Austerity plans averted: Switzerland will not close its embassy in Bolivia after all

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The Swiss government needs to save money. All departments must therefore take the red pencil. The embassy in La Paz (Bolivia) should therefore have closed in the summer of 2024, and the consulate general in Chengdu in China should have closed by the end of 2023.

The “NZZ am Sonntag” reported on these plans in the summer of 2023; The Department of State (EDA) confirmed the information at the time.

Stored elsewhere

But now the Foreign Ministry of Ignazio Cassis (62) has changed its plans. However, both representations are still mentioned in the recently published Foreign Policy Strategy 2024 – 2027. The external network is crucial for Switzerland and the global representation of its interests, writes the FDFA at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Disconnections in the external network are usually the last option. Thanks to intensified savings efforts at the head office, it has so far been possible to achieve the savings targets without the planned closures.

The austerity package of early 2023 included a savings mandate of around 64 million francs for the EDA. According to EDA information last summer, the costs for the more than 160 foreign missions amounted to approximately 500 million francs. (SDA/them)

Source:Blick