This is the 13 successive year the German government has helped Vietnam overcome the aftermaths of wars and improve the living conditions for its people in the central region.

The charity programme has been organised by Solidarity Service International (SODI), a German non-governmental organisation (NGO) with the close cooperation of the Vietnamese army and local authorities.

Since 1998, SODI has helped defuse land mines for over 1,000ha in Quang Tri province and 500ha in Thua Thien-Hue province to turn them into settlement areas and agricultural land.

(VOV)