Mr. Under-Secretary-General. Delegates.

1. It is with great pleasure that I - on behalf of the Danish Government - take the floor today to welcome all of you to this conference on Mine Clearance Technology.

2. The background - however - is as sad as can be: We experience a continuing humanitarian disaster caused by around 100 million unexploded anti-personnel landmines in close to 70 countries. Every year landmines are maiming or killing at least 25,000 people, half of them children. New landmines are placed with a speed that by far exceeds the present level of mine clearance. The clearance operation is dangerous and costly. The survivors of mine accidents with amputated limbs number more than 250,000 and cost more than one billion dollars for treatment and rehabilitation. Scarce health sector resources are being further strained in many poor countries. Large tracts of arable land and grazing areas for livestock are left unused with serious loss of economic opportunities. Fragile peace agreements and reonciliation efforts are threatened by repeated mine accidents even years after hostilities have ceased.

3. This is the sad and serious background for this conference. The idea of calling the conference, as a joint venture between the Department of Humanitarian Affairs and Danida, was born during a discussion late last year, when Mr. Akashi's predecessor - Mr. Peter Hansen - visited Copenhagen. When reviewing with him the most pressing humanitarian issues we discussed the need to urge for improved technology for mine clearance in all relevant fora. I was immediately very positive indeed to offer Danish assistance to realize the idea of calling a conference with this purpose.

We are therefore now here to work together during the next three days to promote research and development concerning better mine clearance technology. We are also here to discuss technical standards for mine clearance projects. As a further outcome I hope that the conference will stimulate future networking among researchers and specialists in product development and thereby improve international contacts and joint ventures. During the conference - I am sure - it will also be made quite clear that the aid donor community is prepared to assist investments in new and better technology.

4. Let me make a few comments on the modalities of the conference: At a planning meeting in New York in December last year I participated in further elaborating the plans for the conference. We decided to combine two major topics: 1. Standards for humanitarian mine clearance operations and 2. Technology for mine clearnace operations, into one agenda. It was further decided to organize parallel to the conference the exhibition, which we have just opened, to illustrate and demonstrate the present state of technology and methodology and to indicate the potential for further technological advances.

5. It was futher decided to invite all countries with serious mine clearance problems and countries, which have contributed to the funding of UN-sponsored mine clearance programmes and with a capacity to fund and support technology development for detection and clearance of anti-personnel landmines.

6. I am indeed very satisified with the response to our invitation. Almost 70 government were invited and around 50 have responded positively and have sent delegates competenet in the respective technical fields. I do regret that some countries have chosen to stay away notably China {, Russia} and Pakistan. Almost all invited international NGOs are here as well as most of the invited intergovernmental organisations. In addition a large number of observers have on their own request been approved to participate. Each and everyone - I am sure- with a solid interest in the topic.

7. Let me raise a few issues which seem to me to illustrate the dilemma, we are faced with.

7.1. My first question is: why is the technology for detection of landmines - especially related to humanitarian mine clearance programmes in the poorer countries - not further developed already?

Obviously technology development is induced by the level og effective demand for it. The progress we have experienced since the last world war is beyond imagination. The race for the exploration of outer space has since its inception in the 1950s induced further speed and quality into research and development by government agencies and private firms. The new information technology has revolutionized our lives in many ways.

Where the demand is weak and where funding and political interest is limited, technology development moves - at best - very slowly. Appropriate technology for developing countries always appears to be losing out in the competition for available global resources for R & D. I am often confronted with this fact in my work as minister for development cooperation. Although a special effort has been done for decades - with special funding also from the budgets for development cooperation - it is still striking that researchers and developers are not more keen to trace the links between technology advances geared to the development in poor countries and adaptation of such technology to more advanced societies.

I sincerely hope that this conference can illuminate these links as far as mine detecion technology is concerned. That successful product development adapted to the cleaning up of the many battlefields in poor countries will also entail development of important elements for military use.

7.2. The second question I would like to ask is: Why has it not been possible to adapt the technology used in military operations for mine field breaching to humanitarian mine clearance projects?

The links are obvious and should work both ways. It is a fact that vast amounts have been spent to develop, produce and operate heavy duty hardware for mine field breaching while the efforts to adapt modern military technology to the environments of pooe developing countries are hardly noticeable.

8. Against this background I would like to express a hope and to make a commitment:

8.1. My hope is that this conference can help draw the attention of researchers, product developers, aid donors, military experts, civilian administrators, NGOs, the press and others to be much more aware of the need for technology development in this field. I hope these three days will illustrate to all participants where the bottlenecks are - and where the potential for new products can possibly be found. I hope that private companies will receive a further inducement to realize how their resources can be combined to help limit the inhumane effects of the mine menace and how to create profits for the owners of their companies. It might be an overly optimistic and idealistic hope, but even so: I also hope that this conference can create new networks and alliances that can promote further research and development.

8.2. And now my commitment. The policy for development cooperation of my Government gives the highest priority to poverty oriented assistance and to efforts helping the most vulnerable groups. We have already committed a very high percentage of our total assistance to projects in many of those countries, which are affected by mines. Some of these are among the 20 programme countries selected for bilateral Danish support programmes. In addition I would like to reiterate our commitment to allocate funds from the budget for humanitarian assistance to support wuch programmes through NGOs - Danish as well as internatiomal - and through the UN-system, notably the work sponsored by the Department of Humanitarian Affairs. My commitment on this occasion is to increase our allocation for this work.

Finally my Government will closely monitor the possibilities of further suppoerting initiatives taken by the Danish research community to develop mine detection equipment. Presently a Danish para-statal organization, The Centre for Advanced Technology, is coordinating a feasibility study. If our assessment of the results of the study is positive, the plan is to initiate further practical experiments and the development of prototypes.

9. In closing let me combine my hope and my commitment. If an appropriate, small scale, low cost, technically feasible, safe, sure and easy to operate mine detector for all types of mines can be developed, there will be large amounts of aid funds available to speed up the clearance operations. The standards for such operations - hopefully further refined at this conference - will assist to assure the quality of such operations. If this conference can bring us cloer to this scenario we might seriously start to hope for turning the trend of the mine menace.

10. Let me also express the hope that more countries - ultimately all countries - will support the can on anti-personnel landmines. This is not the topic on this occasion, but obviously so closely connected that it deserves mentioning. The CCW Review COnference in Vienna and Geneva has led to progress already. Denmark has also declared a total ban. Let me express the hope that more government will soon follow.

11. Finally: Let me once more welcome all of you to Denmark and to this MCT-Conference. I wish for all of us that the conference will move smoothly and productively through the rather heavy agenda. I am looking forward to the programme - not least to the repots from the working groups the day after tomorrow.

12. It is my pleasure and privilege now to declare the MCT-Conference open.

13. - and I now invite Under-Secretary-General and Head of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Yasushi Akashi, to take the floor.