almost four decades since the war ended, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told the gathering.
"The task for the coming time is a difficult one," Dung said. "The Vietnamese government always appreciates and wishes to continue receiving valuable help and support from the international community to overcome the consequences of bombs and mines left from the war."
The US armed forces used 16 million tons of weaponry in the war that ended in 1975, Dung said. The country's impoverished central region was subject to particularly heavy bombing and mining.
The US administration sent troops to back up the South Vietnam government between 1965 and 1973. North Vietnamese forces took over Saigon, the capital of the South Vietnam in April 1975, ending the war.
Experts have estimated it will take hundreds of years to clear up unexploded bombs and mines which have contaminated a fifth of the total area of Vietnam, the world's second-largest producer of coffee and the second-biggest rice exporter.
Vietnam launched a unexploded ordinance action program in 2010 to raise awareness, apply the latest demining technology and reduce accidents that have hit mostly children and workers.
US Ambassador David Shear told the seminar Washington had provided US$62 million to help survivors.
Vietnam already has US$200 million available to demine 500,000 hectares in 14 provinces by 2015 - or 7.6 percent of affected land, Deputy Labor Minister Bui Hong Linh told an international seminar.
Unexploded ordnance has killed more than 42,000 people and injured more than 62,000 in almost four decades since the war ended, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told the gathering.
"The task for the coming time is a difficult one," Dung said. "The Vietnamese government always appreciates and wishes to continue receiving valuable help and support from the international community to overcome the consequences of bombs and mines left from the war."
The US armed forces used 16 million tons of weaponry in the war that ended in 1975, Dung said. The country's impoverished central region was subject to particularly heavy bombing and mining.
The US administration sent troops to back up the South Vietnam government between 1965 and 1973. North Vietnamese forces took over Saigon, the capital of the South Vietnam in April 1975, ending the war.
Experts have estimated it will take hundreds of years to clear up unexploded bombs and mines which have contaminated a fifth of the total area of Vietnam, the world's second-largest producer of coffee and the second-biggest rice exporter.
Vietnam launched a unexploded ordinance action program in 2010 to raise awareness, apply the latest demining technology and reduce accidents that have hit mostly children and workers.
US Ambassador David Shear told the seminar Washington had provided US$62 million to help survivors.
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