COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 23 (UPI) -- Denmark will open new embassies throughout the Mideast in a bid to improve relations after a cartoon furor that tarnished its image in the Muslim world.
"We will have a greater presence in the region in the future, which means that we will have more embassies," Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said Tuesday, according to Danmarks radio.
Moeller did not specify which countries were under discussion, but the Jyllands-Posten newspaper reported that Morocco and Jordan are first in line since Denmark currently only has consulates in the two Arab countries.
Political parties are said to support the new initiative despite concerns that funding will be drawn from the international aid budget.
Twelve cartoons were published in Jyllends-Posten last year and reprinted elsewhere satirizing the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, sparking widespread violent demonstrations in which at least 50 people were killed worldwide and mass boycotts of Danish goods.
