Roots of Peace to help Vietnam speed up UXOs clearances

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The meeting between VUFO Vice President Phan Anh Son and ROP delegation on January 9. Photo: Thuy Linh

The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) Vice President Phan Anh Son on January 9 held a reception for a delegation of ROP headed by Chief Executive Officer Heidi Kuhn re, on occasion of their visit to Vietnam.

Speaking at the meeting, Vice President of VUFO expressed his gladness to welcome the ROP delegation, and spoke highly on the significant role of ROP in contributing to the postwar recovery process in Vietnam, especially in Quang Tri province, the former fierce battlefield in central region of the country.

In his dialogue with ROP delegates, VUFO Vice President emphasized: 2020 marks an extremely important year for Vietnam, as the country is taking on the role of ASEAN Chairman as well as non-permanent member the United Nations Security Council 2020-2021. In the same year, Vietnam and US will celebrate the 25th anniversary of bilateral relations.

Nowadays, the two countries are enjoying the comprehensive bilateral relations. After the war, Vietnam has become a developing country with impressive achievement in socio-economic development, Son said.

VUFO Vice President Phan Anh Son presents the certificate of registration (renewal) to ROP CEO Heidi Kuhn. Photo: Thuy Linh

VUFO Vice President also noted that along with socio-economic development, Vietnam has been putting vast efforts in dealing with war aftermath. Thanks to the supports of US and other friend countries, various projects in this field have been implemented. However the pace remained slow. It is estimated that it would take Vietnam at least 230 years from now to clear all the leftover landmines. Therefore, VUFO is willing to strengthen the cooperation with ROP to accelerate this work.

In the year 2020, to celebrate Vietnam - US 25-year-ties, VUFO will coordinate with the US Embassy to organize a very significant workshop in Hanoi, scheduled in June. The event will focus on reviewing what have been achieved after 25 years of cooperation, the importance of the Vietnam-US relations in the Asia Pacific in the next 25 years.

VUFO Vice President also shared with ROP delegation on VUFO's plan on holding celebration events In the US, with the key celebration to take place in Washington DC in May, in order to “give our appreciation and special thank to different classes of US people” who contribute greatly to Vietnam-US relations normalization, postwar recovery and sustainable development.

VUFO Vice President also took the chance to invite ROP delegations to these celebration events, to gain insights of the change of the Vietnam-US ties in the last 25 years, the current situation and what two sides should do together in the time to come to strengthen the relations.

On behalf of the delegation, Heidi Kuhn, CEO of ROP affirmed the organization's commitment to help speed up the pace of tackling UXOs issues in Vietnam. According to her, in April 2020, ROP will organize a fundraising event to support Vietnam as part of the celebration of the 50th Earthday.

In addition, ROP delegation also presented their initiatives on improving the sustainability of ROP's agricultural projects in Vietnam, especially in applying innovative solution to increase the presence of Quang Tri's peppers in the US market, raising awareness of the beautiful story behind the product. It this plan is realized, it will benefit people in war-torn areas, particularly those of ethnic groups in the long run.

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