minister jordi baiget leads a mission to the united states accompanied by 18 catalan companies

Miami, april 18, 2016. - the minister for business and knowledge, jordi baiget, is holding an institutional and business mission from today until friday to the united states with the aim of promoting business cooperation with catalonia and look for business opportunities in the food and tech innovation sectors. during the mission, organized by catalonia trade & investment, the catalan delegation will visit the states of florida, california and the district of columbia, washington dc. the director general of industry, núria betriu, will also accompany the mission. 

this monday, the delegation is visiting miami to participate in the emerge fair, considered a critical platform between latin america, north america, and europe in the fields of digital technology industry and digital economy. catalan companies medtep, opentrends, and icontainers are meeting with other companies based around the world to seek partners and new business opportunities, and participating in conferences, pitches, and networking activities at an event that registered more than 10,000 attendees from 50 countries last year. 

the minister and the director general is also meeting with the beacon council, the official agency for economic development of the miami county that supports companies in the region and works to attract foreign investment. the directors of the organization already met with representatives of the government of catalonia in the mobile world congress held in barcelona last february, and the aim of the meeting is to find new ways of co-operation to promote trade relations between florida and catalonia. in san francisco, the catalan delegation will meet with representatives of the government of california in the city to show their desire to continue working together to expand new lines of action after the memorandum of understanding signed between the government of catalonia and the state california last year. in addition, minister baiget will speak in a meeting with companies from the region at the public-private business organization bay area council. 

wednesday will begin the worlds of flavor conference, the leading event in the united states in the field of gastronomy held in st. helena, napa valley (california), in which 8 companies, 7 wineries and 2 catalan chefs will take part. the companies are cadí, moritz, casa pons, caviaroli, inpanasa, priorat natur, sosa ingredients and urgasa. the wineries are caves torelló, mas bertran, agrícola sant josep, mas d’en blei, molí parellada, cellers unió, and buil & giné. the chefs are mateu casañas and sergio andreu -of the restaurants disfrutar and la pepita-. 

in the context of the year of gastronomy and wine tourism, the catalan tourist board will make a sensorial presentation of catalonia as a tourist destination. attendees will be able to try catalan products, listen to the patum, or be a casteller or a catalan fisherman thanks to the 360° videos that they will be able to watch using virtual reality glasses. at the end they will be presented with catalan products - calçots, montserrat tomatoes, delta rice, etc. - to take home a part of catalonia. 

the last part of the mission will be in washington dc, where minister baiget will meet with executives of the world bank and the inter-american development bank (idb) to seek new ways to boost trade and innovation for catalan companies. 

trade relations between the united states and catalonia 

the united states is the 6th market in the world with a higher volume of catalan exports. in fact, in 2015 catalan sales grew 21% compared to the previous year, reaching more than 2.5 billion euros and registering 2,709 regular exporters (who have sold goods in the last four consecutive years). 

regarding exports from the united states to catalonia, they are higher than to countries like denmark, finland, and portugal, and similar to those to sweden, austria, and poland, since they have reached more than 2 billion euros in 2015. 

the commercial relationship between catalonia and the united states began in 1797 with the establishment of the first american consulate in barcelona. there are currently more than 500 catalan companies based in the us, while there are 710 american multinationals present in catalonia.