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The Intermediterranean Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe organised its annual Plenary Assembly in Barcelona, since Catalonia currently holds the organisation’s presidency. This organisation brings together 45 regional governments from 9 different Mediterranean countries. For the first time, the Union for the Mediterranean – which brings the 27 European Union Member States and 16 countries from the Northern Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans together – signs a cooperation agreement with an organisation of regional governments. At the signing ceremony, political leaders asked the European Union to pay more attention to the South, as once it did with Eastern Europe.

The ‘Pau Casals VIP lounge’ at Barcelona's Airport Terminal 1 offers the opportunity to taste between three or six Priorat (Tarragona) DO wines. Every Thursday afternoon in May, June and July, VIP travellers who leave or stop over in Barcelona are able to do this tasting for free. In 30 minute sessions, they can taste three different kinds of wine from the wineries ‘Clos Mogador’, ‘Capafons-Ossó’, ‘Mas d’en Gil’, ‘Scala Dei’, ‘Mas Doix’ and ‘Trossos del Priorat’.

The €6.6 million project will last for 6 years and will start in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. It aims to strengthen the training of logistics sector workers in 10 countries in the Southern Mediterranean area. During the project’s presentation in Barcelona, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbouring Policy, Stefan Füle, asked for a greater financial commitment from the 43 countries that are members of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). He lamented that “it is not healthy” that the European Commission continues to be the main funding source for the UfM. Three years after unveiling its permanent Secretariat in the Catalan capital, the UfM is starting its first projects.

With the Pet Shop Boys, Kraftwerk, 2 ManyDJs, Jurassic 5 and Laurent Garnier as guaranteed crowd pullers, the 20th edition of the Sonar Festival was a success waiting to happen. But the record-breaking attendance figures and the smooth transition from downtown Barcelona to the Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuic venue went way beyond organisers’ expectations. More than 121,000 festival-goers attended the electronic music event, which represents a 24% compared to last year’s figures. Furthermore, around 55% of the attendees were foreigners, with a great presence of people from the United Kingdom, France and Italy, but also from the United States, Australia, Russia and many other countries.

According to the current legislation, the Spanish Government has to invest 18.9% of its total transport infrastructure budget in Catalonia between 2007 and 2013 in order to compensate for an historical lack of such investments. However, according to the Spanish Transport Ministry’s budget execution reports and the projections made by the Chamber, the Spanish Government is far from honouring this legal obligation. Not only have investments in Catalonia not increased in relative terms, but they have been reduced to a “historical minimum”. While the planned budget for transport investments has been reduced by an average of 36% throughout Spain due to the economic crisis, in Catalonia it has dropped by 50%. Furthermore, 87% of the planned budget was executed throughout Spain, while in Catalonia Madrid only executed 68% of it.

On Thursday, the Catalan Government published the new legal project for the area where ‘BCN World’ will be built, in order to modify the existing town-planning project and other rules. In addition, it will also modify the current taxes on gambling, dropping them from a maximum rate of 55% to 10%. The modification of such taxes was one of the changes the Catalan Government had promised international investors in order to develop the mega resort, which will see the construction of 6 casinos and hotels the size of those in Las Vegas. In addition, the resort will have golf courses, a beach club, a marina, a smart residential city area, shopping centres, theatres, conference centres and other attractions. Two weeks ago, the first three international investors participating in the project were announced. Plans are to start construction of the first casino in September.

The new facilities are the second longest building in the Catalan capital, as it is 186 metres long. Desigual’s new headquarters are located on prime real estate, just in front of Barceloneta beach and next to the W Hotel. They will initially host 840 employees but at a later stage they will host up to 1,500 people. The building is split into 6 storeys and occupies 24,400 square metres. According to Desigual’s President, Thomas Meyer, the building is inspired by the retail company’s values such as “positivity, respect, compromise and constant improvement”. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, attended the unveiling event and praised Desigual for combining the “informality” of its clothing style with the “seriousness” of a company with shops in more than 100 countries.

“Having a winning team is the beginning of the formula that leads us to success,” says FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell at the press conference overviewing the 2012-2013 season. “We’re adopting a management model that adjusts to the reality that surrounds us, that’s viable, sustainable and responsible,” he states. Rosell highlighted the increase in revenue due to sponsorships.

An exhibition, with documents dating from between the 10th century and 1493, displays the oldest preserved copy of the ‘Capitulations of Santa Fe’. This agreement was signed by the Catholic Kings in April 1492 and accepted Christopher Columbus’ terms to undertake the trip after which Europeans would become aware of the Americas. The document granted Columbus the titles of Admiral, Viceroy and Governor-General of all the lands he would discover and set that he would keep a tenth of all future profits. The copy dates from 1493 and it is only rarely on display. It has been kept in the Archives of the Aragon Crown in Barcelona and now is on show along with 42 other documents showing the symbolic conception of travelling in the Middle Ages.

The Catalan capital hosts the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, which delivers this award with the European Commission every two years. Reykjavik’s new Concert Hall and Conference Centre ‘The Harp’, designed by Henning Larsen Architects, Studio Olafur Eliasson and Batterrío, won the 2013 Mies van der Rohe Award, which comes with €60,000 and a small sculpture reproducing the pavilion created by the German architect in Barcelona. In addition, the Spanish architects María Langarita and Víctor Navarro won the Special Mention Award for Young Talent for their music academy in Madrid’s former slaughterhouse (Matadero). The award ceremony took place in Barcelona’s Mies van der Rohe pavilion, in Montjuic.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, which is one of Australia’s main universities, will offer Master and PhD programmes in Barcelona. The RMIT University, which has three campuses in Melbourne and two in Vietnam, is now coming to Europe and will coordinate its activities in the continent from Barcelona. The Australian education institution will also cooperate with several Catalan universities, in particular the UPC, the UPF and ELISAVA. The Catalan Minister for Economy and Knowledge, Andreu Mas-Colell, attended the opening ceremony. He underlined that Australia’s higher education system is “the most internationalised in the world”. He also stated that the RMIT campus in Barcelona “is a bridge towards Europe, the Mediterranean Area and Latin America”.

Mateu Hernández is the General Director of Barcelona Global, an independent private association that is trying to make Barcelona one of the best cities in the world to attract talent and business activity. Its activities are similar to associations like Partnership for New York, Berlín & Partners and London & Partners, for example. Barcelona Global is made up of the main research centres in the city, prestigious professionals from the Catalan capital or related to it, and more than thirty of the most powerful and innovative companies in Barcelona.

56,500 Barça fans came to the Camp Nou to welcome Neymar to FC Barcelona. "Barça are more than a club and a great team and I want to help Leo Messi to continue to be the greatest player in the world," he said. Neymar da Silva Junior signed his contract with FC Barcelona on Monday afternoon. He will be a Barça player through the 2017/18 season. The signing ceremony took place at thye club’s offices in the Catalan capital. The player, Barça President Sandro Rosell, Vice President Josep Maria Bartomeu and the Football Director Andoni Zubizarreta were all in attendance.

Barça put four past Malaga in the last game of the season and hit the 100 point mark. The Catalans were three up after a quarter of an hour thanks to goals from Villa, Cesc and Montoya. Iniesta got the fourth in the second half before Morales got a consolation goal for Malaga. Abidal came on to a standing ovation on 75 minutes for his final minutes as a Barça player.

The port of Barcelona dealt with 174,711 TEU export containers between January and April. Most of the containers go to countries such as Russia, Turkey, Algeria or the United States, as well as regions in South-East Asia and South America. A new study by the port states that exports are now higher than ever and have helped create a diversified market to the five continents. The number of cruise passengers has also jumped 10%.