April started with a lot of activity. Last week the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy for Mexico, Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter, visited us for a four-day programme.
On her first official visit to Mexico - she was assigned as Trade Envoy in November 2012 - the Baroness got the chance to meet key commentators and discuss the bilateral commercial relationship with facilitating organisations.
We also had a lot of focus on the very vibrant Mexican creative industries sector. As a television producer, the Baroness has a professional background in this area. She is currently Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee on Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport and a spokesperson on Broadcasting and the Arts.
The Baroness spoke at seminars on the topic in both Mexico City and Guadalajara, and met many leading figures in the area that may be able to work with UK creative companies.
She was able to visit the Zona Maco contemporary art fair, meet the organisers of the forthcoming MexFest in London this July, and speak to representatives of the "CutOut Fest", a leading animation festival to be held in Queretaro in November.
In Guadalajara, a leading city for the creative industries, she discussed the innovative Digital Creative City project (which is similar to Tech City in London), including the potential for UK involvement, and met producers of some leading Mexican video games (including the award winning Taco Master).
We hope she’ll be back in the autumn, perhaps with some leading British companies from the creative sector!