MOFA TO CLOSE OFFICES IN GUAM, NORWAY, GERMANY, SAUDI|挪威.漢堡.關島.吉達4外館 外交部將撤

To make most effective use of diplomatic resources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intends to close down representative offices in Germany, Guam, Jeddah in Saudi-Arabia and Norway. Apart from Norway, the other three have other offices to take over duties, so there is not much opposition to closing the offices. However, the office in Norway is the only one and if it is closed, then it will be difficult to develop relations between the two sides. The budget spent on representative offices in other countries is 38 percent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs annual budget, NT$9.5 billion.To make the most effective use of its budget, MOFA decided to close one office in Germany's Hamburg, one office in Guam, the Jeddah office in Saudi Arabia and the office in Norway. MOFA has sent the plan to the Executive Yuan for approval. After the Guam office is closed its duties will be taken over by the office in Hawaii. Germany's Hamburg office will hand duties over to the Berlin office. The Jeddah office In Saudi Arabia will hand its duties to Riyahd. The office In Norway has never been able to expand the extent of its relations and the Norwegian government has not intention of opening an office in Taipei, so MOFA has decided to close the office. MOFA said it made the decisions based on the volume and extent of consular, trade, overseas community services and de-facto diplomatic relations. It took great care with making the decisions, but this has left legislators feeling worried. ==KO CHIH-EN KMT legislator == If they have to be closed I think we need to have full understanding of the reasons. If we ever want to open them again, it would be a very big outlay. ==HUANG WEI-CHER DPP legislator== From extravagance to economy. Its easy to close an office, but very hard to open one. Whatever angle you look at it from, MOFA need to review their decision. Former representative to France, Lu Ching-lung said that the MOFA budget was limited, this wasn't the first time that this sort of streamlining of resources had taken place and where the was duplication of services, closing one of several offices was the most efficient method of saving budget. After this round of four office closures, it is understood that there will also be follow-up planning for closures, but these will be in single-digits, to make effective use of diplomatic resources where they are most needed. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 外交部駐外館處人事與業務經費，每年高達95億新台幣，大約是外交預算的38%，外交部為了有效運用有限資源，決定裁撤德國漢堡、美國關島、沙烏地阿拉伯吉達與挪威等四個外館，將送行政院核定。據了解美國關島辦事處裁併後，業務將由位於美國夏威夷的檀香山辦事處接手，德國漢堡辦事處的業務，則併入位於德國首都柏林的德國代表處辦理。沙烏地阿拉伯吉達辦事處的部分也是一樣，由位於沙烏地阿拉伯首都利雅德的沙烏地阿拉伯代表處接辦駐挪威代表處兩國長期外交關係無法提升，挪威政府也無意來台設館，所以外交部決定撤館。外交部表示這是透過領務量、貿易量、僑務量與外交關係發展潛力等多項指標，非常謹慎做出的決策，但還是有立委對此感到擔憂。 ==國民黨立委 柯志恩== 如果要關館的話 我想必須要 提出十足的理由 才有辦法 否則再開館 對我們來說 可以說是說 損失非常重大的 ==民進黨立委 黃偉哲== 畢竟由儉入奢易 由奢返儉難 這個關館容易 設館難 所以我們覺得 其實從各種角度來看 外交部應該重新檢討 不過前駐法代表呂慶龍表示政府外交預算有限，外館裁併議題早就不是第一次，呂慶龍認為在業務可替代性高的情況下，裁撤外館的確可以省下不少經費。 外交部第一波裁撤四個外館之後，據了解還會有後續裁撤外館的規劃，但裁撤數目應該只有個位數，能否因此讓外交資源有效應用在最需要的地方，發揮最大外交戰力，也是國人對外交部的深切期待。 記者 綜合報導