German Consulate

[monsoon]

I was reading an article about the large number of German firms that have locations in Charlotte (the largest concentration of German firms in the USA) and I was surprised to learn The Federal Repubic of Germany has recently opened a Consulate in Charlotte. I had missed this piece of news and wondered if anyone here knows about it. Is this the first diplomatic mission in Charlotte?

[DigitalSky]

Yeah I saw that in the paper this morning. Sorry, I don't know any more information on the topic, but this is great for us because it helps open our local economy up to a major European power.

[appatone]

That's great news, perhaps this will bring us closer to eventually landing a sweet Deutsche Bank tower in Uptown.

[Mobuchu]

That's great news, perhaps this will bring us closer to eventually landing a sweet Deutche Bank tower in Uptown.

Yeah, I couldn't get that idea out of my head while reading the article.

[Miesian Corners]

The United Kingdom has a consulate in Charlotte. It's located in the Charlotte Plaza building uptown.

[dubone]

It was really good to see that the Charlotte Chamber seeks out foreign investors. That is good business, and will help both regionally and nationally to combat the loss of jobs to the global economy.

[A2]

We have a few sister cities abroad. Krefeld in Germany and a few others. Check it out.

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Sister+Cities/Home.htm

A2

[TravisNC]

This is certainly good news, but it is important to note that it's an Honorary Consulate, not a "real" consulate (Not to lessen the importance). In the South, Atlanta, Miami and Houston have Consulate Generals from Germany. Birmingham, Jackson, MS, Nashville, Greer (Greenville/Spartanburg), New Orleans, Louisville, Bonita Springs, FL (Fort Myers area), Virginia Beach (currently vacant), and Charlotte have Honorary Consulates from Germany.

In North Carolina the only "real" consulates are the ones for Mexico and Canada in Raleigh.

Here are the Honorary Consulates in NC:

Albania (Pinehurst)

Austria (Mount Holly)

Cyprus (Jacksonville)

France (Charlotte)

Germany (Charlotte)

Mexico (Charlotte)

Moldova (Hickory)

Netherlands (Raleigh)

Nicaragua (Charlotte)

Spain (Durham)

Sweden (Raleigh)

Switzerland (Charlotte)

United Kingdom (Charlotte)

Belize (Wilmington)

Source: http://www.northcarolinaconsularcorps.org/services.html

[A2]

This is certainly good news, but it is important to note that it's an Honorary Consulate, not a "real" consulate (Not to lessen the importance). In the South, Atlanta, Miami and Houston have Consulate Generals from Germany. Birmingham, Jackson, MS, Nashville, Greer (Greenville/Spartanburg), New Orleans, Louisville, Bonita Springs, FL (Fort Myers area), Virginia Beach (currently vacant), and Charlotte have Honorary Consulates from Germany.

The thing that I find weird is that Charlotte has a higher concentration of German Corpoprations than Atlanta, Houston, or Miami and they do not even have a "real" consulate. I would rather have more international business flow than a "real" consulate versus an Honorary consulate.

A2

[charlotte_bon_vivant]

The thing that I find weird is that Charlotte has a higher concentration of German Corpoprations than Atlanta, Houston, or Miami and they do not even have a "real" consulate. I would rather have more international business flow than a "real" consulate versus an Honorary consulate.

A2

Consuls are really there for German citizens not necessarily German companies. The presence of a consulate makes foreign companies feel safer doing business in a city. Atlanta, Miami and Houston all have major airports which makes having a consulate a little more necessary. Or so i've been told.

[TravisNC]

The thing that I find weird is that Charlotte has a higher concentration of German Corpoprations than Atlanta, Houston, or Miami and they do not even have a "real" consulate. I would rather have more international business flow than a "real" consulate versus an Honorary consulate.

A2

They do, I didn't mean to make it sound like they didn't. Only the Embassy in Washington is higher than a General Consulate. http://www.germany-info.org/relaunch/info/...consulates.html

A Consulate General means that they have a person who is a consul as a full time job. An Honorary Consulate has a consul who works a regular job (doctor, lawyer, executive, etc.) and is a consul part-time.

A Consulate General can help distressed citizens of their home country and they promote trade. An Honorary Consulate doesn't help distressed citizens, but does promote trade. According to this page Honorary Consulates can even be bought: http://www.discovervancouver.com/GVB/consular-corps.asp

Here's an interesting fact I found when I was searching for information: "The British Consulate in Charlotte was opened in May 1994 and covers the whole of North Carolina. It is the successor to the Honorary Consulate which existed in Wilmington from 1797 to 1945." It's surprising that Wilmington had an Honorary Consulate for the UK in 1797! http://www.britainusa.com/consular/nc/

[monsoon]

Actually in the late 1790s I would expect the most important cities in North Carolina would have been the port cities of Wilmington and New Bern. Charlotte wasn't much more than a Native American crossroads at that point.

[atlrvr]

I think he was surprised that the US would have trade relations with Britain so soon after the little altercation from 1776-1783.

[RiverwoodCLT]

Wilmington was the largest North Carolina city in population in1900 .