Mobile launches with a message of support for Ukraine

BarcelonaThe traditional dinner before the Mobile World Congress, with King Felipe VI and the country's main political and business figures, was held this Sunday night at the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC) to kick off the most important technology and connectivity congress, the Mobile World Congress (MWC), which has been held in Barcelona since March.

At its doors, the monarch was received by the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, unlike what his predecessor, Pere Aragonès, had done in recent years. It is the first time since 2017 that the Bourbon has been received by a president of the Generalitat, in a message of return to institutional normality. However, this year the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, who is in London, at the summit of European leaders to address the situation in Ukraine, has not attended.

In fact, Felipe VI began his speech by reiterating Spain's support for Ukraine, now that the war has been going on for three years: "The reasons for the firm condemnation and rejection of an aggression like this, contrary to international law and the Charter of the United Nations, are still very much in force - We would like to send, therefore, once again and from this world meeting, our coherent and sustained message of solidarity and support to the Ukrainian people in their legitimate defence and in their aspiration and right to achieve a just and lasting peace, defending their independence and territorial integrity".

The dinner was also attended by the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull; the executive vice-president of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera; the ministers Jordi Hereu and Óscar López; the councillors Miquel Sàmper and Alícia Romero; the delegate of the Spanish government in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto; the mayor of Barcelona, ​​​​Jaume Collboni; and the Mayor of Hospitalet de Llobregat, David Quirós. The monarch also greeted the President of Telefónica, Marc Murtra; the Director General of the GSMA, Mats Granryd; the CEO, John Hoffman, and the President of Fira de Barcelona, ​​​​Pau Relat, among others.

President Isla has reiterated, along the same lines as the king, the need for a "fair and lasting peace" in Ukraine. For his part, the Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, has highlighted the European regulation on artificial intelligence (AI) to deal with the fake news and deceptions, and has asserted that Spain is betting on that path. In this sense, he has claimed the event as a catalyst for digital transformation.

Another year of Mobile

The MWC landed at the Fira de Barcelona in 2006 and has not stopped growing since then. With this edition, it consolidates the Catalan capital as its preferred host, with whom the GSMA – the event's organizer – has a contract until 2030; from then on, it will be renewed every year as long as the parties agree. Likewise, what began as the mobile congress, now goes much further and has become, without going any further, the meeting point for the entire technological sector, in which AI, connectivity and data have stolen the limelight from thesmartphonesand tablets.

In this edition, the congress expects to receive more than 101,000 attendees, a notable figure but still far from the historic record of visitors to Mobile, reached in 2019, when 109,000 attendees were reached. The event will feature 2,700 companies from around the world, 46 of them Catalan, and an economic impact similar to that of last year is expected: between 540 and 550 million euros.