Introduction
The International Relations Directorate is the body responsible for driving the international action of the Barcelona Provincial Council and the local authorities within its remit. The Directorate is made up of two main services, the Municipal Support Service for European Affairs, Cooperation and Internationalisation, and the International Projects and Development Cooperation Service, as well as the Provincial Council's Office in Brussels.
The 2024-2027 Mandate Action Plan sets out strategic priorities in the field of International Relations, which are complemented by the Directorate's Strategic Guidelines.
The international action of the Barcelona Provincial Council must serve the objectives to which the institution wishes to contribute: public innovation for sustainability, territorial equity and social cohesion, to build a more sustainable and collaborative network of local governments that can contribute to the resilience of the territory of the province of Barcelona.
"We are living in complex times, marked by a confluence of multiple crises and mutations in the global order which, moreover, reinforce each other to generate significant uncertainties about the future. International turbulence is shaping a worrying geopolitical scenario, while we live through a global climate emergency that also directly impacts our lives, through an accelerated and unprecedented rise in extreme weather events, which generate new risks to people's health and well-being, to natural ecosystems or to the viability of the production and consumption model. New risks that require transformative responses led by all public administrations, including the Barcelona Provincial Council, in order to turn them into opportunities for transformation, progress, equity and social and climate justice."
