Barcelona Global's welcome to international talent brings together 1,500 professionals

The Palauet Albéniz has once again become the privileged setting for meetings and networking among international professionals based in Barcelona. The expats have gathered, as is customary for 11 editions, convened by Barcelona Global, which annually organizes the Hola Barcelona! Cocktail event to welcome international talent and to highlight its contribution to the city. Again, more than 1,500 professionals of 91 nationalities have attended this tribute to those whom the private association refers to as barcelonians by choice.

Consolidated as a key event for international professionals established in Barcelona, this year's meeting was marked by a sudden rain that prevented the planned development of the act. Attendees were unable to hear the president of Barcelona Global, Ramon Agenjo, and also this year's special speaker, the CEO of Vueling, Carolina Martinoli, who was scheduled to review her career and experience before international professionals based in the Catalan capital, coinciding with the company's 20th anniversary.

The rain prevented the speeches from continuing as planned, but it did not stop the networking atmosphere and ceased in time to continue with the event, which had as its central themes the role of international talent and its impact on the city as a driver of economic and social development, as well as the need to face the challenges derived from competition among cities to generate and attract impactful talent.

The meeting, organized with the support of the City Council and certified as a sustainable event, maintains its original objectives after these 11 editions: to connect Barcelona Global partners with expats based in Barcelona, and to contribute to integrating this international community into the city, encouraging its members to become active and committed citizens of Barcelona.

This same invitation is what the Minister of the Presidency of the Generalitat, Albert Dalmau, has extended to these professionals. The minister, who began his professional experience in the private sector in 2013 precisely at Barcelona Global, has called on attendees to "be part of the local culture, make an impact with talent in the city, and contribute to facing and solving future challenges." Also before the rain that interrupted the event, Deputy Mayor Maria Eugènia Gay defended that this event demonstrates that Barcelona "is a place where people want to live, work, and prosper": barcelonians by choice.

And they choose it from multiple points of the planet, which have been represented at the event by 91 nationalities, ten more than in the previous one. Among the attendees at the event, with 71% international, professionals from countries in the rest of Europe were included, as well as from American countries such as the United States and Argentina; Asian countries such as South Korea, China, and Malaysia; African countries such as Congo, Kenya, and Mozambique, and from Oceania, with attendees originating from Australia, among many others.

This diversity is also noticeable within Barcelona Global, whose international partners grow every year, and already represent 18% of the association's members. The variety in the origins of the attendees is also a reflection of Barcelona's diverse society, in which for the first time one in four Barcelonians is of foreign nationality.

More than 1,500 people of 91 nationalities attended this tribute to international professionals based in Barcelona

43% of foreigners residing in Barcelona have higher education, as Barcelona Global also confirms with its International Talent Monitor, which outlines a profile of an international professional with higher education and employment in a local company mainly in the technology, research and health sectors, and who resides for long periods of time in the Barcelona that they have decided to make their new city.