agenda

Urban Agenda announced for 2021, while green groups call Barcelona council's response to climate emergency "insufficient"

With only 10 years left to meet the UN's sustainable development goals, poverty has increased rather than decreased

Environmental and sustainability plans expected to be officially passed after the summer

Catalan delegation participates for second time in Almedalen political festival held annually on Swedish island of Gotland

Catalonia wants to be the first region to implement the New Urban Agenda, a document to be adopted this week at Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in Quito, Ecuador. The aim of this meeting of local and regional leaders is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable urban development, assess accomplishments to date and provide guidance to states, city and regional authorities, civil society, foundations, NGOs, academic researchers and U.?N. agencies in this field. The Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull, has offered to the United Nations that Catalonia be the first territory to implement the conclusions of the New Urban Agenda and stressed that the Catalan model "is inclusive, cohesive and committed to sustainable development".

The Parliament finally accepted to include the conclusions of the Committee to Study the Constitutive Process, which established the next steps in the pro-independence process, in this Wednesday’s agenda. The decision comes amid controversy over the possible suspension by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC), which claimed that the points agreed by the Committee emerged from the 9-N agreed proposal, which was declared unconstitutional. “We are not doing anything illegal” stated Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, adding that he considered it “absolutely normal” for the Parliament to discuss the conclusions. In a similar vein, the pro-independence forces, governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP stated that they are due to the democratic mandate which emerged from the 27-S elections.

Brussels is the chosen destination for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont’s first official trip abroad. It will be from the 30^th of April to the 2^nd of May and comes after Puigdemont’s visit to Paris, scheduled for March, had to be cancelled due to the coach accident which killed 13 Erasmus students in Freginals, in the South of Catalonia. Puigdemont made the announcement this Monday during a meeting with the delegates of the Catalan government abroad, the Catalan Government’s representative to the European Union, Amadeu Altafaj, the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, and the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Jordi Solé. During the meeting, Puigdemont also confirmed the government’s will to open new delegations in the Vatican and Morocco as soon as possible.

Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs Raül Romeva assured that he is “not worried at all” about the legality of this new Ministry. Thus the cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ top member responded to the Spanish government’s claim that the new department may violate some of the Spanish government’s functions. Foreign affairs “is a competence which is attributed to Catalonia and recognised in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy” assured Romeva and emphasised that the actions to be launched “are the same” as those carried out by the Catalan Foreign Affairs Secretary, Roger Albinyana. Romeva called for “finding synergies with other European actors” rather than “having embassies everywhere”, which he described as a 19th century policy. Romeva also forecast that former Catalan President Artur Mas will have an “important” role in the international agenda.

In a keynotes speech held at the 2015 Mobile World Congress, which is currently taking place in Barcelona, CEOs from network carriers such as Huawei, South Korea's KT and Orange have explained their vision for facilitating huge increases in speed and the number of connections supported by network carriers over the next five years. This new standard, which is being developed as a collaboration between the industry’s main actors, should be available for the upcoming 2018 and 2020 Winter and Summer Olympics and will substitute 4G. The Tokyo Olympics will be the first commercial test. The South Korean carrier KT will also undertake a test at the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Pyeongchang.

The 1st Digital Government Congress organised by the Catalan Government and the Open Administration of Catalonia consortium (AOC) will take place on Wednesday and Thursday at the Palau de Congressos de Fira de Barcelona. The main aim of this summit is to develop through the use of new technologies the public administration into an “open and innovative administration” that will be smarter, more efficient and effective in order to give “real answers to the demands and expectations of society”, according to Àlex Pèlach, the Managing Director of the AOC consortium.

Sónar+D is an international conference for creativity and technological innovation which coincides with the Sónar by Day Festival. The conference will organize lectures, project exhibitions, stage activities and hold meetings with experts to enhance talent and further opportunities in the digital environment creating a strong parallel to the music festival. This year is the second edition of Sónar+D and the conference is growing now bringing together more than 100 companies, as well as artists, entrepreneurs and technicians from around the world to promote talent and business opportunities in the area of ??culture. The festival's co-director Enric Palau recently revealed details about this year’s program, which is a new initiative divided into four areas. An area dedicated to round table conferences, an exhibition area where more than 40 featured worldwide technology projects are to be on show, a space for art shows and an area where attendees can meet renowned professionals.

Coinciding with the Mobile World Congress, the Catalan Ministry of Culture has organised the conference ‘Digital 4C’, which aims at “providing answers” to questions about digital contents and “bring closer” the world of technology and culture. The EBook, music, the audiovisual sector and video games will be the main topics of discussion among professionals through seminars, roundtables, conferences and meeting points to exchange about past experiences and new initiatives. Barcelona holds such an event as part of the Mobile World Capital project, a title the city was awarded until at least 2018 in order to act as the main international platform for the mobile-related industry. ‘Digital 4C’will be held at the Arts Santa Mònica Centre on the 27^th and 28^th of February, overlapping with the Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest fair in the sector which ends this Thursday.

Catalan cinema is currently facing a new problem: Small picture houses may have to close due to the difficulties to re-equip their auditoriums with digital technology. On weekdays, lots of auditoriums are practically empty and ticket sales continue to fall. The process of digitalisation is so expensive that the Catalan Cinema Committee fears that one out of four cinemas in Catalonia could close.