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India is making its presence felt throughout the world, almost literally. The country is all set to open two new consulates in the United States, in the cities of Seattle and Atlanta. The announcement regarding the same was made by foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon on Thursday, 25th September 2008. While briefing journalists on the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Bush, at the White House, Menon elaborated that Indian proposal to open the two new consulates in US has been accepted.
He said that the two cities, of Seattle and Atlanta, were selected on the basis of presence of Indian community and commercial interests. While Seattle is a major center of commerce with India on US' West Coast, Atlanta holds the same position on the East Coast. Along with that, in both the cities, the Indian-origin population is in excess of 30,000. India already has an embassy in Washington DC, apart from consulates in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Houston. This would make Seattle and Atlanta the fifth and sixth consulates in US. As to the question of exactly when would the consulates open, Menon did not provide any information.
