Barcelona is open for business as delegation aims to build new links

MORE than 100 Yorkshire business people are due to arrive in Barcelona today at the start of a three-day trade mission.

Leeds in Barcelona will see representatives from the financial, legal, property, hospitality and creative sectors meet would-be business partners as well as the city mayor, sustainability experts and Martyn Warr, UK director of trade for Iberia.

Sir John Sorrell, chairman of the London Design Festival, will also make a speech to businesses in the Catalan capital.

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As a business ambassador for UK Trade and Investment, which has organised the week's events with Marketing Leeds, Sir John will make a presentation on how the British creative industry has contributed to global innovation.

Creative Leeds, a task force, was recently set up as regional development agency figures showed that nearly half of Yorkshire and Humber's creative and digital jobs are in the Leeds city region.

The delegation also includes figures from the city's cultural community. Northern Ballet Theatre, Opera North and Phoenix Dance Theatre will perform at a gala dinner entitled Live from Leeds.

In total about 115 people from the Leeds area will be in Barcelona this week as the city looks to build on Leeds in Milan, a similar trade mission which took place in October 2008. Screen Yorkshire, Financial Leeds, global engineering consultancy Arup and the city

council are among those sending staff.

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Deborah Green, chief executive of Marketing Leeds, which is three-quarters funded from the public purse, said the harsh economic climate should not stop the city from trying to win investment from countries with which it has links.

Ms Green said 200,000 would be the maximum spend

for the Barcelona trip but it may end up being considerably less.

Businesses which travelled to Milan, and who go to Barcelona, pay for themselves.