MIPCOM: China absent from international trade alliance

A new creative alliance between international trade associations has launched to boost global collaboration, though China is absent from the organisation. 

Fifteen trade associations, including the UK’s Pact, will convene at Mipcom to form the Global Creative Alliance (GCA) – a new partnership that will look to boost co-production opportunities for producers.  

Trade bodies from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, France, India, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, the US and UK will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Cannes on Sunday (October 14). 

Germany’s Film und Medienverband NRW also boarded the organisation this week.

However, notably missing from the alliance is China, which MIPCOM organiser Reed Midem named this market’s Country of Honour despite concerns around several copyright infringement cases that have plagued the Chinese delegation in recent markets.

TBI understands that Pact is still open to the right partner from China joining the alliance, though an appropriate partner has yet to be found.

As part of the MOU, all parties are committing to sharing market intelligence and reports that will benefit each other. They also endeavour to arrange delegations to visit each other in order to share best practice and enable producers to foster new creative relationships.

Each trade group will also act as an administrator for Pact’s two-year-old Production Platform, which is available to international producers and allows registered users to pitch ideas to each other for international collaboration. 

Dawn McCarthy-Simpson MBE, director of international with Pact, said: “TV is a truly global medium and it makes sense for trade bodies to come together and learn from each other. We look forward to working with our international partners to improve relationships and encourage more co-production projects.”