Thiruvananthapuram:
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to set up its Kerala consulate in the state capital, India's Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said on Thursday.
"The decision to set up the consulate in Thiruvananthapuram is because of the rule that consulates can be set up only in state capitals. There are certain rules and guidelines and they have to be adhered too," Mr Ahamed told Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) over phone from New Delhi.
The minister said that the consulate would start functioning within a few months.
The news about the setting up of the consulate was announced in last July when UAE's Ambassador to India Mohamed Sultan Abdalla Al Owais met Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
The new consulate will help people of the state who want to go to the UAE for work.
Currently, they have to get their documents certified by the UAE embassy and consulate in New Delhi and Mumbai, respectively.
The new consulate is also expected to boost trade between Kerala and the UAE.
More than a million people from the state live and work in the UAE, says a study by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.