A farewell message from the Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina, H. E. Roberto Salafia
Edit: Martina Hošková; Photo: Archive
H.E. Roberto Salafia, Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina
Dear friends in the Czech Republic,
It is time to leave, the end of a cycle. For more than five years I have had the honor and fortune to represent my country in Prague, a great responsibility and a great challenge at the same time.
In 2024 we will commemorate 100 years of diplomatic relations between Argentina and the former Czechoslovakia – a period that, despite its many turbulences, cemented friendship and dialogue between the two nations, and contributed to a migratory flow of Czechs and Moravians to my country that today encompasses more than seventy thousand descendants.
With this background of strong ties, my great challenge as the Argentine representative has been to continue defining initiatives and materializing projects to expand and solidify the bilateral relationship. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, and then the conflict against Ukraine, changed the international context, as well as the priorities for both countries and their surrounding regions.
This scenario conditioned several of our projects, and forced us to be more creative. For this, the Argentine Embassy always had the support of our Czech friends, both in the public and private sectors, which allowed us to continue with our activities of political coordination, commercial promotion, bilateral cooperation in various sectors, and cultural dissemination.
Much remains to be done in the construction of a shared and beneficial agenda for both countries, but we have the advantage of sharing common values, namely respect for human rights and political freedoms, support
for democratic government regimes, as well as our commitment to international law, multilateralism, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
In this context, Argentina and the Czech Republic, Latin America and Europe, should double their efforts to take full advantage of the natural complementarity on both sides of the Atlantic.
From a personal point of view, I would need pages and pages to describe the pleasure of living in the Czech Republic – the „center“ of Europe, where a whirlwind of nature, history, traditions, and culture converge, which still amazes and excites me on a daily basis.
My gratitude goes to all those who made these five years unforgettable: to my Czech friends who helped me connect with their society, to the Expats with whom I shared the adventure of living in Prague, to my colleagues in the diplomatic corps, with whom we shared the responsibility of representing our countries, and, last but
not least, to the whole staff of my embassy, who were also my family during this period.
Facing my departure, I will not say „Adios“ or „Goodbye“, but Na shledanou, as something of mine will always remain here…
Roberto Salafia