Austrian general consulate to open in St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG. Feb 10 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry hopes that an Austrian general consulate will open in St. Petersburg in 2020, Vladimir Zapevalov, a representative of the Foreign Ministry in St. Petersburg, said.
"We hope that our diplomatic colony will become larger this year. I can say officially that Russia has given its consent to the opening of a general consulate of Austria in St. Petersburg," Zapevalov said during a press conference at the Interfax press center in St. Petersburg on Monday.
"We have received relevant documents, but the work to open a consulate is going to take more than one day and even more than one month. The ball is now in the Austrians' court, they will need to contact the city administration and the Foreign Ministry representation to ask for assistance in selecting premises for the consulate. There have been no such requests yet, but hopefully it will eventually happen, it will happen this year," he said.
The honored consul of Portugal may resume his work and the honored consul of Cote d'Ivoire may start working in St. Petersburg in 2020, Zapevalov said. Russia has also given its consent to the foundation of the post of the honored consul of South Africa. Businessman Vladimir Borisov will be appointed to the post.
"We once had a general consulate of the South African Republic here. Then it closed due to the economic situation. South Africa has long been interested in St. Petersburg, very active work is taking place," Zapevalov said.
Thirty-three general consulates and 34 honored consuls of foreign countries are now working in St. Petersburg, he said.