Ignacio Marco-Gardoqui, Belén Frau, and José Antonio Jainaga have been named the city's new ambassadors to promote its name worldwide.
By Gorka Uriarte Mendizábal
••6 min read
IA
Generic image of the Bilbao town hall facade in the afternoon sun.
The Bilbao Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services, and Navigation has designated Ignacio Marco-Gardoqui, Belén Frau, and José Antonio Jainaga as the city's new consuls.
Bilbao now has new consuls who will carry the name of the Biscay capital around the world. Economist and columnist for EL CORREO, Ignacio Marco-Gardoqui; Ikea's director of communication, Belén Frau; and the president of Sidenor, José Antonio Jainaga, were appointed this Wednesday as new consuls of the city by the Bilbao Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services, and Navigation, coinciding with its 140th anniversary and the 515th of the Consulate.
The proclamation ceremony began at the San Antón church, where the Consulate had its headquarters in an adjacent building. The new consuls were welcomed by the prior of the Consulate and president of the Bilbao Chamber of Commerce, José Ignacio Zudaire, accompanied by the deputy mayor, Amaia Arregi; the Basque Government's Deputy Minister of Tourism and Commerce, Jakes Aguirrezabal; the Director General of Territorial Competitiveness and Tourism, Cristina Múgica; and the Government's Deputy Delegate, Carlos García Buendía, as well as a representation of other consuls.
Later, inside the BBVA building in Plaza de San Nicolás, the solemn proclamation ceremony of the three new consuls took place, accompanied by about a hundred authorities and representatives from the political, economic, social, and cultural life of Bizkaia, as well as family members. During the appointment, José Ignacio Zudaire, as prior, emphasized that this act is more than a tradition. "It is the recognition of those individuals who, in their professional work, share the values that have always defined the people of Bilbao: effort, responsibility, vision for the future, openness to the world, the given word, entrepreneurial initiative, and commitment to collective progress."
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"This appointment is an enormous honor, one of the greatest that a person from Bilbao can receive, something very special. I am very excited because it will stay with me my whole life."
Ignacio Marco-Gardoqui is an economist and lawyer from the University of Deusto. He has held various management responsibilities in recognized public and private entities. He has an extensive and distinguished career in the financial sector, is an economic analyst, and a reference columnist who promotes understanding of the economic and business fabric. "This appointment is an enormous honor, one of the greatest that a person from Bilbao can receive, something very special. I am very excited because it will stay with me my whole life. The Bilbao Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services, and Navigation has been very important because it is where my professional life began and where I learned almost everything," explained the also analyst for EL CORREO.
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"The values that this land and my family have instilled in me have been the driving force behind everything I have built in my career: honesty, courage, humility, and at the same time, pride in what is our own. Also, effort and that continuous vision of always wanting to improve things."
Belén Frau holds a degree in Economic and Business Sciences from the University of the Basque Country. She has over 25 years of international experience in business leadership, retail, transformation, and brand strategy. In November 2021, she joined Ikea's Executive Committee to lead the global strategy for communication, reputation, and corporate positioning. "The values that this land and my family have instilled in me have been the driving force behind everything I have built in my career: honesty, courage, humility, and at the same time, pride in what is our own. Also, effort and that continuous vision of always wanting to improve things," she explained after the recognition.
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"I firmly believe in business rootedness. Many like me have fought to move their companies forward in a hostile environment in recent decades, often risking their lives, some even losing them. They have done so almost always anonymously, silently, without receiving awards. I want to vindicate their memory and claim the social recognition that their efforts deserve, without which Basque industry would probably not be here."
For his part, José Antonio Jainaga, president of Sidenor, stated that he "firmly believes in business rootedness." "Many like me have fought to move their companies forward in a hostile environment in recent decades, often risking their lives, some even losing them. They have done so almost always anonymously, silently, without receiving awards. I want to vindicate their memory and claim the social recognition that their efforts deserve, without which Basque industry would probably not be here."
Also present at the event were Javier Garcinuño, general director of Bilbao Ekintza; Miren Arzalluz, director of the Guggenheim; Juan Ignacio Vidarte, former director of the Guggenheim; Miguel Zugaza, director of the Bellas Artes; Marta Alonso, Northern Territorial Director of BBVA; Eduardo Ruiz de Gordejuela, CEO of Kutxabank; Juan José Etxeberria, rector of the University of Deusto; Jon Ruigómez, director of the Itsasmuseum; Pedro María Barreiro, managing director of the Bilbao Bizkaia Water Consortium; Pedro Sainz, president of the construction company Viuda de Sainz; Tomás Olano, president of Bilbao Metropoli 30; Carmen Martínez Guerra, manager of the Bilbao Choral Society; and Héctor Sánchez, manager of the Bizkaia Hospitality Association, among many other personalities from the social, political, economic, and cultural spheres of Bizkaia.
About the Consulate of Bilbao Bilbao was a port before it was a town. The navigators, shipowners, and merchants of the port were those who prompted Diego López de Haro to found the town on June 15, 1300, with the same name as the existing port: the Port of Bilbao. Since then, the masters and captains of ships, as well as the merchants of Bilbao, carried out their associated activities in a 'University' or guild, until 1511 when the Consulate of Bilbao was established, a true economic ministry with its own mercantile jurisdiction.
The Consulate of Bilbao deserves a prominent chapter in the history of Bizkaia because its activity allowed the evolution of the Territory's maritime trade and its industrial development. It made it possible to resolve issues of mercantile, land, and maritime activity, in a jurisdiction separate from the ordinary and civil one. Among other milestones, it was responsible for overseeing tasks aimed at making the Estuary a navigable waterway, decisively promoted the expansion of the port and attended to its infrastructure needs, and was the precursor to the Bilbao Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Navigation.
