On April 30, delegates from 10 countries representing a hundred free zones signed a protocol of intent to establish the Association of Free Trade Areas of Europe, coinciding with the Dubai Free Zone World Congress.
Josep M. Piqué, CEO of La Salle Technova Barcelona and the World Network of Scientific and Technological Parks, with his presence, supported the constitution of the association at the Dubai meeting, expressed on his part his commitment to the development of this new European network and emphasized the importance of combining the management of the free zones with the added value of the technology parks, joining the fiscal exemptions with values such as sustainability, security and technological innovation.
The protocol establishes the bases for constituting an entity with an international impact that represents them and that makes innovation its defining element, since the free zones and European science parks want to work in a network and increase their added value before the changes They are approaching the productive world and in international trade for the 4.0 economy, which foresees an accelerated paradigm shift due to digitization, Internet of things (IoT), 3D printing, robotization, etc.
A dozen representatives of free zones from Serbia, Poland, Ireland, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Luxembourg, Macedonia and Spain (the delegates of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Santander and Vigo) State in the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona and president of the Spanish free zones Jordi Cornet, in this associative process that has just begun and that will approve its official statutes on the occasion of the International Hall of Logistics and Maintenance (SIL) that is will be held from June 5 to 7 in Barcelona.
The memorandum that has been signed emphasizes the need to increase innovation, sustainable development and risk prevention and security in the trade and the global supply chain, which increasingly integrates value chains worldwide and international business partners.
The "fundamental role played by free zones and economic zones for growth, development and investment, job creation and the prosperity of nations" is recognized in this way, stressing that "strengthening of cooperation Among all the interested parties, especially between government, customs and the private sector. "
With this initiative, free zones and scientific and technological parks add to their efforts to implement innovation processes in the territories of their influence and collaborate with companies, in order to achieve balanced economic and social development.
