The Círculo Ecuestre hosted this Monday, January 23, a colloquium led by Pau Relat, President of Fira de Barcelona.

The event, which was held under the title Fira de Barcelona: Economic engine, was welcomed by Antonio Delgado, President of the Círculo Ecuestre, and a presentation by Enrique Lacalle, vice-president of the institution.

Manel Pérez, Deputy Director of La Vanguardia and moderator of the event, started the event by asking the protagonist about how the ravages of the covid-19 health crisis affected Fira de Barcelona.

"At Fira we were clear about the raison d'être of the fairs: face-to-face. That is why we were clear that it would return to its essence", explained Relat. For the President, the hybrid model was the key to guaranteeing its continuity: "The pandemic reinforced our model and the hybrid formula allowed us to maintain permanent contact with international fairs."


During the event, the moderator and speaker talked about the reputation of the fair institution and its value among society. Relat assured that "the institution has managed to be worthy of respect from society", consolidating itself as "one of the main European fairs, behind the German ones but ahead of Paris and Milan". In addition, he stressed that "the goal is to lead the next decades at a European level".

Regarding his vision of the city of Barcelona, Relat assured that it continues to have an important attraction for international congresses due to its "manageable size, its airport with great connections -of which he has said that more international connections are still needed-, the offer competitive public and hotel transport and public-private collaboration”.

Despite the positive vision, the President of Fira said that "Barcelona has enormous potential, but it needs people with long vision". For this reason, he urged the administrations to "assume the challenge of providing a long-term vision for the economic and social good of the city". He also to "weave public-private agreements to promote a generation of wealth that benefits all profiles of society".