Commercial Diplomacy.

Commercial diplomacy is diplomacy with commercial twist, designated to influence foreign government policy and regulatory decisions that affect global trade and investment. In the past Commercial Diplomacy concerned itself largely with negotiations over tariffs and quotes on imports but in today's more interdependent world, trade negotiations cover a much wider range of government regulations and actions that affect international commerce including standards in areas such as health, safety, environment, and consumer protection; regulations covering services such as banking, telecommunications and accounting; competition policy and laws concerning bribery and corruptions, agricultural support programs and industrial subsidies.
Commercial Diplomacy encompasses the whole analysis, advocacy, and negotiating chain that leads to international agreements on theses trade-related issues. In the highly interdependent world we live in today, the policy issues subject to trade negotiations are often very complex and touch on a myriad of domestic policy issues, legal provisions, institutional issues and political interests. It requires an in-depth analysis of all the factors that can have a bearing on the policy decision-making process at home and abroad and commercial interest at stake, the macro-economic impact of alternative policy options, the interest of all possible stakeholders and their political influence, the domestic policy issues entwined with the trade issue, the applicable domestic and international legal provisions, and the impact of media coverage on public opinion.
Diplomatic Diplomacy deals with political decision-making and exercising political influence, in fact, issues related to the access of foreigners to domestic markets, their rights to buy domestic assets such as land and businesses, and their qualification to provide a wide range of services are often even more political than purely domestic regulation by governments. Commercial Diplomacy usually requires a heavy dose of domestic policies, both at home and in the foreign country, including the active use of a wide range of advocacy and coalition-building tools.
At home, the Commercial Diplomat must utilize a full range of political advocacy tools and techniques to assure support of the home government for desired outcomes abroad, or to obtain favorable policy actions by the home government in areas such as taxation, export credits, and export controls in line with . To obtain governmental decisions favourable to the stakeholders, the commercial diplomat must be able to make effective use of advocacy tools such as letters, testimony, white papers, speeches, phone calls and personnel visits to key stakeholders and decision-makers. The Commercial Diplomat must also be successful in building coalitions within the government, industry or interest groups, or among stakeholders with political influence, thus increasing the political influence that is brought to bear in support of the desired outcome.
A good example of Commercial Diplomacy twist is that of China. Since late 1990s China has rapidly modified its diplomatic priority and turned more attention and resources to deepening its once lost connection with developing countries in many part of the world, particularly in Africa and Latin America. China has adopted a new trade strategy to penetrate the markets in underdeveloped countries in Africa and Latin America, while continuing trade with the west by carefully examining the Chinese trade partners and trade structure and the diplomatic activities related to trade. These changing trade behaviour is driven by domestic/global market needs or by economic power and importance in global trade, and applying trade penetration as a means to promote its foreign policy goal is a means of expanding trade ties with the developing world, China has to find a way of balancing between the two camps.