Barcelona is the European city with the best strategy to attract foreign investment

International recognition for the investment attraction and city promotion strategy activated by the Barcelona City Council to counteract the consequences of the health crisis and revitalize the economy. According to the magazine fDi Magazine, from the Financial Times group, the Catalan capital is the best European city in promotion and strategies for attracting foreign investment in Europe, leading a ranking that places it ahead of other major cities such as Milan, Berlin, Munich, Moscow, London, Sofia, Budapest, Amsterdam, and Tbilisi.

A jury made up of four experts in promotion and the editor of the publication, Jacopo Dettoni, considers that Barcelona has carried out the best investment attraction strategy and gives as an example that in the last 18 months the city has managed to attract internationally renowned hubs of multinationals such as Pepsico or Microsoft, logistics bases such as the one inaugurated by Decathon in the ZAL, or new establishments such as the Singaporean technology company Transformative Digital Customer Experience (TDCX), which has chosen Barcelona to locate its first office in Europe.

fDi Magazine also highlights the key document of the reactivation strategy drafted by the City Council, the Barcelona Green Deal, which includes the priority lines of economic promotion for the next decade in line with the 2030 agenda. The plan deploys 66 measures with the aim of making Barcelona one of the best cities in the world for attracting talent and for developing economic activity.

"Through the Barcelona Green Deal, an economic plan in line with the UN agenda for 2030 based on sustainability, equity, and competitiveness, the city is moving towards achieving a circular economy. This includes attracting sustainable food and transport companies, accelerating the city's energy transition, and boosting the blue economy, which promotes the sustainability of ocean resources," cites fDi Magazine.

The magazine also justifies the choice of the Catalan capital for initiatives such as the Barcelona International Welcome Desk, a pioneering service in Spain that facilitates the arrival and establishment of investors, researchers, and foreign talent. A third element that has been positively valued is the campaign Barcelona never stops, with which the municipal council wanted to respond to the effects of the pandemic. The program has allocated 87 million euros to promote policies for the promotion and reactivation of the city, and has materialized in 82 measures, from subsidies, advice, training, or direct aid to boost the economy and job creation.

The first deputy mayor for Economy, Jaume Collboni, considers that the ranking "is a recognition of the work we are doing in this phase of the city's economic reactivation in which we have promoted new instruments such as the single window for international talent, public-private collaborations such as Barcelona & Partners with important operations to attract investments to the city and, in general, all the message we are sending internationally that the city is reactivating in a very intensive way."

Collboni also stressed that "in one year we have gone from 100,000 to 60,000 unemployed. 40,000 jobs have been created and this also has to do with the establishment here of new companies that are a product of the good promotion strategy that is now being recognized."

This ranking on investment promotion and attraction strategies is part of the report fDI's European Cities and Regions of the Future 2022/2023, an extensive study that compares Europe's most promising investment destinations and includes dozens of rankings that analyze various aspects of cities and also classifications based on their size.

However, Barcelona is not as well placed in the more general classifications. Thus, it is not part of the overall Top 10 of the best large European cities, a ranking led by London and in which Madrid does appear, in ninth position. Despite Brexit, London also leads the rankings of cities with the best economic potential, human capital, connectivity, or as a business-friendly city.

Recognition for Acció, the Generalitat's agency

The publication also values Acció's strategy for attracting foreign investment and the agency's activity balance in 2020 in this field. Despite the pandemic, Acció attracted 77 foreign investment projects, representing an investment of 480 million euros and the creation of 2,300 jobs. fDi Magazine recognizes Acció's strategy focused on attracting new business projects to Catalonia in the field of Industry 4.0 and advanced manufacturing. For the Minister of Business and Labor, Roger Torrent, this recognition highlights "the commitment of the Generalitat to attract productive foreign investment that generates added value for the Catalan economy, especially in the industrial, digital, and technological fields."

Thus, Catalonia ranks ninth in the general ranking of regions, led by Southeast England, Ile de France, three German regions, and the Community of Madrid.