Austria to reopen Mombasa consulate next week

The Austrian government is reopening its honorary consulate in Mombasa after four years of closure.

A statement from the Austrian Embassy in Nairobi indicated it had appointed a new honorary consul for Mombasa to start working from next week.

“We are delighted to be able to announce the official re-opening of our Honorary Consulate in Mombasa on May 2, after a hiatus of three years,” the statement said.

“We also believe that in Honorary Consul Saleem Ghalia, we have found somebody with an unmatched experience and excellent qualifications for the position. We trust he will be the right person in furthering bilateral relations between Kenya and Austria while acting as a first point of contact for Austrians in Coast Province.”

Mr Ghalia also serves as the honorary consul for the Germany government in Mombasa.

Honorary consuls are generally not career diplomats and are appointed to perform diplomatic and consular roles, sometimes without pay, as they do their main businesses where they pay taxes.

According to Ms Katharina Rauscher, Deputy Head of Mission at the Austrian Embassy in Nairobi, the consulate in Mombasa is being reopened “because of the ever growing numbers of Austrian tourists visiting the Kenyan Coast each year.”

The embassy says about 3,000 Austrian tourists visit Kenya annually and the Mombasa office is supposed to help them in times of emergencies such as when they lose travel documents.

However, it will also save coast dwellers the trouble of travelling to Nairobi whenever they want a visa to Austria.

The consulate in Mombasa was first opened in early 1900s before WWI forced it to close down. It was re-opened in 1971 before being closed again in 2012. At the time, the Austrian government said its then honorary consul Mr Tibor Gaal had fallen ill.

The reopening is being marked this weekend with performances from Austrian artistes Matthias Bartolomey and Klemens Bittmann in Nairobi and Mombasa. The two masters of string instruments (cello, violin, viola, mandola) play diversified musical genres such as classical chamber music with a fusion of jazz to rock and pop.

Kenya is generally not a priority country of the Austrian Development Cooperation even though Austria supports several projects of various NGOs in the country.

The new offices on Dedan Kimathi Avenue in Mombasa while the old one were on Nyerere Avenue.

It will be open between 8am to 4pm every weekday but only offer consular services between 8.30am and 12 noon.