Government Shuts Down Six Diplomatic Missions Abroad, Including Embassies in Brazil and Denmark

KATHMANDU – As part of an aggressive cost-cutting and administrative downsizing drive, the government has announced the permanent closure of six Nepali diplomatic missions abroad, including three residential embassies and three consulate offices. Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle made the official announcement on Friday evening while presenting the federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2083/84 in Parliament, identifying the residential embassies in Denmark, Brazil, and South Africa for complete closure. Additionally, the Consulates General in Chengdu, China, and San Francisco, USA, have been abolished, along with the extended branch office of the Nepali Embassy located in Visakhapatnam, India. Prior to this major restructuring, Nepal maintained residential embassies in 34 countries and Consulates General in 10 destinations. Currently, the top diplomatic posts in Denmark and South Africa remain vacant, while the tenure of the serving ambassador to Brazil is scheduled to conclude in a few months—a transition that follows the government’s separate call for open ambassadorial applications issued just this Thursday.

This drastic decision addresses long-standing scrutiny regarding the immense financial burden of maintaining a large diplomatic footprint in nations with minimal bilateral trade, tourism, or migrant labor ties. The Ministry of Finance has historically pressured the state to scale back these operations, citing ballooning administrative costs that yield low diplomatic or economic returns. To address these inefficiencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently commissioned a specialized study focusing on staff rationalization and structural spending cuts across global missions. Officials confirmed that the closures enforced in today’s historic budget strictly materialize the recommendations of that administrative review, marking a definitive shift toward leaner, more practical, and financially sustainable diplomacy for Nepal.