A Sussex consultancy has been praised for its role in developing tourism and promoting the cultural heritage of Brazil.

Harvard Consultancy was one of only two commercial organisations chosen to take part in a trade mission organised by the British Council.

Lewes-based Harvard, headed by managing director Chris Meaney, was asked to address more than 300 Brazilian professionals on a range of subjects including interpretive technologies.

The mission was built on three years of academic collaboration between the UK and Brazil.

Mr Meaney helped develop skills in interpretation of the regions' historic and cultural heritage to appeal to a wider audience.

The mission included visits to three problem areas in Belo Horizonte, the country's third largest city.

As well as presenting case-studies, the British team ran workshops with representatives from local and central government bodies and managers from each of the projects tackled.

The problem areas included heritage buildings in an area of inner-city deprivation, a lake suffering from pollution and a depleted mine that the owners wanted to develop into a business zone and lake for leisure purposes.

Mr Meaney was chosen by the British Council to be one of the team, together with representatives from organisations such as English Heritage, the Eden Project and Oxford Brookes University.

He said: "Our input was wellreceived - the Brazilian delegates have tremendous experience and a terrific vision for where they wish to be but they lack some of the skills Britain has built up over the years in understanding how to develop these further.

"After the workshops had ended, there was considerable interest in the two countries continuing to work together."

Brazil has the seventh largest global economy but tourism figures are only a fifth of those expected from a country of its size and population.

Mr Meaney said: "It has a rich culture and heritage, possessing the oldest church in the Americas, evidence of human occupation dating back 13,000 years and the finest neo-classical architecture outside of Europe."

The trade mission was part-funded by the British Council and Trade Partners UK.