On Monday, December 21, 2009 the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade Jennifer Brush will travel to Sid to join Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic, Ministry of Defense State Secretary Zoran Jeftić, Director of the Mine Action Center Petar Mihajlovic, Director of the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) Goran Gacnik, the Mayor of Šid Natasa Cvjetkovic, and members of the international community in an event organized by the Mine Action Center to mark the completion of a demining project in Šid.

The closing of this demining project concludes a seven-year effort in which the United States donated over $4.2 million to clear landmines that were placed along the Serbian border during the conflicts of the 1990s.

The event will include brief remarks by Chargé Brush, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic, and Director of the Mine Action Center Petar Mihajlovic.

The United States is the biggest donor to humanitarian demining in Serbia having contributed over $4.2 million to projects in Serbia since 2003, including almost $900,000 in 2009. Remica stan near Šid was the last demining project and the land will now be returned to local farmers.

This is the site where in 2000 a father was injured and his son killed from a mine that exploded while they were on their tractor. Work done on this site required the full range of equipment, including armored excavators, remote driven mine clearance vehicles, dogs, and human deminers.

As the world’s single largest financial supporter of humanitarian mine action, the United States has provided more than $1.5 billion toward landmine clearance and conventional weapons destruction in 47 countries.

In Serbia the U.S. works with the Slovene International Trust Fund (ITF) for Humanitarian Demining and Mine Victims Assistance, which has administered our funds in the region since 1999.