BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania will send 1,181 troops on foreign missions next year, 158 more than in 2015, chiefly to NATO operations in Afghanistan, the country's Supreme Defence Council said on Thursday.
"Of these (1,181), 943 can go to military theatres as well as individual monitoring and observation missions, while 238 will stay in the country, with the possibility of being relocated," the council said in a statement.
As well as in Afghanistan, Romanian troops are serving with NATO and EU missions in the former Yugoslavia.
The interior ministry will also contribute 1,530 police to missions of the EU, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), NATO and the United Nations.
Bucharest has said it will increase its national defence spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2017, a requirement of membership of NATO, which Romania joined in 2004.