Text and photos: Juan David Latorre.
On the occasion of the National Holiday of Slovakia, the Embassy of this European country held a reception yesterday at its headquarters, which, as always, was attended by a large number of members of the Diplomatic Corps.
The Slovak ambassador began by highlighting his country’s assistance to Spain during this past month of August in the “devastating fires that caused a lot of pain and sadness. Therefore, our authorities, together with other European nations, responded without delay to the requests of Spain and in August a team flew to the affected areas which threw almost 700,000 liters of water and we are very honored that, Just yesterday, His Majesty King Philip VI personally thanked you for your work. Firefighters arrived through the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, an instrument that we have not used only once this year”.
Also, Juraj Tomaga recalled that “last April we transported in our government plane more than a dozen children with cancer from Gaza to Zaragoza, where they were treated by medical personnel. Well, unfortunately I don’t think the geopolitical and climatic situation is going to change. That is why I am convinced that humanitarian and emergency cooperation between our nations through European mechanisms will continue”.
The ambassador of Slovakia stressed that “a fundamental issue today is the Spanish military presence in my country. I am honoured to note that Slovakia is now the country with the largest number of Spanish soldiers deployed worldwide. My warmest congratulations to the NATO Multinational Brigade, led by Spain, which last June received a visit from His Majesty the King of Spain, Felipe VI, who stressed that the deployment of the Spanish contingent in Slovakia is part of Spain’s efforts to help protect the western flank of NATO from the Russian threat”.
“The military presence in my country greatly strengthened our agenda, continued Ambassador Tomaga, and consequently our Ministry of Defense decided to strengthen the Embassy’s equipment with the opening of the Office of the Military Attaché. Today, for the first time, I have the honour to officially introduce the first military attaché, Colonel Ladislao Agenda and his wife. The military opens up thousands of opportunities in the defence industry.”
“Among our sponsors are the MSM group and FMG of Granada, who are here, which are part of the Czechoslovak Group, one of the largest producers of ammunition in Europe. Most of this production, given the circumstances, is destined for the Ukrainian army. Russian military aggression against Ukraine has generated a series of decisions aimed at the development and reconstruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, especially in the fields of transport and energy, where we want to collaborate essentially with Spain”, said the ambassador.
After thanking the sponsors for their full support for the event, Juraj Tomaga said that “I would also like to thank our honorary consuls in Barcelona, Malaga, Zaragoza, Casablanca, who are not here, and our new and first honorary consul in Bilbao. Notice that soon we will have a new honorary consul in Palma de Mallorca for the first time a lady”.
Finally, the ambassador wanted to indirectly greet “the current most famous Slovak in Spain, David Hansko, the new player of my team mattress (Atlético de Madrid), who apologized for not being able to attend since he is preparing for the match against Liverpool. Well, David, I wish you much luck to dominate the ball as well as the last great Slovak footballer here in Madrid, Petr Dubovsky, who is unfortunately no longer with us. Before I raise the cup, I want to give a thousand thanks to my team at the Embassy, especially my dear wife Marketa, for their support in making this celebration a great success”.
To the surprise of all attendees, at this year’s reception were presented hymns with Galician and Asturian bagpipes, including hymns from Asturias and Galicia. And the reason was not accidental. “Last year, said the Slovak ambassador, most of my country’s Spanish soldiers came from Galicia. And this year, from Asturias, and that’s why these two regions of Spain deserve this form of respect on my part. Many thanks to the two gaiteros groups”.
