Jordi Valls (2nd R), deputy mayor of Barcelona, listens to an introduction while visiting Antuo Hill Depot — Shenzhen Bus Group's benchmark new energy vehicle charging station — yesterday. Two delegations from Barcelona are visiting Shenzhen to explore cooperation opportunities. This year marks the third anniversary of Shenzhen and Barcelona becoming friendly cities and the first anniversary of the opening of a direct flight route between Shenzhen and Barcelona.
Enrique Tomás, a legendary jamón supplier from Spain, opened four stores in the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport yesterday — the world’s largest ham chain's first stores in China.
The opening of these stores was one of the highlights of the Shenzhen-Spain Economic and Trade Cultural Cooperation Exchange Day, which was held at the airport yesterday to commemorate the third anniversary of Shenzhen and Barcelona becoming friendly cities and the first anniversary of the opening of a direct flight route between Shenzhen and Barcelona.
Jordi Valls, deputy mayor of Barcelona, is currently leading a government delegation on a three-day visit to Shenzhen. During the inauguration ceremony, Valls said that cultural and trade exchanges between the two cities had been strengthened over the past year as a result of the direct flights.
He also visited the supercharging yard at the Shenzhen Bus Group's Antuo Hill Depot and the city's emergency management and government service centers yesterday.
Put into operation in 2018, the depot is the group's benchmark new energy vehicle charging station, equipped with six charging stacks and 80 charging piles. Now, the depot can charge about 214 vehicles a day on average, according to the bus group.
Valls will visit Huawei and attend a seminar before heading for Shanghai tomorrow.
Two delegations from Barcelona are visiting Shenzhen to explore opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in corporate, culture, innovation, and technological fields.
The delegates include government officials such as Jordi Valls and Xavier García Albiol, mayor of Badalona, along with investors and representatives from Spanish enterprises and research institutions.
In August last year, Shenzhen Airlines launched a direct flight route from Shenzhen to Barcelona, which has served nearly 40,000 passengers.
In February, Shenzhen Airlines bolstered its schedule to three weekly services, with flights scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
In March last year, the Shenzhen airport opened an international cargo route to Madrid. The cargo primarily consists of e-commerce packages, general trade goods, and electronics, with cross-border e-commerce shipments making up over 80% of the total cargo volume.
China is Spain's largest trading partner outside of the European Union (EU). Spain is the EU country that exports the most pork to China.
The annual bilateral trade between China and Spain has risen to over 50 billion euros (US$53.5 billion), according to the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade.