Komatsu Ltd. (hereafter 'Komatsu') (President and CEO: Hiroyuki Ogawa) was awarded the Grand Prize at the 21st Corporate Philanthropy Awards sponsored by the Japan Philanthropic Association (President: Yoko Takahashi) in recognition of Komatsu's efforts in clearing anti-Personnel landmines and community development support, one of the company's social contribution activities.

The presentation ceremony was held on March 1 at GAKUSHIKAIKAN (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo).

This award program honors social contribution activities that organically and sustainably utilize the company's management resources (human resources, know-how, technology, information, etc.) to solve social issues. The program was established in 2003 with the aim of conveying a fair, warm, and vibrant society to the next generation by communicating it to society at large.

As we capitalize our expertise as a construction and mining equipment manufacturer, we have been working with Japan Mine Action Service (JMAS), a certified non-profit organization, since 2008 in Cambodia and other areas have suffered from anti-personnel landmine damage, with the aim of developing communities from landmine disposal to reconstruction.

This activity, using anti-personnel demining equipment and construction machinery loaned free of charge, has expanded to Angola and Laos, and has cleared a cumulative sum of over 5,000 ha of land. In addition, the cleared land has been restored and improved for use as farmland and roads, contributing to doubling the rice harvest as well.

As we believe that education for the next generation is important after the return of residents to safer land, we have built new elementary schools or reconstructed schools, recording the total number of such schools to 10 in Cambodia alone. In recent years, some of the graduates of these elementary schools have been looking forward to go on to university, and we have launched a scholarship program in FY2023.

The Grand Prize was awarded in recognition of our bold and diligent efforts to revitalize the region, which are not limited to landmine clearance activities alone.

We are transforming a dangerous land contaminated with landmines into not only a land where people can live safely and feel at ease, but also a land with added value through the construction of roads and elementary school. To this end, we will continue to promote activities that contribute to the self-sustaining reconstruction of entire communities by providing support through our business.

Contact:

Tel: +81-(0)3-6849-9703

Email: JP00MB_cc_department@global.komatsu

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