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Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh and outgoing Director of KOICA in Vietnam Kim Jin-oh. Photo: KOICA

Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh hosted a reception in Hanoi on February 5 for outgoing Director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Vietnam Kim Jin-oh.

At the meeting, the two sides reviewed cooperation between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) in addressing post-war consequences in Vietnam, including a 20-million-USD project funded by the RoK Government to clean up areas contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the central provinces of Quang Binh and Binh Dinh, and another for detoxifying the dioxin-polluted area in Da Nang airport.

Vinh appreciated Kim’s contributions to and the role by KOICA in promoting the Vietnam – RoK cooperation over the past three years.

At the meeting, the two sides agreed to continuously enhance cooperation in the coming time, focusing on expanding the project to Quang Nam and Quang Tri provinces, and implement a technical assistance project to detoxify dioxin-contaminated areas at A Sho airport in the central province of Thua Thien - Hue.

The RoK side promised to assist Vietnam in personnel training and improving capacity to build databases in the work, thus effectively addressing consequences of wartime toxic chemicals and UXO.

Conducting a joint land removal project in Vietnam was first raised during the Korea-Vietnam summit in 2014.

International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action was first declared in the UN General Assembly, as part of its efforts to promote Sustainable Development Goals, on Dec. 8, 2005. It calls on member states to support countries that suffer from the threats of land mines and explosive remnants of war./.