Prague. June 7 (CTK) – Czech diplomacy must handle its network of missions carefully, any closure or opening of an embassy must be considered thoroughly and be in harmony with a long-term strategy, Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (Social Democrats, CSSD) told reporters today.
He reacted to President Milos Zeman’ statement in May in which he supported the reopening of the Czech embassy in Singapore.
“The network of diplomatic missions has been built for years. I am glad that we have managed to preserve it in a more or less same extent for the whole time, not only during the existence of the Czech Republic but also Czechoslovakia. It seems to me that we must deal with this carefully,” Zaoralek said.
Czechoslovakia, established in 1918, split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
“Any changes in it (embassies’ network) can be only made after being considered deeply and compared with our concepts,” he added.
This is also a matter of financial means, urgency and a certain strategy of Czech diplomacy, he added.
Zaoralek receives proposals for changes in the network of embassies and consulates not only from Zeman but also from the government members.
The Foreign Ministry analyses any such proposal thoroughly and it sends the results of the analysis, including the justification of its decision, to the person who proposed the change, Zaoralek said, adding that he would proceed accordingly in the case of Zeman’s proposal.
Zeman said during a recent visit by his Singaporean counterpart Tony Tan to Prague that he would like to talk to Zaoralek about the reopening of the Czech embassy in Singapore, which was closed in 2008.
Zeman said he recommended Zaoralek to “abolish the embassy in Upper Volta or any other similar country and reopen the embassy in Singapore because this corresponds to our economic interests.”
Upper Volta is a historical name of Burkina Faso that was used until 1984. The Czech Republic does not have an embassy in the country and its interests are represented by the embassy in Ghana.
The embassy in Indonesia is in charge of Czech interests in Singapore. Besides, there is a Czech honorary consulate in Singapore.
