The US organisation Peace Trees Vietnam (PTVN), which consists mostly ofAmerican war veterans, has helped Vietnam deactivate around 64,000pieces of explosives and clear over 138 ha of land contaminated with theunexploded ordnance (UXO) in the country’s central region since 1995.

The statistics were raised at an April 4 meetingin Hanoi between President of the Vietnam-US Association NguyenTam Chien and representatives from the PTVN.

Robert Stokes, who led the US delegation, said the visit from March 22to April 4 aims to review the recent relationship between the twocountries and the aftermath of the American War in Vietnam . He saidthe group had met with Vietnamese people and war veterans, and studiedthe progress by ongoing PTVN projects.

Chieninformed the guests of the recent activities by the Vietnam Union ofFriendship Organisation (VUFO) which aim to promote people-to-peoplerelations.

He also expressed his hope that PeaceTrees will continue its assistance to Vietnam in surmountingconsequences caused by the war in the country and help bolster thecompanionship of the two peoples.

He hailed theorganisation’s contributions to disarming UXO in Quang Tri’s Dong Hacity, and highlighted Vietnam’s efforts in the field over manyyears.

The guests reviewed the projects managedby the PTVN since 1995 in the central region of Vietnam, and saidthey will move on with a campaign programme seeking additional capitalsources for these projects.

Peace Trees has managed numerous charitable activities such as building schools, libraries and houses for local people.

During its 2011 and 2012 visits, the organisation made a 45-minutedocumentary film namely “Soldier’s Sanctury” following a US servicemanwho fought in Vietnam as he tries to achieve conciliation, healing andfriendship with the Vietnamese people by helping them recover from theaftermaths of the conflict.-VNA