Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the interim period while the negotiation process is being established, our new economic diplomacy strategy, which I launched earlier this year, offers an opportunity to build on the commercial capacity of our embassy network across the world, which supports Irish business and complements the work of the State agencies. In this regard, my Department has launched a pilot programme of commercial attachés and these will be locally hired commercial experts with short-term contracts of between one and three years, depending on the circumstances. We are focusing on placing them in emerging markets where we have opened new embassies and missions and where there is an agency presence, for example, in Brasilia, Bucharest, which also covers Bulgaria, Buenos Aires, which also covers Chile, Jakarta in Indonesia, and Mexico. These will work closely with our State agencies and the work will proceed while we prepare for the vital strategic negotiations on the matter of the UK withdrawal from the European Union.

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