The municipal government has given the go-ahead for the final approval of the Special Urban Development Plan for the Underground Building Work beneath the Sant Antoni Market. This will allow building work to start on the underground passages that will subsequently hold the new market's storage bays, car parks and shopping areas.

Acting on behalf of Barcelona City Council, the municipal company BIMSA has awarded Dragados SA the contract to build the underground car park at the flea market, the Mercat dels Encants Vells.

A delegation from the Italian city of Piacenza is on a three-day visit of the Boqueria and Santa Caterina markets to find out about the Barcelona model.

Up-and-coming designers return to the MODAFAD catwalk, this time set up in a very special venue, La Boqueria Market, and on a different day, a Sunday.

A Colombian delegation visited our city this week. The visit was part of an international project to exchange experiences in municipal market management.

On Thursday 29 July 2010, the Deputy Mayor for Treasury and Economic Promotion, Jordi William Carnes, visited the Mercat del Ninot worksite, accompanied by Eixample District Councillor Ramón Nicolau and the Councillor for Trade and Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Roger Pallarols. The Manager of the Municipal Institute of Markets, Jordi Torrades, was also present.

The Mayor of Maputo, David Simango, heads a delegation that has come to Barcelona to find out first hand how our city's markets operate and are commercially run. They hope to use this experience back in their own country.

A delegation from Melbourne is touring some of our city's most iconic markets for three days, to find out about the Barcelona model and adopt some of our initiatives to modernise their own markets.

Through the Barcelona Activa and the Barcelona Municipal Markets Institute, Barcelona City Council is collaborating with Barcelona Provincial Council on the OPERA programme, an initiative seeking primarily to promote self-employment and support enterprising individuals in taking the step up from having a business idea to creating their own company within a municipal market.

Yesterday, Monday 14 June, saw the inauguration of the first Interactive Fish Centre (CIP), at a meeting that brought together some two hundred fish sector professionals from throughout Spain.