Meltdown Sours City’s ‘Diplomatic’ Dreams

By M H Ahssan

UK and Saudi Arabia Which Had Planned To Set Up Consulates Have Second Thoughts Now.

The worldwide economic meltdown appears to have hit Hyderabad’s growing status as an international diplomatic hub as well. According to sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, which had expressed a keen interest in opening consulates here, are having second thoughts now.

“Both these countries had expressed their intention to open consulates in Hyderabad almost over a year ago, soon after the United States formally announced that it was opening its consulate. But indications now are that the global meltdown has hit the expansion plans of these countries,” a MEA official told HNN. Saudi Arabia was keen to open a consulate in Hyderabad because of the huge presence of people from the state in that country as well as the visit of pilgrims to Mecca and Medina.

According to official estimates, about 4.5 lakh people from Andhra Pradesh live in Saudi Arabia.

In addition to that, about 7,000 make the Haj pilgrimage every year and another 10,000 go for the Umra, which is a visit to Mecca and Medina during the non-Haj period extending over nine months every year.

The presence of a Saudi consulate would have been a great boon for pilgrims, official sources said. “At present, except for the Haj visit for which the visas are taken care of by the Haj committee, the Andhra Pradesh residents wanting to go on the pilgrimage have to either go to Mumbai to procure the visas or rely on travel agents which works out to be costly,” said one official.

The United Kingdom wanted to open a consulate to primarily exploit the education potential and attract students from here to the educational institutions in that country.

“But after the preliminary expression of interest last year, they have not moved on the subject. We suspect the global meltdown has put paid to the consulate hopes, at least for the time being,” said the official.

India too is not keen to open a consulate in the US, a gesture for which they are entitled to in return for having allowed a US consulate in Hyderabad. “India has four consulates in the US, apart from the embassy in Washington, DC. But so far, we have not pressed for opening a fifth consulate in the US and may prefer to do it at a later time,” the official said.

So far, in Hyderabad, Iran and the US have opened consulates, while Turkey and Australia have trade offices here.

Canada too had announced that it would open a trade office in Hyderabad. But in these days of global meltdown, Hyderabad may need to wait a bit more to become an international diplomatic hub.