A delegation from Laos visited Cambodia and exchanged experiences on mine action and relevant work experiences on management, information gathering, planning and prioritising mine action in the Kingdom.
The Lao delegation visited Cambodia in coordination with the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), which funds mine-action and mine-clearance activities in both countries.
Ly Thuch, first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), said on May 1 that the CMAA exchanged experiences with the Lao delegation on key areas of mine clearance because Laos still has many landmines as well as other munitions such as cluster bombs.
“Cambodia also shared its experiences with Laos as to how to manage the demining sector in the country. We have also shared the experience of training and educating the local community to be cautious and careful about landmines,” he said.
The delegation was made up of 14 members from Laos’ National Regulatory Authority for UXO and Mine Action (NRA).
Thuch said it was very important for Cambodia and Laos to share good experiences with one another.
“In the future, Cambodia can also visit our Lao friend to learn the experiences from demining operators who have cooperated with one another,” he said.
Cambodia has been sharing its experiences in clearing unexploded ordnance with other countries that wish to learn about them since it has more than 30 years of experience in mine action work.
Thuch said Cambodia has shared its experiences in mine action work with Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, Colombia, Iraq, Israel and Afghanistan, while also recently training Ukrainian officers to do mine clearance work.
