Hungary to close embassy in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Hungary has confirmed that it is closing its embassy in Malaysia.

Its deputy Head of Mission here, Robert Papp, told Bernama in a telephone interview Wednesday that Hungary’s Foreign Ministry had informed Wisma Putra on the decision.

He declined to give details when asked about the closure date and which of Hungary’s missions would be in charge in Malaysia.

On Tuesday, Hungary Foreign Minister Peter Balazs was reported as saying that his country was closing four embassies and eight consulates around the world to cut state spending.

The move involved one embassy in Europe (Luxembourg), one in Asia (Malaysia) and two in South America.

The eight consulates included those in Hong Kong, Sydney, Chicago and Duesseldorf.

The central European republic of about 10 million people had been hard hit by the global economic crisis, forcing it to seek a massive international bailout package last October.

Located at Menara Tan & Tan in Jalan Tun Razak here, the Hungarian embassy has three staff and is headed by ambassador Tamas Toth.

The embassy was established in 1991. Malaysia set up its embassy in Budapest in 1993. Kuala Lumpur and Budapest established diplomatic ties in 1969.