More than 200 international professionals will participate in the Conference of Free Zones of Ibero-America

• The CZFB will host this event that will bring together operators, users, public entities, investors, consultants and industry suppliers from Latin America, Europe and Africa.

• The program of this 26th edition will feature panels and debate sessions, showcase and inspirational talks, as well as business visits organized to companies and entities based in Barcelona.

• Among the topics that will be addressed during the conference are innovation, new technologies, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the energy challenge, logistics efficiency, or the Global Tax.

Barcelona, October 17th, 2023.- DFactory Barcelona will host from November 8 to 10 the XXVI edition of the Conference of Free Zones of Ibero-America. The largest free zone event in the Americas will be organized by the Association of Free Zones of the Americas (AZFA) and the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB), in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Global Alliance of Special Economic Zones (GASEZ). It should be noted that AZFA currently represents its affiliates in 25 countries on 2 continents, bringing together more than 600 free zones with more than 13,000 companies installed in them.

Thus, the Consorci de la Zona Franca of Barcelona will act as host of this event that will bring together for three days more than 200 participants –operators, users, public entities, investors, consultants and industry suppliers– from Latin America, Europe and Africa, who will analyse the current situation, advances, innovations, best practices, trends and challenges of the future. In addition, the Ibero-American Free Trade Zones Conference will coincide with the celebration of the Smart City Expo World Congress held at Fira de Barcelona.

The special delegate of the State in the CZFB, Pere Navarro, emphasizes that “it is an honour to host this event, which will bring together professionals from different countries who share interests, experiences and concerns. Many free zones in Latin America and Africa have expressed their interest in knowing first-hand the DFactory Barcelona because it has become a benchmark for industry 4.0 around the world”. Navarro added that “the fact that the edition of the annual congress of the AZFA is held this year in DFactory is a great incentive for all its associates and great news for the city of Barcelona”.

For her part, Blanca Sorigué points out that “holding the XXVI Conference of Ibero-American Free Zones in Barcelona, coinciding with another international congress, is an opportunity for all participants to further enhance the generation of networking and synergies, in addition to knowing first-hand companies and success stories of projects from all over the world,  as well as the largest Industry 4.0 ecosystem in Europe.”

The program will feature panels and debate sessions, showcase and inspirational talks, as well as business visits to facilities such as the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), the Logistics 4.0 Incubator or the green hydrogen plant operated by Iberdrola, among others. Among the topics that will be addressed during the event are innovation, new technologies, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the 2023 Agenda, the energy challenge, logistics efficiency, or the Global Tax. In addition, AZFA will hold its General Assembly on Thursday, November 9th at DFactory Barcelona, within the framework of the XXVI Conference of Free Zones of Ibero-America.