UDS Presented Proposals to the Ministry of Economy to Improve the Methodology for Calculating the Cost of Humanitarian Demining

🔹 A working meeting took place today between mine action operators and the Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Ihor Bezkaravainyi.

The event was attended by Dmytro Panshyn, Head of the Humanitarian Demining Department of the Ministry of Economy; Oleh Stoiev, Head of the Mine Action Office of the Ministry; Volodymyr Baida, Director of the Humanitarian Demining Center; and leaders of operators involved in humanitarian demining efforts.

📌 Oleksandr Romaniuk, UDS Director of Economics, presented a set of proposals for improving the Methodology for Calculating the Cost of Humanitarian Demining of Agricultural Land. He emphasized that the current methodology includes abnormally low wage levels for deminers and unrealistically high productivity norms for demining teams, which leads to understated cost estimates for such operations.

✅ The Ministry of Economy expressed support for the initiative to revise the methodology. An agreement was reached to proceed with its update.

🔔 Additionally, Ministry representatives announced an initiative to expand the state compensation program for farmers for the demining of agricultural land. In particular, it was proposed to allow local communities and individual landowners to independently apply for the demining of their land.

🛠 Special attention was given to the initiative by Volodymyr Petrachenkо, Head of TRANSIMPEX DEMINING, who proposed the creation of a new official profession — humanitarian deminer, and presented a training program for such specialists.

📚 A dedicated working group will be established to explore this initiative, review the proposed training model, and develop steps for its implementation in Ukraine.

🤝 We thank the leadership of the Ministry of Economy and our fellow mine action operators for the constructive dialogue, professional input, and shared commitment to increasing the effectiveness and safety of humanitarian demining efforts in Ukraine.

Special thanks to Ruslan Oliinyk, Deputy Head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, and Anastasiia Vyhivska, Deputy Head of the Bucha District Military Administration of Kyiv Region, for their support in organizing the event.