§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the present level of diplomatic representation between the United Kingdom and the Malagasy Republic.
§ Mr. EnnalsFollowing the decision to close the British Embassy in Tananarive for the reasons given in my replies to the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Sir J. Rodgers) on 31st July—[Vol. 896, c.602–3]—and the hon. Member for Rye (Mr. Godman Irvine) on 6th August—[Vol. 897, c. 199]—the embassy remains for the time being under the direction of a chargé d'affaires. When the embassy closes early next year we intend to appoint a non-resident ambassador.
The Malagasy Government have decided, also for economy reasons, to close their embassy in London and their ambassador here will be leaving London shortly. The embassy offices closed on 15th October.