A total of 3,500 officers will ensure the security of the city as it prepares to become a smart city of the future

Barcelona to intensify its commercial ties with Asia, Africa and Latin America

photo_camera Barcelona intensificará sus lazos comerciales con Asia, África y América Latina

The city of Barcelona's strategy to boost innovation already has a long history of leadership in tackling urban challenges. This requires a willingness to change on the part of its own City Council with entrepreneurial initiatives, without forgetting a meticulous dimension of great impact on the outside world. We are talking about a resilient city that is preparing itself as a smart city of the future and the framework of the Barcelona ReAct working sessions has served to put on the table its own projects that develop solutions adapted to the UN's SDG 2030 Agenda and thus be able to boost the city's post-Covid economy.

For Mercè Conesa, President of the Port of Barcelona, the city enjoys a unique geopolitical position as the gateway to Europe from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Port's management, which has approved the 2125 strategy and absorbs 25% of foreign trade, assured this correspondent that it is the leading port in Spain in terms of international traffic, which is why there is a clear commitment to intensifying relations with markets such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, a great opportunity for the economic activation of the city of Barcelona. The President of the Port of Barcelona, Mercé Conesa, announced that commercial relations with Latin America (Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico), Asia and Africa will soon be strengthened. Specifically, Conesa warned of a global trend of population growth, modernisation and new needs that will mean that the African continent will need to interrelate with the Mediterranean Arc. "The idea is to carry out projects, but above all, to harmonise customs and strengthen new import and export strategies with these three continents," said Mercé Conesa.

In this context, Mercè Conesa, President of the Port of Barcelona, and Jaume Collboni, Deputy Mayor of the City Council, signed an agreement to promote the Blue Economy strategy led by the city, for the co-leadership of the key projects being developed within the port area.

In the same vein, Jaume Collboni Cuadrado corroborated Conesa's words to this journalist, who spoke of Barcelona's interest as a city in its international projection in Latin America and the Euro-Mediterranean area, and in the creation of a network with other cities of reference such as Lisbon, Melbourne and Tel Aviv. 

Aware of the rising populist movements against the status quo that have deteriorated the city's image in the media, there is already a narrative that is transforming the city. Barcelona has raised its voice through these conferences that allow it to promote its brand, and in this sense, Albert Dalman Miranda, manager of Economy, Resources and Economic Promotion of the City Council wanted to emphasise this concept of a city that is running at a very fast pace to face the challenge of citizen insecurity, which is why 1,000 new Urban Police officers have been recruited. 

Barcelona intensificará sus lazos comerciales con Asia, África y América Latina

According to Collboni, Deputy Mayor, it is urgent for Barcelona to be a safe destination from the point of view of health, public order and public safety to guarantee commercial activity. For all these reasons, the City Council has taken the decision to increase the number of Guardia Urbana officers by 1,000, increasing the number from 2,700 to 3,700. "We are going to reinforce patrols and vigilance on the streets to prevent crime and send out a message: Barcelona is a safe city". 

Barcelona has already designed the smart city of the future, through an urban innovation platform, known as PIU. Investment in training, talent and infrastructure, both main lines of action to create a virtual environment that improves life in the city, are also gaining prominence. "We are the only City Council in Spain that is capable of energising the digital ecosystem," said Albert Dalman Miranda, the City Council's manager of Economy, Resources and Economic Promotion.

Barcelona does not want to depend so much on its visitors, so it is going to diversify its economy, and the site of the Correos headquarters will become a centre for mobility and logistics technology companies, which will create a total of 2,000 new jobs, where now there are only warehouses and premises. "Investors need to see that the centre of Barcelona will generate a new space for business activity, boosting it on the ground floor," said Dalman Miranda.

Barcelona ReAct has shown a city in a post-Covid scenario that allows it to be a pilot experience and leader of smart sustainable transition in the ecosystem, inclusion, innovation and bigdata: the transformation of its economic and business model, in short. Along these lines, Collboni alluded to the Barcelona Weeks format, a novel way of visiting cities abroad, such as the Mexico edition (which will be held when it is possible to travel) to activate markets that provide quality tourism, "but we will choose the tourist we want, of quality, and respectful of the city".

Carmen Chamorro García, director of the CIP/ACPE. Diploma in International Relations from SEI

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