V Luxembursku žije takmer tisíc Slovákov a myšlienka mať v krajine vlastného honorárneho konzula medzi krajanmi rezonovala už dlhšiu dobu. O to viac nás potešila správa o vymenovaní nového honorárneho konzula. Pán Giancarlo d'Elia je v našej komunite nováčikom, a preto nás teší, že súhlasil, aby sme ho vyspovedali pre náš blog Cyklus krajania.
Our community
welcomes our new Slovak honorary consul hoping for a mutual fruitful
cooperation. Could you please tell us more about your background?
Thank you for your warm welcome and hello to all Slovaks living and working in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg! As regards my background, I am a trained economist with an MBA in international management. A Luxembourg national, after a management career in Germany where I first finished my studies, I got finally professionally established in Luxembourg back in 1997 on behalf of a large German publishing group to revitalize a daughter company in the data and document management sector. In 2003, I started my first company operating in greater Luxembourg in the field of corporate turnarounds and growth management. Since 2010 we invest also in the Private Equity sector, with dedicated investment funds; mostly industrial investments in diverse sectors ranging from Real Estate to alternative energies and sustainable projects.
First of all, a word
of explanation about the function of Honorary Consulates - many countries are
keen to establish a diplomatic representation in countries where they have no
embassies. The profile of the Honorary Consuls is dictated by the aspiration to
dispose locally of a personality well connected to the local social and
economic environment and also politically networked. It happens that my
personal profile fits into this scheme. Allow me to stress the fact that I am
very humbled and thankful to have been given the honour to represent a great
country like the Slovak Republic. As regards the Grand Duchy, the Embassy in
Brussels remains the main regional diplomatic and consular reference for the
Slovakian community. What we plan to do? First of all, I strive to become the
point of contact to the local community and will welcome any opportunity to get
to meet the residents in the Grand Duchy. My function and the purpose of the
activities that I will be supporting will have one common denominator: making
Slovakia better known in Luxembourg and creating links between the Slovaks at
home and the Grand Duchy. Together with the association of the Slovaks residents
(SLUX), we will work out a plan of events. Broadly speaking, I am not in favour
of “quick shots”, things need to be organized properly and this takes time.
We all know that
Luxembourg is a very multilingual country and a little bird tweeted that you
also speak several languages. Would you like to add Slovak to the list of your
languages?
Ah the language
issue…yes, I speak a few languages. Do you really want me to list them…? Let’s
just say that I feel at home in almost a dozen of European countries. And yes,
I intend to learn Slovakian, and could well need the support from a mother
tongue willing to assist me in this endeavour! Though my agenda is quite full,
the arrangements will not be easy.
What are your
suggestions for promotion of Slovakia in Luxembourg? In which fields can you
imagine more intensive cooperation between the two countries?
Without being too
detailed, let me say that the cultural sector is a natural bridge to bring
people together, this covers so diverse areas as music, dance, figurative arts,
movies and other cultural events. On the more practical side, we can strive to
introduce the great Luxembourg financial know-how to the Slovakian economic and
industrial communities at home, they could benefit greatly from what the Grand
Duchy can offer in terms of financial engineering and development capital.
How, in your
opinion, can Slovak community help in this, given its limited capacities?
In my opinion, the
most valuable support is not budget dependant. Providing insights and
contributing to better understanding, the real exigences and most appropriate
initiatives are purely brain steered factors.
What do you do in
your free time?
Would replace the
notion of “free time” with the one of “time” tout court! Experience shows that
you have only time for the things that you are interested in. We always find
the time to do what we like. Personally, I do my daily sport training before
going to work. History is my passion, my reading covers mostly that field,
followed by geopolitics.
Your wife is the
Honorary Consul of Burkina Faso to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and you also often
visit Africa. Do you think that you could benefit from your wife´s experience
in your role as a Slovak honorary consul? Could there be some inspiration for Slovak
community in Luxembourg?
My wife has been
Honorary Consul for the past five years. In fact, she has been living in
Burkina Faso since 2008, travelling back and forth from and to Luxembourg. She
also used to work there as a consultant in state governance. Africa is a
continent that Europeans do not know much: the images from malnutrition and
poverty are in everybody’s mind when Africa is mentioned. Well, Africa is not
that…or at least not only that. With an overall population of 1.2 billion, 54
sovereign countries and a territory so large to absorb the US, China, India,
France and even more countries, the continent will be the fastest growing
economic area in the world in the next decades. There are huge development
opportunities over there.
As regards the
potential cross fructification, be ensured that I will pick everybody’s brain
to get valuable hints for my mission!
Mr. d´Elia, thank you for giving us an opportunity to know you a bit more. We look forward to our successful cooperation and seeing you at one of our events and we wish you many enjoyable moments in your new role of Honorary consul.
You can contact Mr. Giancarlo d'Elia here:
hconsul.slovakia@gmail.com
