Dr. Pat Ivory:

We get regular feedback from our members of their experience of embassies and largely it is very positive. There are greater challenges for some embassies than for others because of the resources available in many cases. For example, Dr. John Dardis works with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as an agricultural attaché in Washington. That is helpful to our food industry but as a country we do not have the resources for an agricultural attaché in every embassy. Some of this is down to the resources available. We have found the ambassadors we have dealt with, including Michael Collins in Washington, Declan Kelleher in China and throughout the spectrum in Africa and the emerging markets, to be very committed. They have been willing to work with us to try to resolve market access problems that can arise, for example, in Russia or in the Middle East from time to time. This has been valuable.

We are willing to work with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to help to enhance the skills of diplomats placed abroad. In this context I was pleased to accept an invitation from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade last year to give a briefing to all the diplomatic staff at all levels who were being posted abroad. We carried out two workshops with them on understanding business concerns and issues and the commercial side of things. By working together in partnership we can help the diplomats abroad perform to the best of their ability. On the whole, the feedback from our members is very positive.