Bucharest , January 18, 2005

The 100 Romanian soldiers that will be deployed in Iraq will leave only after the ending of negotiations between Romania, NATO and UN

The 100 Romanian soldiers that will be deployed in Iraq , following the decision of the Supreme National Defense Council will leave only after the ending of negotiations between Romania , NATO and UN, who requested this extra force.

The Head of the Public Relations Directorate of the National Defense Ministry, Lieutenant Colonel Gelaledin Nezir stated on Tuesday, January 18 th , that these negotiations refer to how and where the troops will be deployed and the tasks that they will have to accomplish.
Generally, their missions are about the protection of dignitaries and representatives of the UN that are involved in organizing the elections from the end of the month of January.

Lt.col . Nezir added that another 100 troops that are currently involved in various types of missions in Iraq will be withdrawn after the elections. He explained that in this way, the Ministry of Defense can make modifications as far as the specialties and tasks of the Romanian troops in Iraq are concerned, thus respecting the limits approved by the Parliament for the number of troops to be deployed outside the country.

On Monday night, the Supreme National Defense Council approved the modifications to the conditions of participation of the Romanian Army in the UN Protection Force in Iraq . On the UN request, The Council raised the number of soldiers by 100 infantry troops to serve in missions that will help the international institution.