Sweden will in 2008 open new embassies in Afghanistan, Sudan and Belarus as it plans to increase its humanitarian and financial aid to those countries, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
The Scandinavian country will open an embassy in Kabul early next year, allowing it to better "follow political developments in Afghanistan and participate actively in international co-operation" there, the ministry said in a statement. The new embassy is also important since Afghanistan has since 2001 "been one of the foremost recipient countries for Swedish development assistance," the ministry said, emphasising the Scandinavian country's heavy involvement in the International Security Assistance Force's reconstruction work in Afghanistan.
Sweden's new embassy in Khartoum, also set to open at the beginning of 2008, "will enable Sweden to act more forcefully in peace and conflict management missions in Sudan," the ministry said, adding that Stockholm today was the fifth largest humanitarian aid donor to Sudan.
In the second half of 2008, the ministry said Sweden would upgrade a section office in Minsk to an embassy, since "Belarus is one of Sweden's near neighbours and it is important to follow economic and political developments in the country by having a local presence." Sweden also said Wednesday it would close three other embassies, in Angola, Philippines and Laos.
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