Barcelona is one of Spain's leading international cities, with a population of more than 1.6 million, and serves as a major centre for economic activity, culture, tourism, creativity, and innovation in the Mediterranean region. The city has established internationally recognised strengths in tourism, the creative economy, digital technologies, research and development (R&D), entrepreneurship, urban planning, sustainable mobility, design, digital culture, and the organisation of international events. According to Meet Barcelona, the city's official investment and international promotion platform, Barcelona has built a highly competitive urban ecosystem that attracts global investment, talent, and international businesses. This demonstrates that Barcelona is not only one of Europe's premier tourist destinations but also a globally connected city distinguished by its strengths in innovation, technology, and high-value services.
Photo: Deputy Prime Minister of Viet Nam and the accompanying delegation visit the Port of Barcelona and meet with José Alberto Carbonell Camallonga, President of the Port of Barcelona.
Photo: Government News.
A notable milestone in the partnership between Ho Chi Minh City and Barcelona has been the steady expansion of exchanges within the broader framework of cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and Spain. An early highlight was the "Business Opportunities with Barcelona" Seminar, held in Ho Chi Minh City in 2007 during the visit of a Barcelona business delegation. The event provided an important platform for enterprises from both cities to explore market opportunities, strengthen investment linkages, and promote bilateral trade and business cooperation.
In addition, various publications on Ho Chi Minh City's smart city development have identified Barcelona as a valuable reference in areas such as open data, smart lighting, smart mobility, and technology-enabled urban governance. These experiences closely align with Ho Chi Minh City's ongoing efforts to advance digital transformation, foster innovation, and build a smarter, more sustainable urban environment.
For Ho Chi Minh City, Barcelona serves as a highly valuable partner for sharing experience in integrating urban planning, the creative economy, tourism, digital technologies, and the organization of international events. Ho Chi Minh City can draw on Barcelona's expertise in developing high-quality public spaces, managing urban tourism, strengthening destination branding, supporting start-up ecosystems, attracting global talent, and fostering innovation-driven development through collaborative innovation platforms. At the same time, the partnership with Barcelona provides broader opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City to deepen engagement with the Spanish business community, particularly in the fields of services, technology, design, international events, and smart city development.
Looking ahead, particularly within the framework of the 3rd Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue (FD 2026), Ho Chi Minh City seeks to further expand cooperation with Barcelona and encourage investment, technology transfer, and the sharing of governance expertise in the following five priority areas:
1. Urban Planning and Sustainable Mobility: Promote the exchange of experience in public space development, green mobility, city centre regeneration, integrated urban planning, and people-centred smart city models.
2. Creative Economy, Design and Digital Culture: Strengthen cooperation among businesses and institutions in design, media, event management, creative industries, digital culture, content development, and other high-value creative services.
3. Start-ups and Innovation: Expand collaboration with Barcelona's start-up ecosystem, business support platforms, innovation hubs, digital technology enterprises, and start-up acceleration programmes.
4. Smart Tourism and International Events: Share best practices in urban tourism management, tourism data analytics, the organization of international events, destination marketing, and strategies for balancing tourism growth with urban livability.
5. Investment, Talent and Urban Digital Transformation: Promote the attraction of investment, skilled professionals, technology projects, and digital governance models from Barcelona to support Ho Chi Minh City's priority sectors and sustainable urban development.