As part of a several-day joint working visit with the participation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Emergency Service, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Ihor Bezkaravainyi visited the Kingdom of Cambodia – a country that, before the beginning of the large-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, was considered the most mined in the world. During the visit, the Ukrainian delegation was introduced to the work of relevant departments involved in demining. Meetings were also held at the level of deputy ministers in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia. Members of the delegation had the opportunity to find out more about the progress of demining operations in the country.

“Demining should not end only with clearing the territory and destroying unexploded ordnance. In Cambodia, with the support of international partners, a holistic approach, which includes both direct demining and assistance to communities and directly to people who start working on cleared land, has been implemented. It is about training, infrastructure restoration, etc. This allows not only to demine the territory, but also to return people there and give impetus to the development of the territory. And this is the experience that Ukraine should implement,” Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Ihor Bezkaravainyi believes.

In terms of the level of technologies involved in the process of humanitarian demining, Ukraine is ahead, but it can borrow the experience of unexploded ordnance disposal from Cambodia. In the country, a significant part of UXO is not detonated, but disposed of, while extracting explosives that are scarce in the region. Thanks to recycling, Ukraine will be able to reduce the number of explosions, which will have a beneficial effect on the environment.

“Cambodia is a reminder of how long explosives can affect people’s lives. In 2022, almost 30 years after the peace in the country, 10 people were killed by mine explosions. This only confirms our intentions to accelerate the pace of humanitarian demining in Ukraine so that fewer people suffer from unexploded ordnance in the future. After all, this is one of the key goals of the Mine Action Strategy developed by the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with other stakeholders,” Ihor Bezkaravainyi said.