The Minister for Foreign Affairs will sign the new international convention banning landmines in Ottawa next week, making Ireland one of the first signatories.
Speaking yesterday at a conference on landmines organised by the pro-justice group, Pax Christi, Mr Andrews said Ireland had been one of a small number of countries working tirelessly to obtain agreement on this convention.
"The challenge of the Ottawa Treaty is to secure a future free of anti-personnel mines. This means ensuring that no new mines are laid and dealing with the consequences of the use in the past of these obscene weapons," he said.
In 1997, Ireland committed £1 million to mine clearance and assistance to mine victims. This represented a significant component of our development co-operation budget this year, he said.
The Green Party MEP for Dublin, Ms Patricia McKenna, said that EU states producing landmines or component parts were facilitating a "slow-motion genocide."
"It is a crying shame that it took the death of Princess Diana to make banning landmines a matter of priority among the international community," she said.
Ms McKenna welcomed the announcement by the European Commission of an £11 million programme for developing new technologies to make mine clearance safer and faster.