Parliamentarians urge Govt to shutdown some embassies

Parliamentarians have called on government to reduce the number of its embassies to avoid embarrassing situations where embassy staff are served with eviction notices over unpaid rentals.

The call was made by Kindness Paradza, chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs. Said Paradza:

Remove or downgrade ambassadors where they are not necessary. While high-ranking diplomats, such as ambassadors are vital for Zimbabwe to promote its foreign policy, in many cases, having such high-ranking officials in every diplomatic mission may not be necessary.

Zimbabwe is sitting on a rental arears of $7 million accrued over years and some diplomats have been served with eviction notices. He said that the Foreign Affairs ministry should direct its limited resources specifically, to countries that are of economic value or benefit to Zimbabwe.

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