By KYIV. May 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The government of Ukraine is stepping up cooperation with international partners in the field of demining, the issue was discussed during an online meeting between First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko, who is also the Economy Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia Davor Božinović, who is also the Interior Minister.
According to the press service of the Economy Ministry of Ukraine, priority facilities for humanitarian demining in Ukraine are infrastructure, energy and social facilities, as well as farming land.
“There are around 2,000 demining specialists working in Ukraine for state institutions and 600 specialists for private operators. Given the large amount of work, we need at least twice as many deminers,” Svyrydenko said.
In turn, Božinović said that the demining of Croatian lands, which has been ongoing since 1995, is almost completed. Croatia is open for cooperation, ready to share its own experience and continue to provide the necessary assistance in this matter.
“We hope that the process of demining Ukrainian lands will be faster. We are ready to support Ukraine in surveying and clearing objects and lands, given our experience, developed technologies and a developed demining industry. This is one of the opportunities for cooperation and investment,” he said.
The Center for Humanitarian Demining has been established in Ukraine, the purpose of which is to coordinate international assistance, determine priorities and distribute demining tasks among operators working throughout the country. The government plans to involve representatives of Croatia, the G7 countries and other interested international organizations in the Supervisory Board of the Center.
