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June 7, 2004A few weeks ago in Kaunas, I had the honour of congratulating the deminers of the Juozas Vitkus Engineering Battalion, who have successfully destroyed the most powerful explosive, found in Lithuania so far – a World War II bomb of half a tone weight. Such remnants of the war are not rare in the land of Lithuania. This event reminded that explosive remnants of war could claim their victims even after decades. Civilians, not soldiers usually get caught in this hardly noticeable trap. Mines do not know truce or peace treaties. Mines are still an implacable enemy in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq and Croatia. Minefields prevent peaceful development of the war-impoverished countries and make the refugees to seek for asylum in other countries. This weapon is a humanitarian disaster. Our duty is to prevent such a disaster. Thus, this day is of extreme importance: the last 340 mines will be destroyed and after several minutes Lithuania will be announced a country without antipersonnel mines.Today’s event finalises the consistent work of the Lithuanian diplomats, military and our foreign partners, having lasted for seven years. We were one of the first in the region to sign the treaty banning antipersonnel mines in 1999, the first to submit a report on voluntary grounds without being a party to the Convention, the first in the region to ratify the Convention and the first in the neighbouring countries to destroy these mines. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Governments of Canada and other participating countries, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Campaign to Band Landmines and many other people, who have strived to implement this humanitarian aim and have advanced the Ottawa process. Today Lithuania bids farewell to these weapons, but it is not yet over. Over 100 million of antipersonnel mines are still there in the world; thousands of people live in the vicinity of minefields. As a new member of the European Union and NATO, Lithuania plans to join the donors, helping to get rid of this weapon, in the nearest future. I believe that our joint efforts will lead to achievement of the high aim – to live in the mine-free world.