ITF signed MoU with Germany for BH and Serbia

On 11th May 2009 at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Ulrich Schmidt, Deputy Chief of Mission at German Embassy and  Mr. Goran Gacnik, ITF Director, signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on which basis the Federal Republic of Germany entrusted yet another donation to the ITF.  The donations in the total amount of EUR 400.000 will be used for continuation of demining activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and for the final phaseof demining activities in Serbia.  
Federal Republic of Germany remains one of the most important and regular donor to ITF to tackle the mine problem in the region of South East Europe since the establishment of the ITF in 1998. Germany contributed a donation each year, all together more than 18.5 million.
Demining works for 2009 German donation to Bosnia and Herzegovina will be implemented by non-governmental organization Norwegian People Aid, in the context of their annual work plans.
Demining remains one of the key conditions for successful reconstruction and socio-economic development of mine contaminated countries. After the time periods that are related to the Ottawa Convention and the ITF strategic direction, Albania and Serbia should be declared as mine free until the end of 2009. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia still struggle with huge extent of mine problem which would be eliminated until the end of 2019.