Coinciding with International Volunteer Day, which was held on 5 December, abertis today held its third Corporate Volunteer Day, which is this year focused on making the Group's employees aware of the situation of the most disadvantaged minors. The day, which this time round was held under the slogan of "Take them by the hand", forms part of Voluntaris, the Corporate Volunteer Programme which the company has run since 2009.

The corporate event held this morning at the Group's headquarters in Barcelona was attended by the Catalan Government's Minister for Social Welfare and Family, Josep Lluís Cleries, who stated that "through initiatives like the Corporate Volunteer Programme, the company is making society aware of important values", such as solidarity, social commitment and participation. According to the Minister, volunteer activities help those involved to "feel that they are playing a central role in change and social improvement".

For his part, Salvador Alemany, President of abertis, underlined the role of voluntary work in the cohesion of the social fabric and stressed the fact that the company "will continue to promote" this kind of project. He maintained that "beyond achieving a positive image, we wish to carry on implementing practices which will make us better".

The day was also attended by Francisco Reynés, Managing Director of the Group, who pointed out that more than 1,000 of the company's employees participate in voluntary work, and stressed that the company aims to continue promoting the kind of actions undertaken as part of this day in all the countries in which it carries out its activities, since, in his words, "voluntary work forms a part of our Group's culture and values".

Meanwhile, Miquel Roca, President of the abertis Foundation, maintained that "solidarity today is a sign of intelligence" and offered a reminder that the Foundation promotes social schemes such as the Road Volunteer project, as a result of which several young people with intellectual disabilities or Down's Syndrome are given responsibility as road safety monitors at schools in Barcelona.