US Ambassador to Tajikistan Ken Gross and Deputy Minister of Defense of Tajikistan, Major General Vyacheslav Grudyna took part in today’s handover ceremony of the Mini MineWolf demining machine to Tajik Ministry of Defense.
According to the US Embassy in Dushanbe, the US Embassy and OSCE collaborated closely with Tajik Ministry of Defense and Tajik Mine Center in the field of humanitarian demining. The goal of this collaboration was to support demining efforts and clear Tajikistan’s territory from landmines to make it safe for the population.
In the past two years Tajik Ministry of Defense was using the Mini MineWolf, which was provided by the US Government for temporary use, to demine boundary areas. Now Tajikistan will have its own remote demining potential. The $1mln-worth machine is designed for safe demining process. Any site demined by the machine can be marked “demined” without any additional demining tests, the embassy said.
In addition to the machine, OSCE Bureau will provide technical support to coordinate more targeted use of the equipment.
The purchase and delivery of the machine was funded by the US Government’s Foreign Military Financing Program and coordinated by the US Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation.
