It’s happening in Monterrey

Nick Clegg is in Mexico, striving to build a trade relationship. The Guardian reports that Clegg will address the Mexican Senate, in Spanish. He will concentrate on praising the education sector, which he hopes to export. There are also plans to open British universities to affluent Mexicans, and Clegg is being accompanied by four universities vice chancellors and David Willetts.

At the moment, trade between Britain and Mexico, the world’s 14th largest economy, is negligible – Clegg claims that Britain accounts for less than 1 percent of rapidly developing Mexico’s imports.

There are huge opportunities to expand. UK Trade and Investment has 3 dedicated offices in Mexico and it is advertising nearly 200 potential contracts with Mexican companies; most of them concern the delivery of health and education equipment or major construction projects.

Quite aside from the coalition’s long term trade-orientated foreign policy, UKTI is trying to diversify British trade as a matter of urgency.