India to open Consulates in Atlanta and Seattle

{image-Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon_26092008.jpg news.oneindia.in}New York, Sep 26: India will open two additional Consulates in the US at Seattle and Atlanta, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon announced here on Friday, Sep 26.

He said India would like to open more Consulates in the US, but there were 'resource constraints.' Giving details, the Foreign Secretary said community had always been a big reason for India. "I think for location of Consulates, there is also a commercial reason where our trade originate from, where there is buying and selling and also the importance of these cities or the consular areas that we carve out for them for our relationship,'' he said.

He said Seattle, for instance, has a large community and there is lot of trade from the West Coast. There is also a lot of high-tech trade with Seattle, not just aerospace and Microsoft, but in other areas as well. Same is with Atlanta. Both these areas are of relative importance for India, he said adding there were other places where India would like to open Consulates, but there is a constraint of resources.

The US which had opened a Consulate in Hyderabad, was also looking at some other places as well, the Foreign Secretary added.

UNI