Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyaev has ordered the establishment of an Uzbek Consulate in Russia's second largest city, St. Petersburg.
The Uzbek presidential press service said on July 20 that, according to the order signed on July 19, the consulate's opening must be decided by the Foreign Ministry in cooperation with Russian authorities in two months.
The order says that the new consulate’s task will be "to provide effective defense of rights and interests of Uzbekistan's citizens and businesses" in Russia.
Tens of thousands of Uzbek labor migrants are working across Russia on a permanent basis.
Only two Uzbek consulates are functioning in Russia currently -- in Moscow and in Novosibirsk.
In April, Uzbek Deputy Foreign Minister Javlon Vahabov said that the most populous Central Asian nation of some 30 million plans to open new consulates in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok.
The move is one of a number of initiatives that appear to be aimed at opening up the country under Mirziyaev, who was elected in December 2016 after the death of longtime autocrat Islam Karimov.
