A meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Humanitarian Demining Centre (HDC) was held. The appointed director of the Centre, Volodymyr Baida, who presented the development plan of the budgetary institution to the members of the Supervisory Board in view of the priority tasks facing it, took part in the meeting.

“The appointment of Volodymyr Baida and the start of the Centre’s work are very timely. Currently, the implementation of the compensation programme for farmers for demining of agricultural land, where the Centre plays a very important role, is at the final stage. It is at the Centre that farmers’ requests will be processed and purchases of services for demining rural lands will be announced. This is an important step for the launch of the demining market, which will speed up the clearing of de-occupied territories,” Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Centre Ihor Bezkaravainyi noted.

“The number one task now is to launch the work of the Centre as soon as possible, so that the first procurements for demining services within the framework of the compensation programme for farmers will take place this quarter. The Centre will also strengthen international cooperation in this area,” Volodymyr Baida, Director of the HDC, said.

A member of the Supervisory Board, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Kuninori Matsuda welcomed the appointment of the director of the Centre and assured of his readiness to support the work of the Centre as a member of the Supervisory Board. Japan is ready to share its own experience and the experience gained in Cambodia, where the country participates in humanitarian demining. The ambassador Matsuda also emphasized the importance of informing the public about the work being done in the field of humanitarian demining.

“I had the honour to attend the first meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Humanitarian Demining Centre and congratulate the newly appointed director Volodymyr Baida. The Centre will be an important link for strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation in solving the problem of mass contamination of the territory of Ukraine with explosive ordnance, a critical humanitarian challenge from which more than 6 million Ukrainians suffer,” the Honorary Ambassador, Director at Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining Stefano Toscano said.

Peter Wagner, Head of the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, also took part in the first meeting of the Supervisory Board, which took place live. Oleksii Sobolev, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine for Digital Development, Sean Boyd, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Canada to Ukraine, and Davor Laura, Head of Operations of Croatian Mine Action Centre, joined the meeting in online format.

The main tasks of the Humanitarian Demining Centre are information collection and analysis, strategic planning, process coordination and international cooperation in the field of humanitarian demining. In particular, it participates in the planning of mine countermeasures, monitors the risks associated with explosive ordnance, submits proposals for national standardization in the field of mine countermeasures, promotes the implementation of a unified system of training and advanced training of personnel involved in demining.