(ANSA) - Italy's military contingent in Iraq will shortly be reduced by a further 10%, Defence Minister Antonio Martino said on Thursday, adding that the nation's commitment to Iraq remained unchanged.
Italy, which did not take part in the US-led war on Iraq, currently has the fourth largest contingent serving
there after the American, British (8,500) and South Korean (3,200).
After a drop from 3,200 to 2,900 in September, there will be a further reduction to 2,600 in January, Martino told journalists at an end-of-year press conference.
"Reducing the contingent does not mean withdrawal. That is a word which is not in our vocabulary," he said, referring to the force based in the southern city of Nassiriya.
"This is simply the implementation of our 'success strategy' -- as we complete our tasks we can lighten our presence while keeping up our commitment.".
The Italian contingent's mission now consists mainly of training and equipping the Iraqi security forces, the
minister said. The government will bring its plans for the Italian mission in Iraq before parliament in January, when measures ensuring state funding for foreign operations come up for renewal.
"Parliament will then give its view of that programme which must be linked to the political and institutional process which is under way and which has been given legitimacy by the United Nations," Martino said.
The defence minister said he had recently discussed this process with United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and the country's Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch ally of US President George W.Bush, has said that troop numbers will gradually be reduced as the situation improves in Iraq. He said last month that Italy expected to withdraw from Iraq at the end of 2006.
While the centre-left opposition claims the Italian troops in Iraq are involved in what amounts to an ongoing
war, the government insists on the humanitarian nature of the mission.
It said recently that Italians had helped the local population with "500 concrete operations" and also trained
10,000 Iraqis police and soldiers.
