Brazil has expressed concern over Nepal’s decision to close its embassy in Brasilia, with its ambassador-designate urging the government to reconsider the move.

Brazilian Ambassador-designate Claudio Raja Gabaglia Lins paid a courtesy call on Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday and raised concerns about the planned closure.

“He requested us to reconsider our decision,” a senior foreign ministry official said.

Lins was allowed to meet the foreign minister before presenting his credentials to President Ramchandra Paudel, an unusual arrangement under diplomatic protocol. According to the official, the ambassador-designate was given an appointment because Brazil had an urgent matter to communicate to the Nepali government.

Lins later met Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai and conveyed the same concerns.

“Various matters concerning Nepal-Brazil relations were discussed on the occasion,” the ministry said.

Along with Brazil, the Balendra Shah administration decided to close its embassies in Denmark and South Africa, along with its consulates general in San Francisco and Dallas in the United States and Chengdu in China.

Nepal has only one diplomatic mission in South America, in Brazil, which also provides consular and passport-related services to Nepali citizens across the region.

Of the three countries where Nepal plans to close its embassies, Brazil is the only one with a resident mission in Kathmandu. South Africa and Denmark are accredited to Nepal from New Delhi.

Nepal opened its embassy in Brasilia in 2010, and Brazil established its embassy in Kathmandu the following year on a reciprocal basis.

The Foreign Ministry has already informed the host governments of Brazil, South Africa, Denmark, China and the United States of the planned closures.

The government says the decision is aimed at reducing costs and managing its diplomatic workload amid economic constraints. It has described the measure as temporary.

“We will expand our diplomatic presence again in the future as necessary, once the country’s economic capacity improves,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Poudel Chettri said at a press conference on August 8.

He said the government was working on alternative arrangements before closing the missions to ensure that consular and other services for Nepali citizens and foreign nationals were not disrupted.

“Before closing these missions, work is underway to ensure effective and reliable alternative arrangements for Nepali citizens, other service recipients, and countries where Nepal has concurrent accreditation in the respective regions,” Chettri said.