Bulgaria has the potential to send a company and not a larger unit to Iraq, Defense Minister Nikolay Svinarov said April 17, citing financial reasons.

A day after it emerged that the United States have asked Bulgaria to send security troops to Iraq, Minister Svinarov said he expected other requests as well, concerning Bulgaria's engineer unit in particular.

The defense minister welcomed the idea of discussing possibilities for sending a larger unit to Iraq, adding that the resources needed will be huge.

The mission, to include patrols at sites and roads, is expected to take from three to six months.

In the opinion of Defense Minister Svinarov the Bulgarian unit's experience in this field has been highly assessed by the partners in the coalition.

General Nikola Kolev, Chief of the General Staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, is to present Friday a proposal for disbanding the Bulgarian contingent in Musachevo, where it is stationed.

The training of the newly recruited unit will continue for about a month. It will include 20 -25 members of the chemical and biological unit already at disposal.

The Bulgarian Government will pay the support of this new guarding unit. The daily allowance of USD 100 will not change since the risk factor remains the same.

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