Hungary will increase the number of its peacekeeping troops from 1,000 to 1,200, Defense Minister Tibor Benkő told a meeting of the defense ministers of the United Nations members states in New York.
Benkő said Hungary remains committed to peacekeeping and anti-terrorism missions around the world and the headcount boost is partially designed to alleviate the United Nations' staff shortage in peacekeeping missions.
According to Rmx.news, Benkő met Irish Minister of State at the Department of Defence and discussed the Hungarian involvement in the U.N.' Lebanon peacekeeping missions during his US visit. Hungarian troops will serve there as part of a Polish company within a brigade led by Ireland.
Benkő also met Swedish defense minister Peter Hultqvist and shared Hungary's experiences in using the Swedish-made JAS 39 Gripen multirole aircraft. In May, Hungary is scheduled to take over from Poland NATO's Baltic Air Policing duties from Poland for the next four-month rotation.
According to the latest available Defense Ministry report, Hungary had 890 troops serving in various NATO, U.N. and EU missions. Its two largest contributions are to NATO's KFOR mission in Kosovo (350 troops) and the U.N.'s Cyprus mission (150).