Prime Minister chairs meeting of Steering Committee 701

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Head of Steering Committee 701, chaired the meeting.

Steering Committee 701 was established on the basis of merging two national steering committees on overcoming the consequences of bombs and mines and on overcoming the consequences of toxic chemicals. At the meeting, members evaluated the results achieved in the past time in overcoming and handling bombs and mines, toxic chemicals and support policies.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting. Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu

Appreciating the cooperation between ministries and sectors, not allowing work to be interrupted, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc acknowledged that the direction of overcoming the consequences of bombs, mines and toxic chemicals after the war in 2017 and the first 6 months of 2018 was positive and effective.

The Prime Minister commended the efforts of members of Steering Committee 701, of all levels and sectors, thereby contributing to protecting the environment, protecting people's health, ensuring safety to serve the country's socio-economic development.

Steering Committee 701 has directed the investigation and mapping of bomb, mine and explosive contamination nationwide in phase 1, thereby identifying the number of communes in 19 provinces and the area of ​​contaminated land. In the current phase, bomb and mine clearance has been carried out on about 30,000-50,000 hectares/year within the framework of the projects. The treatment of dioxin at Da Nang airport has been completed and 29 hectares of clean land has been handed over to expand Da Nang airport to serve the APEC Conference and the city's socio-economic development. Regarding this, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology to evaluate and officially announce the project results.

In addition, in recent times, ministries, branches and localities have continued to implement preferential subsidy policies for groups of resistance fighters exposed to toxic chemicals, and provided guidance on medical examinations and assessments of diseases, deformities and disabilities related to exposure to toxic chemicals for resistance fighters and their children.

The Ministry of National Defense has directed the implementation of the project “Investigation and decoding of armed forces units operating in areas sprayed with dioxin by the US military in Vietnam”. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has supported the pilot model of supporting the livelihoods of mine victims to integrate into the community in some localities.

Image:VGP/Quang Hieu

“We must proceed to the next stage so that our country is free of bombs and mines, minimizing exposure to dioxin,” the Prime Minister said, pointing out a number of shortcomings that need attention, such as the work of handling bombs, mines, and toxic chemicals has achieved low results compared to the scale and implementation requirements; the technology for handling toxic chemicals/dioxin has not been mastered; the policy for victims of Agent Orange/dioxin is still inadequate, and the roles and responsibilities of each ministry, branch, and locality have not been fully promoted.

“The important task of the Steering Committee is to detect shortcomings, problems, and limitations to overcome and do better in the coming time. This is a big requirement for the members of the Steering Committee,” said the Prime Minister, emphasizing that it is necessary to always identify the work of overcoming the consequences of bombs, mines, and toxic chemicals as an urgent task, demonstrating the profound humanity and humanity of a country that has been at war for many years.

In addition, it is necessary to continue to build a map of dioxin and mine contamination. Continue to research, review, and perfect policies to overcome the consequences of mines and toxic chemicals directly for the subjects, especially medical support and employment for victims and related people. "Our goal is to continuously care for the lives of people affected by mines and toxic chemicals to be better and better, and we pay special attention to the third generation in these areas". This support must be accurate, targeted, and not leave anyone behind.

At the same time, continue to strengthen international cooperation to mobilize resources for overcoming the consequences of bombs and toxic chemicals.

The Prime Minister assigned the standing agency of Steering Committee 701 to absorb opinions at today's meeting to complete the Steering Committee's work program in the coming time./.