The 34 participating countries "stated a clear political support to Ukraine in demining," he said at the end of the first day of the event, adding that the support is accompanied by "concrete promises."
"Those promises amount to nearly half a billion euros," Božinović said, adding that further donations in technical material and equipment have also been agreed.
During the conference, he said "current international efforts should be directed at renewing peace in Ukraine as soon as possible and creating the prerequisites for returning to normal life."
The conference drew representatives of EU member states, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Azerbaijan, Norway, Switzerland, the World Food Programme, the UN Office for Project Services, the UN Development Programme, and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
It's a tragedy that in the 21st century our children have to learn how not to be killed by a mine, Ukrainian Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko said, thanking Croatia, which she said was a country with unique experience in demining, for initiating and organising this conference.
Demining will be the Ukrainian government's priority in the years ahead so that Ukrainians can return to mine-free ground, she said.
Ukrainian soldiers are conducting military demining while also fighting, the police are tasked with operational demining in areas outside the conflict, while humanitarian demining has not begun yet as it's necessary to clear all areas of mines, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said via video link.
We need your support in the war and post-war periods, he added.
The most intensive mine action is taking place in Kherson, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Donetsk, he said, adding that 1,000 demining experts were trained last year, 1,900 are active now and the plan is to raise their number to 2,800.
"As the host of this first international donor conference, Croatia has started actin at the European and international levels to support Ukraine in a demanding task that, judging by our experience, will last long," Božinović said, announcing that in October 2024, the conference will take place in Switzerland.