Belgium has announced that it will open an embassy in Albania and close the mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
The Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation, Maxime Prevot, announced on Friday that his country will open several embassies, including the one in Tirana.
Belgium will also, as he stated, close eight diplomatic missions as part of a major restructuring of its foreign representation aimed at making the country’s diplomatic network “broader, more resilient and more future-oriented.”
The decision followed what Prevot described as the first comprehensive review of Belgium’s global diplomatic presence in more than ten years, the statement said.
The reform includes the opening of five new missions and the strengthening of about 20 existing ones.
According to the plan, Belgium will close the missions in Sarajevo (BiH), Conakry (Guinea), Bamako (Mali), Maputo (Mozambique), Havana (Cuba), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Guangzhou (China), and Kuwait (Kuwait).
“These closures in no way diminish the importance we attach to maintaining bilateral relations with the countries in question. This is not the end of our diplomatic relations with them,” Prevot said, adding that relations will continue through regional embassies or special envoys.
Prevot said that consular services for Belgian citizens will remain available, adding that the locations planned for closure will receive support during the transition between 2026 and 2027.
The ministry stated that the savings achieved through the closures will be reinvested in strengthening missions with staff shortages and in creating a “flying diplomats” fund that could be quickly deployed during crises or temporary staff shortages.
In addition to Tirana, Belgium will also open new embassies in Windhoek (Namibia), Muscat (Oman), and Tashkent (Uzbekistan), and will appoint a permanent representative to the African Union as an observer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to the plan, an ambassador for Syria will also be appointed, residing in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
Spiropali: Albania welcomes Belgium’s decision to open an embassy in Tirana
On the other hand, Albania’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Elisa Spiropali, welcomed Belgium’s decision to open an embassy in Tirana.
In a reaction on social media, addressing her colleague Prevot, Spiropali emphasized that Albania warmly welcomes Belgium’s decision to open an embassy in Tirana.
“An important step that strengthens our bilateral ties and supports our path toward the European Union (EU).
Strong European partnerships shape our shared future,” said the head of Albanian diplomacy.
Diplomatic relations between Albania and Belgium were established in 1924
According to official data from Albania’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, diplomatic relations between Albania and Belgium were established in 1924 and continued during the period of King Zog, before being interrupted during the Second World War.
After 1945, contacts between the countries were sporadic, and after the early 1990s, relations between the two countries, according to the ministry, “had stable development in all areas of mutual interest.”
Albanian authorities describe the bilateral political relations between Albania and Belgium as “very good.”
