On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, Ambassador Saenz de Tejada described appropriately the depth and breadth of the relations between Kuwait and Spain.
He referred to the cultural bonds, the close strategic and diplomatic relations and the economic and commercial potential. These factors, and the willingness to take advantage of them, will facilitate enduring progress. As I now take up the position of Ambassador of Spain in Kuwait on this year of 2018 – which is also the 54th from the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries - I expect those opportunities to be both an encouragement and a responsibility.
The friendship between the Royal Families of the two countries is of paramount importance for our bilateral relations. So are the diplomatic ties between Spain and the Gulf Cooperation Council members, of which Kuwait is a central part. I am aware of the priority to give some fresh impetus to institutional contacts between our respective authorities.
Both Spain and Kuwait have open and sound economies. Kuwait has been a commercial power throughout her history. Spain has the second most open economy in the European Union. Bilateral trade has grown sizably for the last four years. Figures, however, do not limit but rather demand taking advantage of the existing potential.
Spanish companies have a large portfolio of projects undertaken in other countries and in all manner of sectors. They have great experience in areas which fit in well with the priorities of Kuwait. The great Spanish professionals here are both a credit to our own and an asset for the country to whose prosperity they contribute.
The Spanish language and her culture are the great calling card of our country everywhere. Kuwait is no exception. The well placed emphasis in the promotion and support for the teaching and knowledge of Spanish will continue. Similarly, contacts between civil societies, including in the cultural and sports dimensions, will also be an important part of the activities of this embassy.
This is a qualitative and quantitative relation and one that will be more of one thing and more of the other. Azorin, the great Spanish writer, said that “to live is to return”. Ambassadors have the opportunity to revisit not just their own experience, but also the legacy of those who came before in the pursuit of guidance and advice. They are also burdened with a responsibility toward their authorities and those of the country to which they are accredited to endeavor to do all that is necessary and appropriate to continue the work of their predecessors and, by expanding it, make it their own.
I wish that relations between Kuwait and Spain continue to grow and that their quality be of a measure such that matches what Kuwaitis and Spaniards can do together.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Alvaro Rodríguez is a career foreign service official since 1988. He has been stationed to the Embassy of Spain in Kingston (Jamaica), to the Permanent Mission of Spain to the UN in New York and to the Embassy of Spain in Washington DC, as well as to the Consulate General of Spain in Moscow. He has served as well in the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. While at the capital, his various tours of duty included appointments as Deputy Director For Central and Southern Europe as well as Deputy Director for Bilateral Economic Relations, the latter being his last prior to his assignment to Kuwait.
He is a graduate from both Universidad Complutense in Madrid and Columbia University in New York.