Austria to reopen its embassy in Baghdad after a 30-year halt

Shafaq News/ Austria will have its diplomatic representation in Iraq reinstated after a thirty-year halt, Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release on Wednesday.

The ministry said that Vienna is reopening its embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in September, 2022.

As things stand, there is no official confirmation from Vienna's side. The website of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to state that "the Austrian Embassy in Baghdad is closed for security reasons".

In January 1991, nearly every Western embassy in Baghdad closed its doors and evacuated its staff members following the collapse of U.S.-Iraqi diplomatic efforts to resolve the Persian Gulf crisis. Even though Washington restored formal diplomatic ties with Baghdad 13 years later, Vienna kept its embassy closed in Iraq. In 2001, an Austrian trade delegate was appointed in Iraq, but he left at the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Since then, consular services for Austrians in Iraq have been provided by the embassies in Jordan and Yemen.