Bulgaria signed Friday an agreement with Warsaw to dispatch its already prepared infantry battalion to Iraq under Polish command.

The officers who have been included in the avant-garde of Bulgaria's contingent took part in the last planning conference before the start of the peacekeeping mission. They will leave for Kuwait -- their first base in the Gulf - directly from Warsaw.

The rest of the avant-garde is expected to depart Saturday morning after their flight scheduled for Friday was postponed.

Thirty combaters waited for some five hours at the airport before they were told the flight was cancelled. The soldiers' armament and equipment is to be moved by ship.

This thirty-strong unit will "pave the way" for the rest of Bulgaria's peacekeepers. Their participation in Iraqi post-war reconstruction will cost some BGN 90 M until the end of 2003.

The US agreed to cover transportation and living expenses of the Bulgarians. However, Bulgaria hopes to negotiate additional funding for the Bulgarian soldiers to be based in Iraq's neighbouring countries.