PRESENTATIONS
        
        
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          In 2013, Fira de Barcelona finished the year
        
        
          with a turnover of more than 117 million euros,
        
        
          significantly superior to the estimations at the
        
        
          beginning of the year. As far as events are
        
        
          concerned, the Montjuïc and Gran Via venues
        
        
          hosted 62 shows and congresses, as well as 70
        
        
          corporate, business and sports events, and more
        
        
          than 450 activities related to the different shows.
        
        
          The entity thus maintains its leading position, both
        
        
          in professional and industrial trade fairs and in its
        
        
          international scope.
        
        
          Key events
        
        
          The Mobile World Congress, EIBTM, Smart City
        
        
          Expo, and the Barcelona International Motor
        
        
          Show were some of the shows hosted by Fira in
        
        
          2013, but I would like to take this opportunity
        
        
          to thank especially the hosting of major medical
        
        
          and technological congresses. These two kinds of
        
        
          events alone have attracted in 2013 more than
        
        
          100,000 highly qualified delegates.
        
        
          Among the medical congresses, worthy of mention
        
        
          were the ones by the European Neurosciences
        
        
          Society, the European Respiratory Society, or the
        
        
          European Association for the Study of Diabetes,
        
        
          together with the meetings of domestic scope
        
        
          about Primary Care and Neonatology.
        
        
          Fira’s activity has been
        
        
          decisive in softening the impact
        
        
          of the crisis on our companies,
        
        
          because its activity is directly
        
        
          and indirectly related
        
        
          to tourism and exportation
        
        
          As for high-scale technological events, Fira
        
        
          de Barcelona has hosted VM World, SAP, Microsoft
        
        
          Convergence and the global corporate meeting
        
        
          HP Discover.
        
        
          Promoting industries
        
        
          Also worthy of special mention was the hosting,
        
        
          for the first time in the city, of two events: Pharma
        
        
          process, a forum about industrial processes in
        
        
          the pharmaceutical sector, and EVS27, the most
        
        
          important world congress for electrical vehicles.
        
        
          In 2014, Fira de Barcelona will host significant
        
        
          events, such as Alimentaria, Mobile World
        
        
          Congress, Smart City Expo, Hostelco, Expoquimia
        
        
          or Passenger Terminal Expo, as well as two new
        
        
          shows: Handmade Festival, devoted to different
        
        
          aspects of handcrafting, and Denim by Première
        
        
          Vision, an event devoted to denim clothes, which
        
        
          is leaving Paris to establish itself in our city.
        
        
          Also, it will confirm its commitment to a call
        
        
          for internationalization that has distinguished it
        
        
          over recent years, and it will expand its activity
        
        
          abroad by taking part in important events, such
        
        
          as the Motor and Jewellery Shows in Qatar, Smart
        
        
          City Expo at Kyoto, and Construmat-Ficons at
        
        
          Recife (Brazil). It will also continue to host major
        
        
          technological and medical events.
        
        
          These are all examples of how Fira is at the
        
        
          service of companies, of the economy,
        
        
          of the city and of the country, while becoming
        
        
          an international platform from which to foster the
        
        
          different sectors of Barcelona and Catalonia.