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Sweden to close New York and LA consulates

The Swedish foreign ministry announced on Thursday it was closing one embassy and four consulates general, including those in New York and Los Angeles due to budget constraints.

Published: 23 July 2009 11:54 CEST

The official announcement of the closures, which have been rumoured for months, comes despite vociferous opposition to the move from US-based Swedes and the Swedish business community.

In addition to the closings in the US, Sweden will also shutter consulates in Guangzhou, China and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, as well as the embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In announcing the closures, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt blamed the move on budget shortfalls begun under the previous Social Democratic government.

“When I took office as Minister for Foreign Affairs in autumn 2006, the Ministry had a budget deficit of over 50 million kronor ($6.6 million). The deficit had been built up over several years and the previous government maintained activities that had no financing,” Bildt said in a statement.

“With these changes, we will balance the budget and at the same time renew working methods.”

The cuts are part of a broader cost-savings effort which will reduce the ministry’s real estate outlays by 50 million kronor annually and eliminate 100 positions by the end of 2010.

When rumours about the possible closure of Sweden’s consulates general in New York and Los Angeles began circulating earlier this spring, many US-based Swedes as well as members of the Swedish business community voiced their displeasure over the plans.

The Swedish American Chamber of Commerce of New York (SACC-NY) warned of “monumental negative consequences” and sent a letter to Bildt urging him to reconsider the decision.

But in the end, the ministry’s budgetary challenges took precedence.

According to the ministry, Sweden’s consulate-general in Los Angeles will be closed by the end of 2009, at which point the embassy in Washington, DC will take over responsibility for the nine honourary consulates which currently report to the Los Angeles consulate.

Efforts are also underway to find a way to open an honourary consulate in Los Angeles at some point in the future, according to the foreign ministry.

Closure of the Consulate-General in New York is expected to be completed by January 31st, 2010. Curent plans call for the current consulate to be replaced by an honourary consulate to provide some services to Swedish citizens in the area.

International trade matters will continue to be handled in New York by the Swedish Trade Council (Exportrådet) and the Invest in Sweden Agency, with additional responsibilities falling to the embassy in Washington.

The closure of the consulate-general in Kaliningrad is set to be completed by October 31st or this year, with the consulate-general in Guangzhou is set to be closed a month later.

The ministry expects the closure of the embassy in Colombo to be completed by March 31st, 2010.

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INTERVIEW: How the UK’s Oslo envoy is getting stranded Brits home

The UK's ambassador to Norway Richard Wood himself only got out of quarantine on Wednesday after twelve long days. But he's nonetheless been working tirelessly with embassy staff over the last two weeks to help get Brits back to the UK.

Published: 25 March 2020 15:49 CET
INTERVIEW: How the UK's Oslo envoy is getting stranded Brits home
British ambassador Richard Wood takes a break from quarantine last week. Photo: Screenshot/Twitter
He spoke to The Local as he launched a video appeal to British people in Norway temporarily for business or a holiday to take the next available flight back to the UK. 
 
“There are still daily flights on British Airways and also some regional flights to Aberdeen at the time of speaking, but I don't know for how long,” he said. 
 
“People risk finding themselves stuck here against their will once the travel options have run out, and they will then be separated from friends and family in the UK. They may also not be covered for medical care in Norway if they were to fall ill.” 
 
Most of the British citizens who were in Norway at the time of the country's lockdown was announced on March 12 have already managed to make it back to the UK, Wood said. 
 
Initially, many were confused when the rules were announced. 
 
“The announcement caught people by surprise, and it was made retrospective, so there were a number of tourists already in the country who were told that they had to go into quarantine, and it wasn't clear to them whether they had the option of leaving, or whether they had to stay the full two weeks.”  
 
The embassy worked with Norway's authorities to clarify that day that non-residents who chose to leave the country immediately would not need to spend 14 days in quarantine. 
 
Embassy staff then had to negotiate with Norwegian county and municipal governments who were unwilling to let foreigners they believed should be in quarantine travel to airports. 
 
Now, the few who are still left in Norway are stuck because of flight cancellations. 
 
“We're aware of a couple of groups of people who have had difficulties because successive flighs have been cancelled,” he said. “We're not aware of any people who seem to be stuck here without any possibility of return.” 
 
Aside from getting Brits in Norway home, he said, he has also helped get Norwegian citizens back to the UK by finding space for them on flights for British nationals. 
 
Beyond the consular side of things, the UK also had to repatriate British troops and military equipment from norther Norway where they were preparing to take part in a Nato exercise. 
 
Then there is work ongoing ensuring supplies of Norwegian gas and electricity to the UK if the crisis worsens, and ensuring fish exports can still make it to UK supermarkets even if road borders are closed across Europe. 
 
And that all needs to be done with most staff out of the office. 
 
“It's quite interesting,” Wood said. “We're adjusting to new ways of doing things: we have all of our meetings by video conferencing and audio conferencing. We are keeping the embassy open. It's certainly open for business, and we're still doing the things we would be normally — talking to companies, talking to the ministries — we're just doing it differently.” 
 
Here's a tweet from the UK embassy describing the new work conditions.  
 
And here's Richard Wood reporting from quarantine last week. 
 
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