BARCELONA — Barcelona is a beautiful city with palm-lined streets, old -world architecture made of greys, yellows and pinks. Iron-wrought curlicues protect windows. Market stands sell everything from jewellery to live rabbits while living statues dressed as pirates, courtesans, Roman soldiers or whatever the imagination of the creator can create to encourage tourists to throw a few Euros their way.

Barcelona considers itself Catalan. A majority of its people are bilingual, Spanish and Catalan. During the Spanish Civil War hundreds of thousands escaped across the border into France.

Today, Barcelona is one of the most prosperous regions in Spain, although it has been hit by the economic crisis and severe drought.

Against this background of Spanish history and Catalan culture, WOCCU is holding its Annual Conference along with Banco Cooperativo Espanol and Union Nacional de Cooperativas de Credito. More than 1,000 delegates are coming from 62 countries. The United States is represented by 225 delegates, Canada has 178, Ireland 124 and Australia 67.

Delegates are also attending from credit unions in Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and the Seychelles. Their representatives are travelling from halfway around the world to participate.