PRAGUE, Czech Republic, May 19 (UPI) -- The Czech government has approved a $635,000 subsidy for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization training mission in Iraq.
Cabinet spokesman Lucie Orgonikova told CTK press agency Wednesday that the new grant followed a similar one approved last year.
Five Czech military instructors are currently working in Baghdad within the NATO mission.
During the 2004 NATO summit in Istanbul the alliance decided to establish a military training academy at the National Defense University in Ar Rustamiya near Baghdad. Training began shortly afterwards. Germany, the Netherlands and the United States are main financial contributors to the NATO training mission.
The majority of the Czech training forces are based on the British Shaiba facility in northern Iraq, where about 100 Czech military policemen train local police officers. At present 169 Czech troops operate in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Czech Republic is attempting to assist Iraq financially as well, announcing on May 15 that it was canceling approximately $229 million of Iraqi debt, 80 percent of the Czech Republic's outstanding claims against Iraq.
