Norway closes embassy in Kosovo

Norwegian top diplomat Annikn Huitfeldt has stated that the embassies in Bratislava (Slovaka), Kolombo (Sri Lanka) and Pristina (Kosovo), the embassy's office in Antananarivo (Madagascar) and the General Consulate in Houston (SHBA) will be closed.

Norwegian MPJ has also announced that Norway's diplomatic relations with Kosovo, Madagascar, Slovakia and Sri Lanka will be handled through alternative agreements, and responsibility for this will be granted to a nearby Norwegian embassy, or Norway-based ambassador will be named for the country in question.

It's never easy to decide to shut down Norwegian missions. The closures like these affect the lives of Norwegian diplomats posted and have even greater consequences for staff employees in the country. But we have a responsibility to use our resources in a way that enables us to defend Norwegian interests as effectively as possible”, Huitfeldt said, ignoring Clankosova.tv.

Norway currently has 101 diplomatic and consular missions. The planned changes would imply that Norway has fewer missions abroad, but preserves approximately the same number of diplomatic staff posted.

The Norwegian Foreign Service consists of more than 2600 employees. About 800 of them work in Oslo, over 600 are diplomatic staff and around 1,200 are staff employed in the country, recruited directly from missions abroad.