The office of the national steering board on the consequences of toxic chemicals during the war in Vietnam (Office 33) should expand collaboration with such traditional partners as Japan and the Republic of Korea to boost international cooperation in the coming time.
The office of the national steering board on the consequences of toxic chemicals during the war in Vietnam (Office 33) should expand collaboration with such traditional partners as Japan and the Republic of Korea to boost international cooperation in the coming time.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen was speaking at a meeting to review the office’s performance in 2013 and put forth its action plan in 2014 in Hanoi on December 25.
The office should also make more efforts to treat dioxin contaminated land area in Bien Hoa airport, the southern Dong Nai province while having access to methods using advanced technologies to deal with the toxic chemical consequences, Tuyen said.
A database identifying the contaminated areas is also needed, he added.
During the year 2013, the office’s assistance, the steering board directed and coordinated with the relevant ministries, agencies and localities to conduct activities to clean the toxic chemicals effectively.
The US troops sprayed 80 million litres of the defoliant Agent Orange, which contained almost 400 kg of toxic dioxin, on Vietnam’s southern battlefields during a 10-year period beginning on August 10, 1961.
(Source:VNA)
