12th FOCIR Conference
Economic Diplomacy: Time to Export Catalonia
Place: Institut d’Estudis Catalans
C/ del Carme, 47, Barcelona
Date: Saturday, 10 November 2012
Time: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
Context
The 12th FOCIR Conference brought together economists and international experts to discuss the future of Catalan economic diplomacy. Recent political and social events have brought the viability of a future Catalan state to the centre of the debate and have shown that exports are the key. It is already a fact that Catalan society exports more and more every day. Data from last year shows that exports increased some 13.5%, a new historical record. Several surveys published recently, including one by PIMEC (Association of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Catalonia), have also shown that as many as 81.5% of those questioned believe that an independent Catalonia would be economically viable. But what perspectives are there currently for Catalan economic diplomacy?
Programme and participants
The conference which brought together the following experts: Guillem López Casasnovas, Lecturer in economics at Pompeu Fabra University; Elisenda Paluzie, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Barcelona; Joaquim Llimona, President of the PIMEC Foundation; Joan Josep Berbel, Director of Invest in Catalonia at ACCIÓ; Jordi Martí, Councillor for Presidency and Territory at Barcelona City Council; Francesc de Paula Gambús of the Directorate-General for Foreign Affairs at the Generalitat – Catalan Regional Government; Jordi Quera, Vice-President of FOCIR; Huub J.M. Ruël, Lecturer at the University of Twente and expert in economic and commercial diplomacy; Mònica Sabata, President of FOCIR; Àngel Messeguer, Fellow of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans and Shaun Riordan, former British Diplomat and author of “The New Diplomacy” (Polity, 2002).
