Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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53. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which Irish diplomatic staff abroad are engaged with promoting trade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3895/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Advancing Ireland's trade, tourism, education and investment objectives through economic diplomacy and related activities is a high level goal of Ireland's foreign policy, informing and directing the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and our mission network.The Department’s international network plays a crucial role in supporting Irish businesses to grow overseas, in promoting our wider trade interests including through EU and WTO regulation; in addressing market access issues; in facilitating business visas; in promoting Ireland’s visibility; in underpinning the work of our State agencies; and in supporting Ministerial visits and trade missions. Indeed the rationale of promoting trade was at the forefront of recent decisions to announce new Embassies in Wellington, Santiago, Jordan and Bogota as well as Consulates General in Mumbai and Vancouver.

In the evolving global economic and trading environment, and against the backdrop of Brexit, it is essential that our mission network is equipped to meet new challenges and exploit new opportunities for Irish trade. In recognition of this, and under the new economic diplomacy initiative launched in January 2016, my Department has implemented a number of initiatives. We have put in a place a new and more flexible funding arrangements with a system of Promotion and Outreach Budgets for the mission network. This Three Tiered Funding is designed to enhance the capacity of missions and regional groups to act more autonomously and catalytically in support of our High Level Goals, including of course Prosperity. This new system will greatly assist the mission network in support of the objectives of the Global Footprint initiative.

To further augment the economic work of my Department and our Embassy network, locally-hired Commercial Attachés have been appointed, on a pilot basis, in our embassies in Mexico, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Bucharest, and Jakarta and consideration is being given to the potential for similar appointments in other locations in the future. In addition to this, three Economic Development Officers (EDO) have been appointed in Nairobi, Hanoi and Abuja, funded from the Irish Aid budget. There are also two officers funded from the Joint Economic Council (JEC) Project Fund in Moscow and Beijing, whose role is analogous to that of a Commercial Attaché.

It is increasingly important that our work both at HQ and abroad is strategically focused and closely coordinated as a whole-of-government exercise. The framework for this is the Team Ireland approach. The actions required to achieve our trade, tourism and investment targets are set out in Ireland Connected: Trading and Investing in a Dynamic World,published in March last year.

Moreover, my Department, in cooperation with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, organized the Team Ireland Conference last November. The Conference addressed key issues and how to improve Team Ireland, particularly in relation to best practice and improving our strategic approach at an operational level.

All efforts by Embassies and Local Market Teams abroad to take advantage of new opportunities for Irish business in key markets will continue to be guided here at home by the work of the Trade Division within my Department and by the Export Trade Council, which I chair.