Strengthening cooperation in humanitarian demining: Ihor Bezkaravainyi meets with Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine Masashi Nakagome

Deputy Minister of Economy Ihor Bezkaravainyi briefed the Japanese delegation on the priority areas of work of the Ministry of Economy in the field of humanitarian demining.

“I am grateful to the Japanese Government for its continued support and attention to humanitarian demining. Japan is one of Ukraine’s key partners in this area and has already supported Ukraine with more than USD 70 million, transferred dozens of demining vehicles and heavy equipment, and other necessary equipment. We look forward to further fruitful partnership, because clearing the land of explosive ordnance as a result of a full-scale invasion is a matter of public safety, business development and the reconstruction of Ukraine,” said Ihor Bezkaravainyi.

The Deputy Minister added that the exchange of experience in humanitarian demining, training of deminers, and increasing the number of certified mine action operators to ensure faster survey and clearance of territories remained relevant for Ukraine. Currently, 63 operators are certified in Ukraine, the number of deminers has increased to more than 4,000, and 98 demining machines are working in the fields.

Ihor Bezkaravainyi invited the Japanese Ambassador, Masashi Nakagome, to join the Sectoral Working Group (SWG) on Humanitarian Demining as a co-chair, and he readily agreed to take on this role. The SWG now has nearly 70 members from 49 countries. In particular, during the work of the sectoral working group, it has managed to attract more than USD 450 million in additional support for demining in Ukraine.

The parties also discussed the organisation of the Ukraine Mine Action Conference to be held in Japan in autumn 2025.