BRATISLAVA, June 19, (WEBNOVINY) — From September of this year, the Slovak peacekeeping mission in Cyprus will be reduced by 39 soldiers. They will be replaced by professional soldiers from Serbia after this country expressed interest in serving in the UNFICYP mission under Slovak command. Defense ministries of both countries agreed on this recently. In September, 39 Serbian peacekeepers will arrive in Cyprus to serve under Slovak command. They will serve as a guard platoon in Sector 4. „I’m glad we have so quickly agreed with the Serbian side. We are successfully cooperating with this country in several areas and we are delighted that we will also operate together in the UNFICYP mission. This documents our highly privileged relations in the area of defense,” said Slovak Defense Minister Lubomir Galko. Thanks also to the Slovak Ministry of Defense, Serbs will for the first time perform other tasks than observers in an international mission. „We still insist that the benefits of the mission in Cyprus for the armed forces are minimal and that we could use the money invested there in other ways for the defense department. Even after this change, Slovakia remains the leading country in its sector,“ said Galko. He added that Slovakia will slightly reduce the cost of its UN mission in Cyprus. At present, 198 Slovak soldiers serve in Cyprus.
Last year the cost of the Slovak mission represented 8.6 million euros. Of this amount, the United Nations, under whose flag the mission operates, refunds only a part. Last year it was 3.4 million euros. The Slovak Defense Ministry paid the remaining 5.2 million euros. Percentage of UN financial participation is decreasing. For example, in 2006 the Slovak Defense Ministry paid for its mission 3.2 million euros and the UN paid 5.3 million euros. This means that from 37-percent the Slovak Defense Ministry’s participation on the cost of this mission increased to 60 percent.
SITA