Diplomacy wants to reconstruct the building of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN

Prague - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to prioritize the reconstruction of the building of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN in New York. In 2014, the government approved that, in addition to this diplomatic facility, it would also ensure the repair and extension of the embassy in Washington, for which it intended to use unspent funds amounting to 558.5 million crowns. However, the allocated funds will not cover both projects, according to a submission report from the ministry that CTK has access to. The cabinet will discuss the document on Monday.

The government originally allocated 579 million crowns in the spring of 2012 for the construction of a new embassy in the American metropolis. The current building, built in 1969, has inadequate wiring and other deficiencies according to diplomats. However, the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the caretaker government, Jan Kohout, halted the project a year later. The minister's argument at the time was also the fact that the construction of a new facility would, according to new calculations, be twice as expensive as the sum promised by the government.

According to original plans, the new embassy, shaped like the Greek letter ypsilon, was to be completed in 2016. However, in 2014, the ministry ultimately decided to use 558.5 million crowns for the reconstruction of two diplomatic representation buildings in the USA - the embassy in Washington and the permanent mission at the UN in New York.

After the start of project preparations and refining proposals, it was determined by the ministry that the funds were insufficient to carry out both repairs. "Given the fact that the current technical condition of the Permanent Mission building in New York is already inadequate, the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended prioritizing the implementation of the reconstruction and extension of the Permanent Mission building in New York and to use all allocated funds in the resolution for the implementation of this action," the ministry stated. It plans to cover the costs of the embassy reconstruction from its own resources, considering budgetary possibilities in the coming years.

From the allocated amount of 558.5 million crowns, about 20.5 million has been spent so far on project preparation for the reconstruction of the Permanent Mission building of the Czech Republic at the UN and eight million on project preparation for the repair of the embassy. The remaining 530 million will therefore be used for the reconstruction and extension of the permanent mission building. "The missing funds for the proper execution of the project will be covered from the resources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, just as the entire implementation of the reconstruction of the embassy building in Washington," added the ministry.