The opening ceremony of the visa section of the German Consulate in Yekaterinburg has been scheduled for January 22, 2007, Tilo Klinner, Consul-General, said in the course of the Ural Press Club meeting.

‘As they have started the construction of the new building for the consulate only recently, it will have been finished in three years’ time, so the visa section will be located on the 7th floor of Atrium Palace Hotel for the time being,’ the Consul said.

The section was supposed to have opened before the end of 2006; the consulate has been using the office in Atrium Palace Hotel for quite a while now, but the visa-giving procedures require some special equipment that needs to be bought and installed. Apparently, they just did not manage to meet the deadline, says Ural Tourist Server.