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Memorandum Of Understanding Signed

Countries
Cambodia
Sources
Govt. Cambodia
Publication date
Origin
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A Memorandum of Understanding on Mine Detection Rats (MDR) Integrated with CMAC Demining Capacity project is signed between H.E. Heng Ratana, Delegate of the Royal Government in charge as Director General of Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) and Mr. Michael Heiman, Program Manager of Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnede Product Ontwikkeling (APOPO) Cambodia, at CMAC’s Headquarters in Phnom Penh on December 16th, 2019.

The project which will deploy totally 34 CMAC staffs of 6 teams including 2 Technical Survey and Clearance (TSC) teams, 2 Brush Cutter (BC) teams and 2 Mine Detection Rat (MDR) teams, will be implemented in Siem Reap under management of CMAC Demining Unit (DU) 4 and in Preah Vihear under management of CMAC DU 6 with total grant assistance of US$304,226.85, starting from January 1st to December 31st, 2020. With these tool boxes in demining operations, 130 hectares of landmine contaminated areas will be cleared and released in Siem Reap, and 300 hectares – in Preah Vihear in accordance with the project work plan.

Working in partnership with CMAC, APOPO, a Belgium NGO specialized in Hero-rats, has introduced MDRs to Cambodia since 2014, supporting CMAC demining activities. The integration of MDRs with manual deminers and demining machines has speeded up demining operations and increased productivity.

This year, CMAC and APOPO take a step forward by integrating a new concept of the technical survey smart dogs integrated with CMAC capacity. It is a long evaluation project that CMAC and APOPO have been doing together and gains interest from international communities.