Russia opens honorary consulate in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Oct 27 (IANS) Russia Monday opened its honorary consulate in the city with Peter T. Hassan, advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government, taking over as the honorary consul.

Russia's Ambassador to India Vyacheslav Trubnikov formally opened the honorary consulate at a function at a hotel Monday night. Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly K.R. Suresh Reddy, political leaders, top bureaucrats and other eminent personalities were present.

This is the second honorary consulate to be opened in south India. The ambassador opened the first honorary consulate in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

Interestingly, Russia opened its honorary consulate three days after the US inaugurated its full-fledged consulate here. US Consul-General in Hyderabad, Cornelis M. Keur, was also present at the opening of the Russian consulate.

Speaking on the occasion, the Russian ambassador hoped that the facility would provide renewed impetus to the strong bonds between two countries. 'India has been the closest and most reliable partner of Russia,' he said.

Stating that bilateral trade is an important component of the ties between the two countries, he said they were engaged in close cooperation in areas like oil and gas, civil aviation, power projects and space research.

'The opening of the honorary consulate in Hyderabad is eloquent testimony of the dynamic relations of our two countries,' he said and hoped that the facility would help further strengthen trade and cultural relations.

Speaker Suresh Reddy said Andhra Pradesh would play a major role in cementing the ties between the two countries in different areas of trade, commerce, technology and culture. He called for more exchanges of parliamentary delegations.

Hassan, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official and advisor (industries) to the state government, took over as the honorary consul for the Russian Federation.

Referring to the historic relations between India and Russia, Hassan said opening of the honorary consulate in Hyderabad was only a beginning and hoped that the centre would play a key role in strengthening bilateral ties.

He said the honorary consulate would utilise the services of a Russian professor on issues of trade and commerce. 'Two more assistants will join him to assist him on issues of trade and culture,' he said.