LJUBLJANA, Slovenia - Clear Path International and the International Trust for Demining & Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) signed a partnership agreement this week that could bring more than $200,000 in new funding for CPI's survivor assistance work in central Vietnam.

The agreement with ITF, a nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by the Republic of Slovenia to support post-conflict rehabilitation in the neighboring, war-torn Balkans, opens the door to long-term collaboration between the two organizations in Southeast Asia.

Under the agreement signed by CPI President Imbert Matthee and ITF Head of Department for International Relations Sabina Beber Bostjancic at the latter's offices near Slovenia's capital city, CPI becomes ITF's implementing partner for landmine accident survivor assistance in SE Asia, starting with a large expansion of its existing program in Vietnam.

The agreement's first proposal commits ITF to raise $230,000 from among its 27 government and from various private-sector donors to match the funds Clear Path is raising from the U.S. State Department and U.S.-based private-sector donors in at least the same amount.

During the first decade of its existence, the ITF channeled more than $220 million in international donor funds to projects supporting mine clearance and victims assistance in more than a dozen countries, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, Armenia, Georgia and Lebanon.

ITF's funds would bring CPI's total Vietnam budget for the 2007 - 2008 fiscal year to nearly $500,000, making it possible to provide services to more than 1,700 landmine and UXO-accident survivors in at least four central coast provinces. ITF's funds would be used to provide direct medical and socio-economic support to survivors and support several projects expanding physical and rehabilitative services available to persons with disabilities in their communities.

Since 2000, Clear Path International(www.cpi.org) has assisted nearly 4,000 survivors of accidents involving explosive remnants of war in Vietnam, Cambodia and along the Thai-Burma border.

Clear Path International President, Imbert Matthee (left) signs new agreement to give hope to civilian victims of war with ITF Head of Department for International Relations Sabina Beber Bostjancic.