New Consulate in Brno

Philippine Consulate in Brno

Last week, the Philippines opened a new consulate in Brno.  The new consulate's role is to support the Philippine embassy's promotion of trade, investment and tourism to Moravia.

There are official consulates here for Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia.  Brno also has honorary consulates representing Angola, Belarus, El Salvador, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Morocco, Moldova, Georgia, Laos, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Tanzania, Turkey, and Austria.

An embassy is a permanent diplomatic mission and the person in charge is the ambassador.  Embassies are normally located in a foreign country's capital city.

Russian Consulate in Brno

A consulate is kind of like a junior embassy.  Consulates are located outside of capital cities and the person in charge is the consul-general.  Consulates handle things such as fostering regional trade relationships, issuing of visas and take care of tourists and expats.

American Embassy in Prague

There is no American consulate in Brno.  The US Embassy in Prague is 116 miles away.  However the American embassies in Austria and Slovakia are actually closer.  The embassy in Vienna is only 69 miles away while the embassy in Bratislava is just 76 miles away.  There is a consulate in Krakow and another embassy in Budapest (161 and 162 miles away respectively).

EDIT:  February 11, 2014 - an honorary Finnish consulate opens in Brno.

EDIT:  July 2017 - Italy opened an official consulate in Brno.

Update 2022:  The Russian consulate was closed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  

Update 2022:  Back in 2020, the Centre for Experimental Theatre opened an Embassy of Independent Belarusian Culture.