French consulate general to start operating in Yekaterinburg in December 2007

The recent visit of French Minister for Foreign Trade Christine Lagarde to Yekaterinburg resulted in the official proposal to set up a French Consulate in the city. The Consulate will start operating on January 1, 2007. In the meantime, one representative of the French legation will start working as early as tomorrow. What is more, another result of the visit was the decision to significantly build up French export to Russia.

Andrei Denisov, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, notified Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel that the ministry agreed to let the French Embassy in Russia set up their Consulate General in Yekaterinburg. The would-be consulate will cater for Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions, as well as for Khanty-Mansiyskiy and Yamalo-Nenetskiy Autonomous Regions. It is expected to start operating as soon as September 1, 2007 and will thus become France’s second Consulate General in Russia (the first consulate has been operating in Saint

In the course of the meeting of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to Russia Jean Cadet and of a group of fifteen French business community representatives with Governor Eduard Rossel that took place on May 25, 2006, the Ambassador spoke about the events held during the Days of France in Yekaterinburg Week: the fashion show by French clothes designers willing to work in the Urals, the engineers’ forum and the Cooperation in the Field of Industrial Pollution Workshop, reports the Governor’s spokesperson. M. Cadet also gave some details on the procedures

The new French Consul General in Yekaterinburg will assume office on September 1, 2007, the spokesperson for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region reports. The consulate itself will only start operating at the end of September. It is to be located in an information center in Karl Liebknecht St., with ten employees available to help the visitors.

A meeting devoted to the setting up of the French consulate in Yekaterinburg was held in the Ministry for International and Foreign Economic Relations of Sverdlovsk Region. The meeting was attended by Minister Viktor Koksharov and First Secretary of the French Embassy in Russia Thierry Vautrin, reports the spokesperson for Governor of Sverdlovsk Region. According to M. Vautrin, the French party has handled a number of technical issues related to the introduction of the consulate, which will serve three purposes: giving visas, facilitating economic partnership, and building up cultural and