Czech Republic to close six diplomatic missions

The Czech Republic will close six diplomatic missions to due to financial reasons, Czech news agencyCTK reported Friday.

The six missions include the country's embassies in Angola, Zimbabwe and Colombia, and its general consulates in Montreal, Sydney and Sao Paulo.

Meanwhile, the Czech government plans to open an embassy in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.

The reason for closing the missions is financial, government sources said.

The budget for the Foreign Ministry has been slashed in the wake of global economic crisis. Local newspaper Pravo said the move would help to save 250 million to 300 million crowns (about 14 million to 17 million U.S. dollars).

However, there were speculations that the consulate in Montreal would be closed as a reaction to the Canadian decision not to allow Czech citizens into country without an entry visa.

The Czech government said it would like to share some embassies with Slovakia and other countries of the Visegrad bloc -- a group of four Central European countries also including Hungary and Poland -- to reduce the costs.

According to Pravo, the Czechs would like to invite Austrian diplomats to stay in their embassy in Cairo, while Czech diplomats could move into Austrian buildings in Montenegro's Podgorica.

Source: Xinhua