Norway Closing Embassy in Sofia to Tighten Up Budget

Norway is closing several diplomatic missions around the globe, its embassy in Bulgaria included, the country's government has said.

At the same time Oslo is boosting its diplomatic presence in other places such as Haiti and southern India.

As of next year, "[t]he embassies in Astana (Kazakhstan), Sofia (Bulgaria), Lusaka (Zambia) and Harare (Zimbabwe) will close," a statement at the Norwegian government's website reads.

The news comes against the backdrop of an increase of Norwegian investment into Bulgaria over the past years.

Some EUR 126.6 M have been earmarked under Norway-Bulgaria programs for 2009-2016.