Washington -- There is "an important new technology component to being able to achieve our 2010 (global demining) Initiative," Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl Inderfurth told a group of journalists in Washington May 20.

Inderfurth, who was appointed by President Clinton as U.S. special representative for global humanitarian demining, cited the need to develop new technologies that will "make demining more effective, safer and more efficient."

He said the Washington Conference on Global Humanitarian Demining, which is being held in Washington May 20-22, will address this and other aspects of the demining issue. Another pressing priority is to implement a United Nations Level One Survey in the 12 most mine-afflicted countries (Angola, Afghanistan, Mozambique, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Vietnam, and Rwanda) to determine priorities, needs and resources for mine clearance.

"There are some 60 countries that have landmines but there are 12 countries that are most afflicted because of civil conflict and war. We think there should be a very concerted effort now to do standardized...surveys of those 12 countries so that we can start to establish priorities on how to go about removing landmines in those countries," Inderfurth said.

Research and development of new demining technologies is a subject that the conference participants also will discuss. "A lot of work is being done by governments, by national laboratories, by private companies to find new ways to detect and to destroy landmines," Inderfurth pointed out. "We do not believe that there is a silver bullet where one thing will be discovered and then we will be able to get rid of the tens of millions of landmines overnight, but we do believe that new technologies can be applied in certain circumstances to make the job more efficient, more rapid and safer. So we'll be looking at that."

The U.S. State Department convened the conference in support of the U.S. 2010 Initiative to remove landmines that threaten civilians from the ground within 12 years. Participants include representatives from the major donor countries, including 21 governments, international and regional organizations, about 15 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and public and private groups from around the world.

"The United States is making a major contribution to this effort by significantly increasing resources," Inderfurth said. "Last year we had $40 million devoted to demining activities; this year it's $80 million; it will be $100 million next year and we hope it will go over that amount in the years to follow."

In addition, he said, the U.S. has military personnel in 17 countries -- to be increased to 21 countries -- "helping with training and providing equipment through our Defense Department. We're trying to work together with the international community, joining forces to accomplish this task" by or before the year 2010.

Conference participants will share their knowledge and expertise to see if they can come up with an agreed number of landmines still embedded in the ground throughout the world.

"The last time we had a publication from the State Department entitled 'Hidden Killers,' the estimates were from 80 to 110 million landmines," Inderfurth said, adding: "I think the experience of the international community over the last several years in demining activities suggest that those numbers are lower." He says identifying a lower number might give the international community "a boost to recognize that this is a more accomplishable task than some had thought it would be."

The problem is still "enormous," he warned. "It's still an international landmine crisis, but we believe the numbers are lower than have been estimated."

Public-private partnerships are another focus of the conference. Inderfurth said a government partnership with the private sector is "the only way to achieve this effort of ridding the world of landmines. We want to see what our companies, our foundations, what private individuals can do to assist us in this effort. We think there is a great reservoir of interest and resources out there than we can mobilize."

Finally, Inderfurth said, a military-to-military dialogue is taking place at the conference "to talk about the contributions our military is making in terms of humanitarian demining through training, equipping, research and technology. So those countries who have chosen to do so have sent military advisors and they will join in this military-to-military dialogue." He noted that the United Kingdom, Canada, and many other countries' militaries are already actively involved in the global demining effort.

Asked why mine-afflicted nations were not invited, Inderfurth said the conference is focusing on donor countries. However, and importantly, he said, there is regional representation at the conference by such groups as the Organization of American States (OAS), the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). South Africa's delegate plans to address one of the plenary sessions.

Asked about the next step for the Demining 2010 Initiative, Inderfurth said the U.S. will reach out to others in the international community who can make a contribution -- large or small -- to the demining effort.

"We believe, for instance, that Russia has an interest in demining activities. They have experience in demining, they have technologies and have indicated an interest in being involved, as have the Chinese." Inderfurth said he would also like to see South Asia involved, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh -- the first South Asian country to sign the 1997 Ottawa Convention banning landmines.

"So we're going to reach out beyond this group to the broader international community" to use their financial or other resources, working together with other countries in the region on demining activities in the way that "Central America is working through the OAS and SADC with Southern Africa".