Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The public presentation of the International Cooperation Master Plan 2020-2023 was held on April 9th. The Plan places special emphasis on human rights, climate emergency and the Mediterranean. Following the work carried out in previous plans, it is based on the AMB's experience in international cooperation matters and in other areas in which it has competence and expertise.

The presentation was attended by about a hundred people from metropolitan municipalities, public administrations, NGOs, academia and social movements. The International Cooperation Master Plan 2020-2023 was approved last November by the Metropolitan Council.

Commitment to 0.7 %

During the event, the AMB Vice-president of International Relations and Cooperation, Ernest Maragall, highlighted the cooperation model of both the institution and the master plan as "cooperation with a metropolitan vision, focused on people, transformative, horizontal and decolonial, technical, with cross-cutting principles, critical, and with a local and global perspective; a concerted and coordinated cooperation".

In the same session, Oriol Illa, director of the AMB Area for International Relations and Cooperation, and Maria Peix, head of the International Cooperation Service, presented the assessment of the previous master plan and outlined the main elements of the current one.

According to the Plan, the AMB is committed to implementing strategies that fairly contribute to the guarantee of human rights and diversity, that preserve natural ecosystems and balanced use of resources, and ultimately that reverse climate change. The work of the AMB focuses on urban areas in order to move towards fairer metropolises with rights, inclusive, equitable, safe and sustainable.

The ongoing modalities of cooperation, shelter, emergency and post-emergency, and education for global citizenship are maintained, as well as the priority territories: the Mediterranean, Mesoamerica, Africa and the municipalities of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.

At the meeting, the AMB reasserted its commitment to allocating at least 0.7 % of its resources to cooperation and the continuity of the axes of cooperation established in the 2019-2023 Metropolitan Action Plan.