The president of the Government of Catalonia, Quim Torra, said this morning that the digital economy presents Catalonia with an opportunity to be “a leader in progress and social welfare in the 21st century” and go from being “the great factory of Spain to one of the great digital hubs of Europe and the world”.

“We want a nation that’s an engine of the digital economy and industry 4.0 but also a benchmark for a new technological humanism – a society that makes the new labour and digital rights of citizens one of its priorities,” the president said.

Torra made these comments at a meeting with representatives of social actors and institutions involved in the Mobile World Congress, held this morning at the Palau de la Generalitat to analyse the situation following the cancellation of the event.

In the strategy of making Catalonia a digital leader on the new map of the world taking shape, “the Mobile World Congress, along with other major events related to advanced digital technologies – such as smart cities, the Internet of Things, 5G, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology – are key elements,” Torra said, stressing that everyone, not just politicians, needed to be involved in tackling the challenge.

“If Catalonia wants to be a digital nation, that’s something we’ll achieve with the effort of everyone involved – not only because it’s a goal we share, but because years of working together and the experience of the last few weeks demonstrate what we’re capable of. The institutional front has remained firm and united and shown that Catalonia can respond in a united way to significant blows,” he said. The president said he was grateful for the “image of unity and energy” presented by the meeting and for the “prudence and trust” in various interventions that has been evident in analysis of the cancellation of the MWC.

Torra stressed that there is a broad commitment to institutional unity in this area: “We’re all firmly committed to working together to ensure that we once again have a great edition of the MWC in Barcelona in 2021.”

The president also announced the creation of an inter-ministerial committee – including representatives of Economy and Finance; the Presidency; Digital Policy and Public Administration; Business and Knowledge; and Labour, Social Affairs and Families – to analyse all of the proposals put forward at the meeting, maintain contact with the actors involved, and report back to them on measures that can be taken.