Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Kathy Kay, host of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) "World News America," met with reporters and British Embassy staff at the British Embassy Residence in Mexico on Friday to present the network’s week-long stint of coverage of Mexico.

"Mexico Direct," part of the BBC’s "Direct" series which has profiled countries including Malaysia and Japan, will cover topics including Mexico’s growing economy, immigration, challenges faced by the country’s tourism sector, and the increasing marginalization of indigenous communities.

"Every year the BBC takes a group of countries to cover, normally about 10," Kay said. "It gives us a chance across our BBC coverage, online, on the radio, and on television, to just explore a country a little more in depth. Because of the very busy news cycle all the time, it can be hard to do the stories you want to do because you simply don’t have time or space. This is a way to make sure that we can get behind the scenes of what is actually happening in Mexico rather than just the headline stories."

One of Mexico Direct’s notable specials, "One Square Mile," which examines the lives of the people who live within a one-square-mile radius, will document the experiences of the communities living in the coffee-producing areas of Chiapas, the poorest state in Mexico.

According to Kay, One Square Mile allows the network to offer viewers a more intimate look at the country by focusing directly on its people, not just on statistics and political policies. "It’s a very nice way of taking the macrocosm of the country but putting it in very human terms," Kay said.

The most important question that the program asks, according to Kay, is if Mexico’s economy, which grew faster than Brazil’s in 2011 and is largely dependent on the United States, can continue its positive trajectory and offer greater opportunities to its more than 50 million people living below the poverty line.

"The truth is I knew very little about the Mexican economy," Kay said. "There is a very interesting, very compelling economic story about whether Mexico can truly become a middle-income country. There are so many signs that it is almost there, but can it get there? That is the question that is most important to me. Will there be enough reform to the education system? Will they be able to minimize the divides in equality? Will they be able to lift the majority of the Mexican population up enough so that this becomes an emerged economy, not just an emerging economy?"

Kay also commented on the heated issue of Mexican immigration to the United States which, according to a study carried out by Princeton University, the Pew Hispanic Center, and the University of California, has continued a downward trajectory over the previous four years, reaching a net negative rate in 2011.

"It stands to reason that if you have one economy that is shrinking and one economy is growing, which way are you going to get your flow? People are going to be going to the economy that is growing and where they think they’ll be able to get jobs." Kay said. "There is a still real challenge for the Mexican government, whoever it is going to be, to make sure there is enough growth to give jobs to graduates from universities."

While Kay clarified that she is not an economist, she did offer a few suggestions that she thought could help Mexico continue on a path of economic growth and prosperity.

"The areas that I keep hearing people talk about are education; that there needs to be education reform to minimize inequality," Kay said. "Another is economic reforms to open up the market to allow more competition into the Mexican economy, but that will take political will to do it. When you have large monopolies, generally that can be a barrier for economic growth and competition. These are not huge problems, but it will take political will to make these reforms happen."

Mexico Direct will begin airing today and will continue airing through Friday on the BBC World News America channel. For more information on programing schedules, visit the BBC’s website at bbc.com/tvschedule.