BANGKOK, Jun 4 Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia Thea Ban explained at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart the position of his country on the issue of assistance in the training of demining specialists.
The minister said this on Sunday, answering questions after his speech at the last session of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit, a forum on regional security in the Asia-Pacific region that is taking place in Singapore. The meeting of the two ministers took place on the sidelines of the summit.
The summit is broadcast live on the website of London's private Institute for International Strategic Studies (IISS), which is the organizer of the event.
“On the Ukrainian issue. I met with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and we discussed a number of issues. I reaffirmed our clear and precise position, which is that, since we have certain experience related to mine clearance, we have the opportunity to provide other countries with training, as well as the ability to carry out work (on demining — ed.), if necessary, for example, under the auspices of the UN, as we have already done in many places,» Thea Ban said.
In January 2023, Cambodia hosted a two-week training for demining specialists of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Commenting on the training for the Ukrainian military at the time, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that Cambodia is ready to provide education and training to any country in the world, including Russia.
In May 2023, in a telephone conversation with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Volodymyr Zelensky expressed hope for continued cooperation between the two countries in the field of training demining specialists.
Cambodia is considered to be the country whose territory is more than all countries in the world littered with mines and unexploded ordnance as a result of the US Indochina War and the long-term civil war.
Demining activities began in the country in 1992. Since then, more than 1.15 million anti-personnel, more than 26,130 anti-tank mines and 3 million unexploded ordnance, including aerial bombs, including aviation cluster munitions, have been cleared in Cambodia. Cambodian sappers are highly valued in the UN international peacekeeping forces.