Australian embassies are in big demand in eastern Europe, South America and North Africa.
Morocco’s Canberra-based ambassador Mohammed Mael-Ainin on Friday appeared before a parliamentary committee inquiry to pitch for an Australian embassy in his country.
Currently, Australia takes care of Morocco from the embassy in Paris and has no embassy in North Africa.
Mr Mael-Ainin said more Australians were visiting Morocco, with 33,000 Australian tourists in 2010, and more Australian firms were investing in Morocco.
He said Morocco was a democratic nation which has a new constitution enshrining a commitment to human rights, trade unions, a political opposition and an independent judiciary.
“Morocco is a very stable country. Politically it is very stable and that is very important for any country wanting to have an embassy,” he said.
The parliamentary joint foreign affairs defence and trade committee is conducting an inquiry into Australia’s diplomatic representation and looking at submissions from nations seeking an embassy.
Both Slovakia and the Czech Republic are seeking an embassy, as is Venezuela and the Ukraine.
“The new situation requires in my opinion a new thinking about political, economical and consular presence of Australia in central Europe where diplomatic representation is located only in two German speaking countries,” Czech republic ambassador Hynek Kmonicek said in a submission.
Embassy of Ukraine charge d’affaires Stanislav Stashevskyi said his government would welcome an Australian embassy in Kyiv, lifting relations and meeting the national interests of both nations.
“Slovakia would welcome opening of fully-fledged embassy of Australia in our country which would help to intensify bilateral relations in all areas of common interest,” said ambassador for Slovakia Eva Ponomarenkova.
Venezuelan ambassador Nelson Davila-Lameda said an Australian embassy in his country would greatly assist the increasing numbers of immigrants coming from Venezuela to Australia.
In a submission to the committee, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) secretary Denis Richardson said DFAT managed 95 overseas posts in 77 countries.
“The number of posts managed by DFAT is lower than any other comparable country,” he said, adding that consular and embassy staff numbers were five per cent lower than in 1996 while the range and intensity of activities have steadily increased.
