SARAJEVO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) will contribute 2.8 million euros (3.2 million U.S. dollars) to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for the destruction of surplus weapons and ammunition, according to an agreement signed in the EUFOR headquarters here on Friday.
The money will be spent on the European Union Project for the Reduction of Ammunition Excess and Safe Storage (EU STAR Project). Some 3,000 tonnes of unstable ammunition will be destroyed in the next two years in specialized domestic and international demilitarization facilities.
The project is the successor to the EXPLODE project which witnessed the disposal of more than 1,800 tonnes of ammunition.
The EUSTAR Project will see close cooperation between local authorities and international actors.
Lars-Gunar Wigemark,the head of the EU delegation to BiH, said currently there is 17,000 tonnes of ammunition in BiH and that the EU plans to reduce it below 10,000 tonnes by the end of the project.
Due to the 1990s war, BiH has a large stock of excess weapons and ammunition. Enditem
