During his recent mission to Odessa, Italian Ambassador Pier Francesco Zazo inaugurated the first Honorary Consulate of Italy in Ukraine, headed by Honorary Consul Vladislav Shtamburg. The Head of the Odessa Regional State Administration, Oleh Kiper, the representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Serhii Orlov, a delegation from the Municipality of Odessa, the representatives of numerous Consular Institutions present in the port city, and several leading Italian and Ukrainian representatives from the business, cultural and scientific communities attended the ceremony.
“The Honorary Consulate will provide important support to Italian nationals and businesses in the city of Odessa and its consular district, also in view of the Italian project for the reconstruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral and of over fifty buildings of high architectural value that were damaged by the bombings,” said Ambassador Pier Francesco Zazo.
“I sincerely thank my friend Vladislav Shtamburg for his generosity: it is also on his and his team’s valuable work that the friendship between Italy and Ukraine rests, as well as the due support that Italy guarantees in the face of Russian aggression,” added the Head of Mission. “The inauguration of the Honorary Consulate in Odessa is the first step in the establishment of an Italian honorary consular network in Ukraine, a true structure at the service of Italy, able to provide support to all Italian actors across the vast Ukrainian territory in view of future reconstruction,” the Ambassador remarked.
The Honorary Consulate is located in Pushkinska Street no. 7, right in the city centre. It is no coincidence this address was chosen: the original name of the street, inaugurated in 1827, was in fact “vulytsia Italiiska”, meaning “Italian street”, which testifies to the deep historical ties between the city on the Black Sea and Italy. The Honorary Consulate’s jurisdiction covers the regions of Odessa, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, as well as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
