A high level Spanish political and commercial delegation made a special trip to the UK on Monday, to hold a marketing strategy meeting with Tesco and A Gomez, its leading supplier of Spanish produce in the UK.

Spanish minister of agriculture Miguel Arias Cañete led the party, which met key players from Tesco's produce department to develop joint marketing plans and build on the UK retail industry's first generic marketing campaign for Spanish produce, run by Tesco this year.

The 2002 campaign was co-funded by Tesco and the Spanish government. Tesco's recently appointed category director for fresh produce, Steve Murrells, said: 'The key aim of our meeting was to review our success in promoting Spanish products to date and discuss ways to move this forward into 2003 and beyond.' The three-pronged initiative first focused on Spanish stonefruit, then moved to crimson seedless grapes, before the third strand promoted Spanish tomatoes to children under the umbrella of Tesco's corporate re-branding of its kids' range.

Tesco and Gomez representatives were joined by Spanish growers for Monday's visit, which commenced with Cañete unveiling an inauguration plaque at Gomez's headquarters, near Canterbury, Kent.

The minister recognised Gomez's contribution to supplying the UK with Spanish produce over the last 50 years. 'Behind this plaque there is a lot of hard work,' he said. 'This facility is not only impressive, it is integral to the channelling of Spanish produce into this important market. It is a huge facility of huge influence. I would also like to thank Tesco for its support and I hope our relationship will develop further and that we can all maintain the high standards required by Tesco customers.' Gomez md Jim Parmenter, said: 'We are honoured that the minister has decided to recognise A Gomez for its pioneering work in marketing Spanish produce in the UK through this visit and the inauguration of our facilities.

'We have demonstrated how far Gomez has come since Antonio Gomez began in Covent Garden 50 years ago, with one desk and a couple of orange boxes for his customers to sit on. Our predecessors would be delighted to see how far the company has progressed and we have been working with some of the growers here since the 1950s, testament to our belief in long-standing relationships.' After the inauguration ceremony, the Spanish officials visited the Tesco Extra store in Broadstairs. The Spanish delegation also included Catalina de Miguel – director general of the Spanish ministry of agriculture and Juan Manuel Valesco Leon – agricultural adviser to the Spanish government for the UK.

Tesco's business planning manager for fresh produce, Hamish Renton, said: 'The minister was impressed with the way Tesco was able to bring seasonal Spanish produce to life for customers and rated Tesco's in-store execution of the Spanish campaign. He was also delighted with the sales results of the initiative.' Pictured, left to right: Gerardo Gomez, president, Frutas Esther; José Maria Pozancos, president, Fepex; Jim Parmenter; Hamish Renton; Miguel Arias Cañete; Steve Murrells; José Hernandez, president, Paloma; and Miguel Durán, president, Durán.

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