Attending the Signing ceremony were Mr.Lou McGrath OBE, MAG UK Chief Executive; Mr.Rob Macgillivray, MAG UK Operations Manager; Mr.Jimmy Roodt, MAG Vietnam Country Programme Manager. On the side of Quang Binh province, there were Mr. Nguyen Huu Hoai, Vice-chairman of PPC and members of MAG project in Quang Binh.

Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony between two sides

MAG project has operated in Quang Binh since 2002. After five year of operation, the project collected and cleared mines in 79 of 159 communes, wards and towns; clear over 150 ha of landmines with more than 56,000 mines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) discovered and cleared. Besides, the project also assisted localities in building school, infant school, cultural house and rural traffic road with the total capital of US$120,000. To date, MAG project has provided Quang Binh province with over US$4.8 million, of which US$1.56 million for the first phase. According to the plan, in the second phase, the project will continue to implement clearance of landmine and UXO in communes of Quang Ninh district and Quang Trach district. Concretely, the Ministry of UK Foreign Affairs committed to fund US$900,000 for MAG Quang Binh from July 2008 to June 2009 and the Adopt - A - Minefield Organization committed to fund US$549,000 for MAG Quang Binh in 2008.

On the basis of obtained results in two phases (2002-2008) and needs for landmines and UXO clearance in Quang Binh province, MAG agreed to assist Quang Binh in implementing the Project for the third phase from January 2009 to December 2011.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding, district-wide areas for operations will be agreed between the Quang Binh PPC and MAG, based on the agreed priority district plan prepared by the PPC. Besides, MAG will follow the regulations of the Government of Vietnam on International NGO activities in Vietnam; provide specialists wherever necessary to ensure the quality of project delivery to the highest standards; purchase the necessary project equipment as required in order to conduct operations required at MAG. Together with relevant authorities, MAG will co-ordinate all the project's activities and establish relationships with other NGOs who are promoting development activities in the areas cleared by MAG.

On the side of Quang Binh province, the province will continue with the current maintenance of the Project Steering Committee to oversee and monitor project activities and take over responsibility for the management of the UXO clearance resources after the end of the project if MAG does not require them to supplement other humanitarian mine action (HMA) projects in Vietnam to benefit the Vietnamese community as a whole. Concurrently, the province will support MAG, in compliance with Vietnamese laws, as an international NGO specializing in humanitarian mine action; ensure local authority management and administrative issues relating to the project are carried out in a timely and effective way.

By N.Y