Bulgaria to close 7 of its embassies abroad due to lack of money

via CAAI

By The Associated Press (CP)

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgaria's foreign minister says his office plans to close seven of its embassies because of a lack of funds.

Nikolay Mladenov said Thursday he would make a proposal to the government to shut down the embassies in Sudan, Angola, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Thailand, Mexico and Tunisia.

The proposal, which would see a total of 101 Bulgarian embassy employees in those missions return home, is expected to be approved.

Mladenov said the closures should not be considered to be "a negative evaluation of the mutual relations between Bulgaria and those nations."

Currently, Bulgaria has 83 embassies, six permanent representations, 20 consular offices, and two diplomatic bureaus abroad.