A training course on bomb and mine operations jointly held by the Vietnam National Mine Action Centre (VNMAC) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), with the support of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Government, opened in Hanoi on July 9 for officials of the Ministry of Defence.
Addressing the opening ceremony, VNMAC Vice General Director Nguyen Van Nghiep said that in order to catch up with the fourth industrial revolution, the management of work relating to the settlement of left-over unexploded ordnances (UXO) will now be implemented with computer software instead of on paper, which makes the work faster, more convenient, and accurate.
The training contents have been built by the UNDP and the VNMAC along top practice methods applied in technical support projects across the world, with less focus on theory and maximum time spent practicing, he said.
Trainees will be divided to groups of 10 for tasks practicing with modern equipment and tools.
Nil Chirstensen from the UNDP said that the programme has held bomb and mine action projects in 20 countries, with an aim to improve the skills and capacity of agencies in making plans, and defining prioritised bomb and mine actions.
The course is expected to provide a new approach through the globally-successful lessons, offering trainees insight into bomb and mine clearance.
It draws lecturers with 20-30 years of experience, along with speakers from many international organisations.
The course is part of a cooperation project between Vietnam and the RoK on coping with the consequences of bombs and mines, focusing on the management of information, quality control, and bomb and mine detection and clearance.
The project will be implemented over three years until 2020 in the two provinces of Quang Binh and Binh Dinh, where about 30-40 percent of land area is still polluted by bombs and mines left by the war.
It is comprised of 21 detection and 52 clearance groups operating from late 2018, over a total area of 20,000 hectares.
