Barcelona’s Zona Franca shines at the WFZO World Congress 2024

• The special delegate of the State in the CZFB, Pere Navarro, and the general director of the CZFB, Blanca Sorigué, have attended the 10th edition of the World Congress of Free Zones where 2,000 attendees from 160 countries have gathered.

• Blanca Sorigué, who has been re-elected as vice-president of the World Association of Free Trade Zones, closed the congress by highlighting the importance of Barcelona with a unique and successful model in this sector of activity.

Barcelona, September 26, 2024.- The Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB) has had a very prominent participation in the 10th edition of the World Free Zones Congress, organized by the World Free Zones Organization (WFZO) from September 23 to 25 in Dubai. The special delegate of the State in the CZFB, Pere Navarro, and the general director of the CZFB, Blanca Sorigué, have presented the model of success, and at the same time unique in the sector, of the Barcelona entity.

The World Free Zone Congress has brought together a total of 2,000 attendees from 160 countries with the presence of the most prominent free zones on the planet. During three intense days, a total of 35 speakers addressed the main challenges faced by global free trade zones, which are in a transformation phase due to the application of new technologies, as well as their social contribution towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly models.

The general director of the CZFB, Blanca Sorigué, oversaw closing the congress, a fact that highlights the weight and importance of the Zona Franca de Barcelona worldwide, where it is considered a model of success for its commitment to industry 4.0 with projects as outstanding as the DFactory Barcelona, the largest international ecosystem in this field. The World Free Zone Congress has also been an excellent place for relationship networking to drive transformative change and foster collaboration within the global Free Trade Zone ecosystem.

The 10th Anniversary of the WFZO World Congress has also been the framework for the celebration of the general assembly of the entity that has appointed its new board of directors. At this event, Blanca Sorigué has been re-elected as vice-president of the WFZO, which will continue to be chaired by Mohammed Al Zarooni.

The general director of the CZFB and vice-president of the WZFO, Blanca Sorigué, explained that “the WFZO World Congress has been a global projection for the sector as well as a very important challenge to demonstrate that free zones are increasingly sustainable, as well as economic zones with an important projection of their territories that generate many qualified jobs”.

For his part, the special delegate of the State in the CZFB, Pere Navarro, has valued very positively the participation of the CZFB in the World Congress of Free Zones: “for three days all the world free zones have shared challenges that concern us all, but above all we have shared the possible solutions to face these challenges with guarantees”. Navarro added that “we are very satisfied because we have been able to see that the Zona Franca de Barcelona is an international benchmark in our sector because we are one of the few that do not have tax advantages, an aspect that is the main attraction for most free zones. For this reason, we have had to reinvent ourselves by betting on innovation, sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals, industry 4.0 and the new economy and the result is a model of success admired by the sector as a whole”.