Alberto Rubio
“The longest journey begins with the first step”, said the ambassador of Kazakhstan, Konstantin Zhigalov, during the presentation of the lawyer Óscar Gómez Monasterio as honorary consul of his country in Andalusia, based in Málaga, which was inaugurated in this city on 29 September.
During a ceremony held at the Nuevo Club de Madrid, Óscar Gómez, partner of Balms Abogados, thanked the ambassador “for giving us the tremendous opportunity to represent this country so interesting and full of opportunities” in Andalusia.
Gómez recalled that the diplomatic relationship between Spain and Kazakhstan dates back to 1992; and that both countries opened their respective embassies between 1997 and 1999. He also added that visits by both heads of state have been constant (the most recent being King Felipe VI on the occasion of the inauguration of the Astana Expo). All of this, he concluded, “means that the bilateral relationship between the two countries is very consolidated“.
Trade relations between the two countries reached a total of 1.8 billion dollars this year. “But they still have a great capacity to increase”, said Gómez, who gave as an example that “in 2022 the exchanges have grown by 40% and there is still a long way to go”, for which he expressed his commitment to “promote and intensify trade relations with Andalusia”.
Ambassador Zhigalov added that “Kazakhstan is the only country in Central Asia that has had a specific Association Agreement with Spain since 2009“, in addition to 23 other agreements covering practically all sectors, to which an air services agreement will be added shortly, which is already being prepared for signature.
The head of the Kazakh Mission took the opportunity to review those sectors of the economy with opportunities for potential investors, such as the agro-industrial, automotive, machinery, metallurgy, infrastructure, transport, renewable energy, environment, digital technology, defence and aerospace sectors, among others.
Zhigalov said that “we are well aware that the fruitful development of our economic relations with Spain also requires good relations with its regions“. “That is why,” he said, “we pay special attention to the extension of our honorary consuls in different regions“.
Kazakhstan currently has its Consulate General in Barcelona and already has two Honorary Consulates, in Castilla La Mancha and Valencia, which will be joined this year by those in Malaga (Andalusia) and the Balearic Islands.
