Catalunya works on seducing firms out of UK post-Brexit – and several are already keen to make the move
Wednesday, August 3, 2016 @ 2:01 PM
BARCELONA and the regional government of Catalunya are working on encouraging companies fleeing the UK post-Brexit to set up in the north-eastern provinces – and say some have already expressed an interest.
Deputy mayor of Barcelona Jaume Collboni and regional minister for business Jordi Baiget reveal that a dedicated ‘enquiries office’ is due to be set up so that firms based in Britain to enable them to trade easily with the European Union will be able to access ‘all the information they need’ on how to move to Catalunya.
Technology companies, start-ups and new business owners, as well as existing corporations of all types, are due to be targeted in a campaign commencing in September.
Baiget says he has already been in contact with undisclosed sources in Britain which are ‘able to provide information and leads’ concerning UK-based companies to help lure them to Catalunya, and Collboni says the region and its main city will be on stand-by to ‘explain procedures’ and ‘help with contacts’ in order to ‘facilitate, encourage and simplify’ companies’ moves to Spain.
“What we want to do is to hold up our hand and tell British businesses, and those of other countries based in Britain, that Barcelona and Catalunya as a whole could be a great destination for them to set up and invest in,” Collboni explains, whilst adding that both the city council and regional government are ‘especially concerned’ with ‘creating quality employment’ and aspire to turning Barcelona into a ‘Mecca for 4.0 industry’.
He says he is already in close contact with ‘a number of companies’ keen to move from Britain to Catalunya, but insists that all parties ‘need to be discreet about it’ at least until the extent of their investment is set in stone, since ‘other cities in Europe also want to take advantage’ of opportunities like this ‘which Brexit may offer them’.
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