Norway plans to strengthen presence in India

Norway plans to strengthen its presence in India and Haiti while it would be closing down its embassies in Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Zambia and Zimbabwe in 2016, the ministry of foreign affairs said.

Next year, some changes will be made to Norway's diplomatic presence abroad - its embassies in Astana, Sofia, Lusaka and Harare will close and contact with the countries where embassies are to close will be maintained through other channels, Xinhua reported, citing the ministry statement issued on Wednesday.

During the course of this year, the ministry will open a new consulate general in Mumbai in India and next year, Norway would strengthen its presence in Haiti, one of its focus countries for development cooperation.

"The ministry must adapt to the changes that are taking place in the world, taking into account the resources available to run missions abroad. The structure of the foreign Service, and the location, size, tasks and priorities of the missions abroad must be constantly be assessed," Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende was quoted as saying.

The foreign service today is made up of 103 missions across the world.