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Professional Training and Skills for Members of the New Uniquely Dynamic Class of Professional Commercial Diplomatists The Commercial Diplomat is a professional skilled in advancing the interests of an organization in global trade and investment-related policy issues, in developing agreements and in resolving policy conflicts among nations over global trade, investment and commercial policy issues. Having acquired the skills-specific knowledge and competence expected of a certified commercial diplomat, which is the key to quality and efficiency in commercial diplomatic profession, career commercial diplomats act as specialists/senior representatives of commerce, industry, business, government, or an interest group. Uniqueness of Commercial Diplomacy Practitioners of many professions: lawyers, judges, arbitrators, commercial and or trade attaches, economists, bankers, political analysts etc, all deal with some commercial diplomatic activities, but not on an integrated basis. The career commercial diplomat devotes his or her energies to the integration of all of these areas of knowledge to address policy issues that affect international commerce. Although commercial diplomatic activity has existed from the earliest time of trade, only in the last ten years has it been recognized that this unique field requires professionals who have received specialized professional training specific to the commercial diplomatic field. Prior to this time, commercial officers and trade advisers learned their skills on the job. What is Work Based Learning? Learning through work is a way of gaining a higher and professional postgraduate qualification using the learning you are continually developing in your working and or professional life. It is based on the simple premise that people don't always need to go to college or university to learn because the process of learning is part and parcel of everyday working life. By creating a framework to help people set out and demonstrate their learning, learning through work enables institutions to offer work-based qualifications through distance learning or using online technology. The qualifications offered through learning through work have the same value as those achieved through traditional university attendance...even better. How it works Because the Diplomatic Academy's learning through work is geared to meeting the needs of individual work and personal circumstances, it is very flexible in terms of what, where and when you learn. Programme content is usually a mix of learning modes which can include work-based projects, online and or distance learning courses and taught modules. This is sometimes called blended learning. It can also be a 100% research project on a topic of your choice in a related field. The key feature of work-based learning or learning through work is that the learning is relevant, comfortable and beneficial to you and your employer. The Evolutionary Path At Association of Certified Commercial Diplomats, we strongly believe that, it is the skills of commercial diplomats that enables government, states and businesses to succeed. With our strategic collaborative partners, the global professional body is changing the way the world practices commercial diplomacy and delivers commercial diplomatic services - by transforming the role and value-added function of commercial diplomats. A steady evolutionary path has been set by the global professional body which will surely transform the legacy often inflexible "Commercial Diplomats skills supply-chain" into a demand-led system which meets the needs of the current global economy and can respond rapidly to emerging needs in the future. We are moving to a demand-led commercial diplomatic system, where demand for commercial diplomatic skills-specific knowledge and specialism-based expertise comes from employers and individuals. We are beginning to change the thinking and actions of the public, government and many private bodies, especially those involved in the supply of commercial diplomatic skills-specific services globally. Association of Certified Commercial Diplomats’ approved, authorised and recommended vocational education and training providers do not provide training for a career in academia, but serves as the professional vocational education and training providers for commercial diplomats. The main aim is to provide specialized, advanced professional education and training on commercial diplomatic practice for practitioners from all continents. Professional Practice of Commercial Diplomacy We so much believe that we will be successful and the world will see improvements in the field, improvements in the way employers think about commercial diplomatic skills and improvements in commercial diplomatic skills supply. Few graduates of traditional universities or graduate schools emerge with a rudimentary knowledge of all of commercial diplomatic fields. More importantly they usually lack an ability to integrate the various fields into a coherent analysis and an integrated strategy. In most cases they also do not know how to apply their academic knowledge to real world situations. In most institutions, a different department teaches each of commercial diplomacy related subjects. At Association of Certified Commercial Diplomats, the global professional body for commercial diplomats, the Qualified Certified Diplomat must be part commercial expert, part economist, part public policy analyst, part arbitrator, part anti-corruption practitioner, part politician, part lawyer, part negotiator, and public diplomat. The Evolutionary Path Our greatest believe at ACCD is that, it is the skills of commercial diplomats that enable governments, states and businesses to succeed. With global strategic partners and academic institutional members, we are changing the way the world delivers commercial diplomatic skills - changing the outputs of commercial diplomacy and training. A steady evolutionary path has been set which will surely transform the legacy often inflexible "Commercial Diplomats' skills supply-chain" into a demand-led system which meets the needs of the global economy and can respond rapidly to emerging needs in the future. Moving to a demand-led system where demand comes from employers and individuals, is beginning to change the thinking and actions of the public, government and many private bodies, involved in the supply of commercial diplomatic skills globally. The world will surely see improvements in commercial diplomacy, improvements in the way employers think about the use of commercial diplomatic skills and reductions in commercial diplomatic skills gaps and shortages, and also improvements in commercial diplomacy skills supply. Delivery on all this is obviously, a hugely challenging agenda for the global professional body. Commercial Diplomatic Policy Advocacy - Influencing Foreign Policy and Regulatory Decisions, Using Advocacy and Coalition-Building Most issues addressed by commercial diplomacy today are political in that they affect the interests of many stakeholders. A stakeholder is anyone who has a stake in the outcome of decisions and who can exercise political influence of one kind or another to shape the outcome. Stakeholders in trade policy decisions can include:
The increased focus in trade negotiations on domestic regulatory issues has substantially increased the potential pool of stakeholders, and thus increased the domestic political dimension of commercial diplomacy. Building Coalitions Within Governments, Inter-Governmental Bodies, Sector-Specific Services, and or Interest Groups Commercial diplomacy increasingly requires the use of a wide range of advocacy and coalition-building tools for favorable decisions at home and abroad. To obtain the support of the home government in trade disputes with other countries, or to gain favorable decisions from the home government in on trade-related issues, the commercial diplomat must use a range of advocacy tools. Advocacy tools include letters, testimony, white papers, speeches, op-ed pieces in newspapers, phone calls and personal visits to key stakeholders and decision-makers. The commercial diplomat must also build coalitions within the government, industry or interest group -- to exert political influence in support of desired outcomes among stakeholders with political influence. Internationally, commercial diplomats must apply the same advocacy and coalition building tools to stakeholders in all other countries involved in the resolution of an international trade or investment issue. Once a domestic decision has been reached on a trade negotiating issue, a trade dispute, or on a broader scale, on a national trade policy, commercial diplomacy moves to the international negotiation and/or dispute settlement phase of the process. The negotiation of politically sensitive issues, however, may well require further interactions with domestic stakeholders as part of a continuing consensus building process. Once an agreement is negotiated or a decision is rendered in a trade dispute, trade officials usually have to persuade domestic decision- makers to effectively implement the agreed outcome. |