In Spain, the new Italian Consulate General in Madrid has been established as part of the Farnesina’s efforts to strengthen the diplomatic-consular network. This new branch of consular activities “will exercise its jurisdiction over approximately 124,000 resident compatriots, who are growing at a rate of about 1,000 a month, crowning a period of great acceleration in relations between Italian and Spanish citizenship from the social, cultural, economic, and scientific points of view,” reads a note.
At the instigation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani, the Secretary General of the Farnesina, Riccardo Guariglia, inaugurated the new consulate on 31 October. “With the opening of the Consulate General in Madrid, we continue to strengthen the presence of Italian Embassies and Consulates around the world, in order to be ever closer to our compatriots abroad and provide them with more efficient services,” the minister commented, recalling that the Italian community in the Spanish capital has grown exponentially in recent years, as has the flow of tourists, for whom the new office “will become a reference point on which they can always count.
During the inauguration ceremony, Guariglia (ambassador in Madrid between 2020 and 2023) reiterated Italy’s deep condolences and solidarity with Spain for the tragic effects of the Dana in the Valencia area. “The consulate general that we are inaugurating today was an objective promptly grasped by our central administration,” he said of the new consular headquarters, “it was a real need, felt by our entire community. The event was also attended by the ambassador to Madrid, Giuseppe Maria Buccino Grimaldi, and the consul general in Madrid, Spartaco Caldararo, as well as representatives of the Italian community and local authorities.
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