Building Bridges With American Companies and Associations

·         Arrange high-level discussions between State Department officials and U.S. businesses.

·         Conduct outreach to the U.S. business community trade associations and industry groups on international issues.

·         Facilitate U.S. business involvement in multilateral and bilateral economic initiatives.

Advocating American Business Interests in the Foreign Policy Process

·         Champion U.S. business interests within the State Department.

·         Coordinate advocacy with the Department of Commerce and other USG agencies.

·         Organize and sponsor training sessions for State Department officers on

·         important commercial advocacy and business promotion issues.

·         Review and update USG advocacy guidelines to reflect international business trends.

·         Provide guidance to Ambassadors facing particularly complex advocacy cases.

·         Promote anti-corruption conventions, transparency, and corporate responsibility as “best business practices” and as a tool for political and economic reforms for creating a level playing field for U.S. business.

Sharing Lessons Learned to Advance U.S. Trade and Investment

·         Direct the Department of State Award for Corporate Excellence program to spotlight the outstanding corporate citizenship, and exemplary business practices of U.S. businesses overseas.

·         Highlight success stories to Congress and the medial through State-by-State Fact sheets.

·         Encourage greater recognition and promotion of Cobb Award and Salzman Award nominees and recipients to emphasize the trade and economic work of U.S. Embassy personnel.

·         Engage regional bureau commercial coordinators to enhance bureau outreach and commercial advocacy for business.

·         Visit the field to survey success in action and share lessons learned elsewhere.

Supporting Post-Initiated Commercial Activities

·         Build business support and interest in post-sponsored reverse trade missions and initiatives.

·         Provide Business Facilitation Incentive Fund grants to non-FCS posts in support of innovative business promotion activities.

·         Offer information and technical advice on potential speakers, industry participants, possible venues, topics, multiplier organizations, etc. (Phone: [202] 647-1625).

Embassies and Consulates overseas are charged with assisting the U.S. business community abroad. Ambassadors hold regularly scheduled meetings with American Chambers of Commerce in almost every country where there are such groups. Our Embassy commercial and economic staffs are available to assist American SME and minority firms with political and economic briefings, professional advice and analysis on the business culture and practices of the country, and assistance in making and developing contacts abroad.

Personnel of the Department of Commerce’s U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (USFCS) are stationed in 85 countries where our major markets are located. State Department officers are responsible for commercial work in those countries where USFCS personnel are not present. The important point is that in all our Embassies, regardless of size or location, or which agency takes the lead, there are personnel to provide information and counsel to American firms, help them with problems, and see to it that they get a fair shot at contracts and sales.

The Regional Bureaus, each under the direction of an Assistant Secretary of State, are responsible for U.S. foreign affairs activities in a specific major region of the world. They are the Bureaus of African, West Hemisphere, European, Near Eastern, South Asian, and East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Country “desk officers” maintain day-to-day contact with overseas diplomatic posts and provide country specific economic and political analysis and commercial counseling to U.S. business.

The Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (A/SDBU) actively promotes the use of small businesses by our various program and procurement personnel, both domestically and at our Embassies and Consulates overseas. The Department is committed to ensuring that small businesses receive a fair share of the procurement dollars we spend. (Contact: Durie N. White (703) 875–6822).

Publications: The Department produces various publications of interest to minority business, including Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts: A Guide for Business Representatives and A Guide To Doing Business With the Department of State, and CBA’s “Business Success Through Business Services” brochure.