Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera reported on Monday that the country’s diplomatic missions in Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Romania and Syria will be terminated because of the country’s over-representation at these latitudes.
In addition, a sixth diplomatic mission, which was not detailed, will be downgraded from the level of ambassador to the level of minister councillor, chancellor Ribera added through a video released to the media.
The decision is the result of a report that the chancellor commissioned a year ago on the country’s diplomatic missions in the world, “to establish whether or not they really respond to the concerns of Chile and Chileans.” The study included the political relations with each country, as well as the cultural and economic relations and the number of Chileans living in it, among other variables, Ribera explained.
“As a result of this study we realized that we have an over-representation of diplomatic missions in Europe, but also in other parts of the world and that on the other hand we need to go to places that are very relevant for Chile today, such as some areas of Asia-Pacific,” the chancellor said.
Following the closure of these five embassies, Chile will open “new diplomatic missions with a commitment that they actually have a complete activity to carry out and be measured by their returns,” he added.
The Committee on Foreign Relations of the Chamber of Deputies quoted the chancellor to an extraordinary session on Tuesday to abound on this decision, detailed the newspaper El Mercurio.
