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THE Swedish Embassy in Manila will be closing its
doors on or before June 30, 2008, an advisory from the embassy’s
website stated.
There are some 10,000 Filipinos
living in Sweden and most of them outside the capital of Stockholm.
The advisory said the decision to
close the embassy in Manila is part of a Swedish foreign ministry
review of its organizations abroad.
“This is an ongoing process
which sometimes leads to Sweden opening new or closing existing
embassies and consulates. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs must also
adapt its organization abroad to its budget and meet the demands for
streamlining that apply to all ministries and government
agencies,” the advisory said.
After the closure, Filipinos
applying for visas to Sweden will go to another Schengen Embassy in
Manila while an honorary consulate will be established to provide
basic consular support to Swedish citizens.
Schengen originates from a small
town in Luxembourg. In June 1985, seven European Union countries
entered into a treaty to end internal border checkpoints and
controls. At present, there are 15 Schengen countries, all in Europe
including Sweden.
Besides the Philippines, Sweden
will also close its embassies in Angola and Laos. However, Sweden
will open new embassies in Afghanistan, Sudan and Belarus in 2008 as
it plans to increase its humanitarian and financial aid to those
countries.
--Francis Earl A. Cueto
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