Bulgaria Opens 3 New Consulates – See Where

Diplomacy | August 31, 2022, Wednesday // 17:00|  views

@BTA

At today's meeting, the caretaker government decided to open consulates of Bulgaria in the German city of Dusseldorf and in the French city of Lyon, a new consulate in the Scottish city of Edinburgh, as well as an honorary consulate in Singapore.

The government argues that the opening of a consulate in Dusseldorf and the designation of the province of North Rhine-Westphalia as its consular district will significantly improve the access of Bulgarian citizens to administrative and consular services and will optimize the activities of the consulate of Bulgaria in Frankfurt am Main, whose consular district changed from covering the federal states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland to covering the federal states of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, due to extremely high workload.

Bulgarian citizens living on the territory of Germany, according to official data of the German state as of December 31, 2021, amount to 410,890 people, and at the end of 2021, 96,715 Bulgarian citizens were registered in the province of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The caretaker government approved an additional BGN 1,052,600 for the financial provision for the opening of the consulate.

Consulate in Lyon

A consulate of Bulgaria will be opened in France with headquarters in Lyon and a consular district covering the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitania, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Corsica.

The opening of the consular representation is justified by the need to improve the consular service of Bulgarian citizens in France due to their constantly growing number, which is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in the capacity for consular service of the Bulgarian community. Until that moment, on the territory of France, consular service could only be obtained at the embassy in Paris, which created significant difficulties for the Bulgarian community, the majority of which was concentrated precisely in the south of France - Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Bordeaux, Montpellier. About 7,000 Bulgarian citizens live in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the administrative center of which is Lyon. Opening a consulate of Bulgaria in Lyon with the consular district mentioned above would serve between 30,000 - 40,000 Bulgarian citizens.

The approved costs for the opening of the consulate in Lyon are BGN 995,000.

New Consulate in Edinburgh

Also, the Council of Ministers adopted a decision to open a consulate of Bulgaria in Great Britain with headquarters in the Scottish city of Edinburgh and with a consular district covering the territories of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as the counties of Cumbria, Northumberland, Durham and Tyne and Wear in England.

The opening of a consulate in Edinburgh is justified by the growing number of Bulgarian citizens on the territory of the United Kingdom. According to data from the British Home Office, as of December 31, 2021, the number of Bulgarian citizens who received the status of settled persons is 289,700 people.

In April 2021, Bulgarian citizens in the United Kingdom organized a petition, supported by 800 Bulgarian citizens in Scotland, to open a Bulgarian consulate based in Edinburgh.

The consulate will assist in improving consular and administrative services for Bulgarian citizens residing in territories far from London, where the only diplomatic mission of Bulgaria in Great Britain operates.

The Council of Ministers approved BGN 671,200 for the financial provision for the opening of the consulate.

An honorary consulate opens in Singapore

An honorary consulate of Bulgaria will also be opened in Singapore, with the Singaporean citizen Goh Chee Hau Lanks appointed as the honorary consul of Bulgaria. Singapore is an important partner of Bulgaria in the region, as this year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, according to the government. The official expects the opening of an honorary consulate to contribute to the development of the significant potential of bilateral cooperation in tourism, educational and cultural exchange and other prospective areas.

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