Rabat – The UK’s biggest import partner, Ireland, is planning to expand its diplomatic missions worldwide. The republic aims to open an embassy in Morocco by 2020.
Ireland also plans to open diplomatic missions in Ukraine, the Philippines, India, Colombia, Chile, Jordan, Wales, and Los Angeles.
The republic also opened missions in Vancouver, Canada, and Monrovia, Liberia, in 2018, according to Irish Times.
The republic’s foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney told reporters, “Across the world we have about 80 diplomatic missions. Over the next few years that’s going to be over 100 as we expand.”
He added that the operation to expand the republic’s diplomatic footprint is proceeding at “a pace that hasn’t happened since Independence and we are having to take on a lot more staff and spend more money.”
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Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) said that Ireland is currently one of the few EU member states without a diplomatic presence in North Africa.
Ireland is represented in Morocco by its ambassador to Portugal, as well as by two honorary consuls in Agadir and Casablanca, added MAP.
The UK’s decision to leave the EU, Brexit for short, has led to a myriad of diplomatic challenges.
In 2016, the UK held a referendum to decide whether the country should exit or remain in the EU. At the poll, 51.9 percent voted to leave the EU, over 48.1 percent voting to remain.
In Northern Ireland, 55.8 percent voted to remain in EU, while 44.2 percent voted for Brexit, according to the BBC.
