Colombia's president-elect plans to close embassy in Azerbaijan

Colombia's President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, who is set to take office on August 7, has announced plans to close at least 14 diplomatic missions, including the country's embassy in Azerbaijan, and to order the severance of diplomatic relations with Cuba and Nicaragua, according to Telesur.

"In the first stage, I will close the embassies in Algeria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Vietnam, Ghana, Haiti, Hungary, Cuba, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Romania, Senegal, the Czech Republic and Ethiopia," de la Espriella wrote on his social media account.

During the first 100 days of his presidency, de la Espriella also plans to conduct a technical audit of Colombia's remaining diplomatic missions to assess whether they should continue operating. He said his administration's foreign policy would focus exclusively on protecting Colombia's interests abroad.