Vietnam needs about 50 more years to completely clear unexploded ordnance (UXO), said Senior Lieutenant General-Deputy Minister of National Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh, in an interview about Vietnam’s priorities of clearing UXO and maintaining sustainable peace during its President of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). He calculated that the UXO-contaminated areas in Vietnam are about 5.5 million hectares, and the country has fixed about 500,000 hectares and can continue at the pace of 100,000 hectares a year. He reminded that the target is that no bomb & mine accident against the people would end in 2030. He added that Vietnam set the UNSC priorities as settling UXO consequences, in order to remind other nations not to wage war; to prove that Vietnam seeks cooperation with former enemies (such as the United States), skips the past, but does not forget the past; and to emphasize that post-war settlement (such as UXO clearance, dioxin detoxification) is a key part of defense cooperation. Mr. Vinh also listed difficulties in clearing UXO in Vietnam. He stressed that the biggest issue is that the people are not afraid of UXO, giving examples of some people unlocking and transporting UXOs. He added that Vietnam should be thankful for the U.S. people and war veterans and their relatives for pushing the U.S. government to be accountable for post-war settlement in Vietnam. (VietnamNet, vietnamnet.vn [1], vietnamnet.vn [2])