Belgium plans to overhaul its network of diplomatic posts in response to shifting global pressures, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said, outlining a restructuring that will both streamline and reinforce the country’s presence abroad between 2026 and 2027.
Prévot, of the centrist Les Engagés party, said roughly 20 missions will be strengthened and five new posts opened, even as eight existing offices are slated to close. The missions in Sarajevo, Conakry, Bamako, Maputo, Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Kuwait City and Guangzhou are among those set to wind down operations.
Belgium’s far-flung diplomatic footprint has long served as its “eyes and ears” globally, a network that has traditionally underpinned political ties, commercial outreach and development engagement. But Prévot signaled that the environment the service operates in has changed too markedly to ignore.
“Trade and tariff wars are forcing us to rethink our network of partners and diversify our reach and influence,” he said, adding that rising armed conflicts — some reaching Europe’s periphery — are prompting a strategic realignment across key economic sectors. Development cooperation, he noted, is also under strain as international budgets tighten.
Despite the closures, Prévot stressed the decisions were not driven by cost-cutting, saying Belgium intends to maintain meaningful bilateral relationships with affected countries. “We will not be absent from these countries; we will be present there, if not present,” he said in a statement that sought to reassure partners accustomed to longstanding representation.
Under the plan, Belgium will open new embassies in Tirana, Albania, and Muscat, Oman, alongside three additional posts yet to be detailed publicly. Several established missions will receive extra staff as part of what officials describe as a pragmatic rebalancing.
The Foreign Ministry will also establish a pool of “flying diplomats,” a mobile cadre meant to deploy quickly to crises, cover staffing gaps or bolster missions facing short-term pressures — an approach aimed at maintaining continuity while acknowledging today’s more volatile diplomatic landscape.
Read more via The Brussels Times
