Britain is to close 19 of its diplomatic missions abroad, including nine embassies and high commissions, by the end of 2006 in a cost-cutting drive, the Foreign Office said Wednesday. In a statement, it said the estimated 100 million pounds (145 million euros, 193 million dollars) in saved funds will be redirected into other key areas, such as "counter-proliferation, counter-terrorism, energy and climate change".
"Some of the savings will also be redeployed to strategic priority work within certain regions where we are closing posts, it said.
"In Africa, for instance, we plan to create new jobs to cover these issues across the region, with a new post in Nairobi to help support our work on climate change, one in Nigeria to cover energy and one in Pretoria to cover regional issues more generally as well as covering Maseru and Mbabane."
The embassies and high commissions to close are in:
AFRICA: Maseru, Lesotho; Mbabane, Swaziland; Antananarivo, Madagascar.
ASIA-PACIFIC: Port Vila, Vanuatu; Nuku'alofa, Tonga; Dili, East Timor; Tarawa, Kiribati.
SOUTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: Ascuncion, Paraguy; Nassau, Bahamas.
Nine consulates plus a trade office will also be closed in:
ASIA-PACIFIC: Fukuoka, Japan; Vientiane (trade office), Laos.
AFRICA: Douala, Cameroon.
NORTH AMERICA: Phoenix, Arizona; Dallas, Texas; San Juan, Puerto Rico.
EUROPE: Frankfurt, Leipzig and Stuttgart, Germany; Oporto, Portugal.
Several other consulates will be downgraded and staffed by local personnel, including consulates in Brisbane and Perth, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; Bordeaux and Lyon in France; Palma and Bilbao in Spain; Munich and Hamburg in Germany; and Seattle, Washington and Miami, Florida in the United States.
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