The two-day annual Ukraine Mine Action Conference 2024 (UMAC-2024) has started in Switzerland. Representatives of more than 60 countries and international organizations came to Lausanne at the invitation of the co-organizers, Ukraine and Switzerland.

The conference was opened by Viola Amherd, President of the Swiss Confederation, and Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine. The event was also attended by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Ignazio Cassis, Federal Councillor and Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Gordan Grlić Radman, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, Ly Thuch, Senior Minister and the First Vice President of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority and President of the Fifth Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, Tsuge Yoshifumi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Stanley L. Brown, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State, and others.

The organizers have prepared a rich programme for the conference participants in Lausanne: from informative panels to a virtual reality demining demonstration. A number of bilateral meetings are also planned as part of UMAC-2024.