International action by the city focuses on combatting Covid-19

As with the rest of the municipal areas, the city’s international action is also lending its weight in the fight against Covid-19. Action involves handling donations of medical and healthcare materials, support for the diplomatic corps and exchanges of experiences and solutions with other cities.

31/03/2020 14:22 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

Work to oversee donations of medical materials is strongly linked to Chinese cities and entities. Barcelona has twinning and collaboration agreements with Shanghai, Shenzhen and Yiwu, which have all confirmed they will be donating masks, protective suits and goggles. The process is being carried out in coordination with the Spanish state to ensure solidarity between cities. Barcelona’s Chinese and Korean communities have also been heavily involved.

Support for the diplomatic corps

The city has offered support for the consulate corps, to help handle requests for collaboration. Notable actions include the provision of hotel accommodation in Barcelona for over a thousand tourists of various nationalities affected by flight cancellations. Help has also been provided for homeless people from abroad and people with medical conditions requiring accommodation in shelter.

Learning from other cities to strengthen action against Covid-19

International action by Barcelona to tackle Covid-19 also seeks to learn from good practice elsewhere, as well as mistakes made by cities which suffered the effects of the pandemic earlier.

The city is in daily contact with Chinese and Italian cities. It is also taking part in exchanges between global and European city networks, such as Eurocities, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the C40.

Recent weeks have seen:

  • Contact with the Mayor’s offices in Milan, Rome, Florence and Vienna, to learn from their experiences, exchange information and coordinate action on a European level.
  • Exchanges of initiatives to mitigate the effects of Covid-19, with a virtual meeting with representatives from the Eurocities network.
  • Participation in learning experiences to discuss the realities of different local governments around the world in relation to the health crisis.

 

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