The Ukraine Mine Action Partner Coordination Workshop was successfully concluded today, in Geneva. Co-hosted by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), it was supported by Canada, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. Over 100 stakeholders from Ukrainian national authorities, donor governments, international organizations, and mine action operators gathered to advance coordination and accelerate the implementation of Ukraine’s National Mine Action Strategy. Throughout the two-day workshop, participants discussed partnerships and ways to leverage innovative technologies, streamline resources and processes and reinforce the role of mine action.
In the last panel, which featured the Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Ihor Bezkaravainy, and the Director of the GICHD, Amb. Tobias Privitelli, Ambassador Leonardo Bencini recalled the importance of humanitarian demining, “which plays a central role in promoting international peace and security”. In the case of Ukraine, the Ambassador added, demining is “a prerequisite for ensuring food security, essential services and the very physical reconstruction of both rural and urban areas”. Finally, the Ambassador underlined the “prominent role” that demining will have at the next Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2025) in Rome on 10 and 11 July.
