Research and analysis

Mexico: Visit of TRHs The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall

Published 25 November 2014

This research and analysis was withdrawn on 1 August 2016

This publication was archived on 4 July 2016

This article is no longer current. Please refer to Overseas Business Risk – Mexico

This publication was archived on 4 July 2016

This article is no longer current. Please refer to Overseas Business Risk – Mexico

Summary

Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visited Mexico from 2 to 5 November. Over four days, they undertook 26 engagements, were received by the President and First Lady and visited less well-known parts of this huge country, full of significance for Mexican audiences. The visit represented a major boost to our bilateral ties, launching at the highest level the Dual UK/Mexico Years in 2015, and helping to create a substantive agenda in the years to come for enhanced UK and Mexico cooperation in tackling global challenges.

Detail

This was His Royal Highness’s fourth official visit to Mexico and his first since 2002. While it was Her Royal Highness’s second visit to Mexico, it was her first in an official capacity. Their Royal Highnesses were accompanied by Mr Swire for most of their programme in Mexico.

Real del Monte

Arriving from Colombia on 2 November, TRHs were received at the airport by Mexican Foreign Minister José Antonio Meade. They travelled directly to Real del Monte, a small town in the mountains of Hidalgo where miners from Cornwall settled in the 1820s, bringing with them steam technology, as well as pasties and their love of football.

The streets were lined with people as TRHs arrived. Accompanied by the Governor of Hidalgo, TRHs began their visit in the “Panteón Inglés”, or English Cemetery, where many Cornish settlers and their descendants lie. This was Mexico’s Day of the Dead, and the significance of such a visit on this day, by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, touched a chord with many Mexicans.

In the cemetery, TRHs laid a wreath at the memorial to a young Mexican-British soldier who died at the Somme, thought to be the only First World War memorial in Mexico. TRHs also met the family who care for the cemetery and other community members responsible for its recent restoration.

In the town square of Real del Monte, TRHs saw something of the colour, music and traditions that accompany Day of the Dead celebrations. The watching crowds were delighted when TRHs decided to “break with protocol” – in the words of the Mexican press – and greet as many bystanders as they could.

At Real del Monte’s secondary school, helped by young footballers from the school and players from one of Mexico’s Premier League clubs, TRHs broke ground for a football pitch on the site where the game was first played by the Cornish miners. Lastly, at the world’s first Pasty Museum, TRHs tried their hand at making Mexican “pastes”, evolved from the Cornish originals, and had tea with members of the community responsible for reviving links between Cornwall and Hidalgo – an example of thriving people-to-people contacts that are helping bilateral relations to flourish.

Mexico City

On 3 November, HRH began the day visiting the “chinampas” of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, a unique, sustainable form of agriculture that dates back to pre-Hispanic times. HRH’s visit and obvious interest will help to sustain efforts to protect the chinampas and the producers that depend on them. The links made between The Prince’s International Sustainability Unit (ISU) and Mexico City’s impressive Environment Minister will, we hope, lead to future collaboration.

Shortly afterwards, at the iconic Dolores Olmedo Museum, HRH met the renowned Mexican chef Enrique Olvera who has led a revolution in Mexican food, using traditional techniques and ingredients – including chinampas produce – to prepare world-class cuisine. This was also an opportunity for HRH to lend support to the Kew Foundation’s Mexico Seed Bank project, meeting potential donors and discussing Mexico’s extraordinary bio-diversity, accompanied by the Director of Kew. At the Museum, HRH also visited its famous Day of the Dead “ofrenda”, or altar, and viewed its unrivalled collection of works by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo – aspects of this rich culture that are central to Mexico’s sense of identity.

In parallel, Her Royal Highness visited a shelter run by the “Camino a Casa” (Road Home) Foundation, which supports young women and girls who have been victims of human trafficking. The warmth and attention that HerRH gave these young women, and the staff supporting them, were hugely appreciated and will help the Foundation to maintain the funding that its work depends on.

Later on 3 November, Their Royal Highnesses were warmly received at the National Palace by President Enrique Peña Nieto and the First Lady Angélica Rivera.

The centre-piece of events at the National Palace was the launch of The Dual Years of the UK and Mexico in 2015 by HRH and the President . In his speech, the President said: “this celebration is the ultimate expression of respect and recognition, friendship and solidarity between two nations”. HRH’s expectation that The Dual Years will enhance “an already excellent relationship” in business, education, science, culture and other sectors was well-received. At the launch, HRH and the President also witnessed the signature of a Letter of Intent on the Mutual Recognition of Educational Qualifications, an early example of the progress in the bilateral relationship that The Dual Years are designed to produce.

Prior to the 2015 launch, HRH and the President held a very warm bilateral meeting. The President explained his focus on implementing the historic reforms he had introduced, notably in the energy sector, and his wish to see “more British companies” playing a part in that process. The President acknowledged the importance of UK support on transparency, open government, trade policy and security, and our like-minded approach to encouraging entrepreneurialism.

We were also partners on climate change, and the President recognised that reform implementation must not be at the expense of the environment. HRH underlined the value we attached to Mexico’s role in international climate negotiations and how the domestic action that Mexico took – for example, in promoting renewable sources of energy and tapping the energy potential of waste – would serve as a model for others. The President agreed and said, again, that he would like to see more British companies involved.

HRH and the President agreed that The Dual Years in 2015 provided the ideal opportunity to strengthen our partnership for years to come. Picking up on earlier exchanges about entrepreneurialism, the President said that as well as, for example, promoting culture, he wanted 2015 to be about job creation. Lastly, HRH handed over the formal invitation from HM The Queen to the President to pay a State Visit to the UK in March 2015. The President said that he was honoured to accept and subsequently confirmed this in his speech to launch 2015.

TRHs’ visit to the National Palace ended with a warm and convivial lunch with the President, First Lady, senior members of Cabinet, Mexico’s (and the world’s second) wealthiest businessman Carlos Slim and others. The President asked several of the Mexican guests to speak about their areas of expertise and ambitions for 2015, covering entrepreneurialism, education, the environment, the UK-Mexico project for a new Mexico City airport, and Mexican plans for 2015.

HRH continued the discussion on support for young entrepreneurs and disadvantaged youth in a private meeting later that afternoon with Carlos Slim and members of his family. This advanced plans for collaboration between The Prince’s Trust and The Carlos Slim Foundation, which are set to benefit young people in both countries, and also allowed HRH to meet beneficiaries of The Slim Foundation’s programmes. HRH was particularly interested in the work The Slim Foundation is doing to promote digital, online delivery of training to young people at low cost.

At the end of a very busy day, TRHs joined 650 guests at a reception in the historic former San Ildefonso College to launch The Year of the UK in Mexico. Arriving at San Ildefonso, TRHs boarded a low-carbon double-decker bus, built by the UK’s Alexander Dennis Ltd, which has reached the final stages of a tender to supply 80 buses for the prestigious route along Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma.

In the reception, HRH presented certificates of achievement to Mexican graduates of Southampton University’s remote Masters and PhD programmes in English Language; while HerRH toured the National Gallery’s “Saints Alive” exhibition with artist Michael Landy. Architect Fernando Romero showed HRH the models for the $9bn Mexico City airport, jointly designed with Lord Foster; and HerRH viewed the latest creations of London-based Mexican fashion designer Fhernando Colunga.

Earlier at the reception, Mr Swire witnessed the signature of an MOU potentially worth £13m to British company Solar Century to install 10MW of solar generating capacity in schools in the State of Nayarit.

Campeche

On 4 November, HRH flew to Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico. HRH’s visits to the Mayan archaeological site, Edzná, and to the Los Petenes mangroves reserve were an opportunity to experience Mexico’s cultural and natural heritage, and to support efforts to preserve this remarkable diversity. In Campeche city, HRH visited the Women’s Justice Centre – the most successful of its kind in the country – to see its work in support of women and children who have been the victims of abuse or violence. HRH’s tour of Campeche’s main square, viewing crafts and culture – and most memorably, joining in the traditional Sarao Campechano dance – delighted the large crowd.

The visit to Campeche ended with HRH joining a roundtable on climate change and energy in the Governor’s office, organised by the British Embassy with the support of the ISU, at which senior representatives of business and government discussed how historic energy reforms presented an opportunity for Mexico both to achieve its ambitious emissions reduction targets while also developing its energy sector.

Monterrey

TRHs travelled to Monterrey, in the northern state of Nuevo Leon - an important motor of the Mexican economy and already a source of significant investment in the UK. TRHs were received by the Governor, First Lady and crowds of school children inside the historic buildings of Parque Fundadora (a converted industrial site), where they were introduced to different aspects of Nuevo Leon culture. Despite poor weather, HerRH’s trip through the park with the First Lady on a renovated Routemaster bus and then on a canal boat, provided memorable images and was hugely appreciated..

HRH met with CEOs of the “Group of 10” Monterrey companies that together account for 7% of Mexican GDP andreinforced our good standing with existing and potential investors in the UK. It was also an opportunity for an exchange of views, together with the Chief Executive of The Prince’s Trust, on corporate social responsibility. HRH was accompanied by Secretary of the Economy, Ildefonso Guajardo, himself from Monterrey..

From this meeting, HRH joined an innovative “un-conference”, organised by a former Prince’s Trust award winner from Cardiff, in which students from Monterrey’s universities worked with business mentors to find innovative solutions to social challenges such as sustainable urban development and obesity. The MOU on science and innovation, witnessed by HRH and Guajardo, which makes available £24m of joint funding over three years for collaborative projects, provided a powerful impetus to our Newton Fund work in Mexico.

Later, HRH braved the mist and rain in Chipinque Ecological Park, for an inspirational, out-of-doors discussion on holistic land management with ranchers supported by The Savory Institute, from across the north of the country - a world unknown to metropolitan Mexico.

TRHs’ programme in Mexico ended with a visit to the new offices of the British Consulate in Monterrey, co-located with the Canadian Consulate-General. .

Comment

The visit has made an enormous contribution to our goal of establishing a partnership of choice with Mexico as it develops further as a major regional economy and as an influential player on the international stage. Media coverage was exceptional, and universally positive. The boost it has given to our prosperity objectives is invaluable.

The important exchanges HRH had with the President and other interlocutors on climate change, sustainable development, entrepreneurship and scope for further UK engagement in opportunities arising from the Mexican reform process, have created a substantive agenda for the period ahead, leading towards the State Visit in March and The Dual Years throughout 2015.

Disclaimer

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