This week, the Catalan Government has organised a new meeting of delegates abroad in Barcelona with the aim of deepening the coordination of and intensifying the country’s foreign action. This is an initiative that is carried out twice a year so that the delegates have first-hand knowledge of the Government’s priority areas of action and have all the tools at their disposal to be the voice of the Government of Catalonia in the world.

The Catalan Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, welcomed them on Tuesday to the Palau de la Generalitat and asked them“to convey to our counterparts that, despite the elections of 12 May, the country is not stopping and the dialogue continues”. In fact, Serret defended“not lowering our guard on priority issues such as the official status of Catalan, the creation of the Mediterranean macroregion or the approval of the global plastics treaty”. She also called for continuing support for the Catalan diaspora in the exercise of voting abroad and, more generally, the strategy of services for Catalonia abroad.

“We continue to work with a vocation to be useful, to reinforce and consolidate external action and to maintain the strategic lines”, insisted the Minister, who finally asked the 21 delegates to continue with their “vocation of service, maximum ambition and demand”.

Conference to align objectives and incorporate sectoral perspectives

The delegates will be in Barcelona until 5 April to reinforce the coordination and alignment of the Catalan Government’s foreign action objectives, and to acquire more tools and sectoral perspectives through various informative sessions.

The first day was marked by the welcome address by Minister Serret and interventions on Ministry priorities by the Secretary General, Bernat Costas; the Secretary for Foreign Action and European Union, Miquel Royo; the Director General for Foreign Action, Anna Dotor; the Director General for European Union Affairs, Gerard Vives; the Director General for Development Cooperation, Yoya Alcoceba, and the Director General for the Catalan Community Abroad, Rafael Caballeria. A session will also be organised on advocacy strategies in the European Union in areas of interest to the Catalan executive.

On the remaining days, the delegates will visit the Llobregat desalination plant to learn about the current status of the drought and to discuss strategic plans and investments in water resource management and opportunities for international partnerships in this field. The delegates will also meet with the Catalan Minister of Economy and Finance, Natàlia Mas, to discuss the study of singular financing that the Catalan Government has presented, and they will attend a session on the feminist transformation of the Government of Catalonia and one on the project “Catalonia, World Region of Gastronomy 2025”, among others.