New Blog 1: British Consulate

Sunday 2 December 2012

British Consulate

The United Kingdom has a large, global network of diplomatic missions. British diplomatic missions to other capitals of other Commonwealth countries are known as High Commissions (headed by 'High Commissioners'). For three Commonwealth countries, (namely India, Nigeria and Pakistan) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) still uses the term 'Deputy High Commission' for Consulates-General (headed by Deputy High Commissioners), although this terminology is being phased out. In 2004, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) carried out a review of the deployment of its diplomatic missions, and subsequently over a two-year period closed its missions in Nassau (Bahamas), Asunción (Paraguay), Dili (Timor Leste), Maseru (Lesotho), Mbabane (Swaziland), Antananarivo (Madagascar), Nukuʻalofa (Tonga), Tarawa (Kiribati) and Port Vila (Vanuatu). Additionally several consulates and trade offices were also closed, including those in Fukuoka (Japan), Vientiane (Laos), Douala (Cameroon), Phoenix, San Juan and Dallas (United States), Oporto (Portugal) and Frankfurt, Leipzig and Stuttgart (Germany). Other consulates in Australia, Germany, France, Spain, New Zealand and the United States were downgraded and staffed by local personnel only.