International Mine Action Day was marked at the ceremony held in Sarajevo today. Mine Action Centre in BiH (BH MAC) and NGO “Stop Mines”, in cooperation with the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina, presented Mine Action projects to state and entity officials, various donors and international community representatives.
Head of Operations in the EU Delegation to BiH, Mr. Holger Schroeder, stressed that safety and security of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina is important to the EU. He added that underlying the EU perspective of the country is the belief that the whole territory should be open to its people – to live, to work and to build the future. “The European Union will continue supporting the demining efforts with 7.5 million EUR under IPA 2011. Besides demining and development issues, we will also concentrate on the social integration and improvement of lives of victims of mine accidents and their families”, Shroeder stated.
The EU has supported Mine Action with a total of 41 million euro since 1996. According to the BiH Mine Action Strategy, the final date of demining of BiH territory should be 2019.
