The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs has donated EUR374,164 through the Solidarity Service International (SODI), to a project on landmine clearance and poverty reduction in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue. The project will be carried out from now to July 2011 in Quang Dien district’s Quang Loi commune, the Phap luat Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh newspaper reported July 14. The cleared land of 150 hectares will be used for resettlement of locals and agriculture production. On the same day, local authorities also approved a project on promoting gender equality and restricting domestic violence worth VND100 million funded by the Northern Europe organization. Vietnam needs more than $10 billion and take up to 300 years to clear up bombs and mines left from the war, said a representative of the Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN).
