Foreign Ministry provides training course in commercial diplomacy to project Venezuelan export offer

The Ministry of People's Power for Foreign Affairs and International Trade began the course “Venezuela in the global market. Strategies for commercial, economic diplomacy and export projection”, the first part of a diploma course aimed at strengthening capacities in commercial diplomacy and aimed primarily at the Venezuelan diplomatic and consular representation system in the world, in addition to officials from the Foreign Ministry.

 

Deputy Minister Marynna Saatdjian was in charge of the opening dissertation, in which she took a tour of the history of Venezuelan trade, from bartering between native peoples and the agro-export economy of cocoa, coffee, leather and pearls, to the rententist model that emerged with oil exploitation.

 

He explained that this model conditioned the national economy to fluctuations in the price of crude oil and that the port and customs infrastructure was configured almost exclusively to export oil and import finished goods, so the infrastructure for exporting non-oil goods is still in its early stages.

 

Faced with this scenario, he argued that Venezuela is going through a transition towards productive diversification and the exploitation of its comparative advantages. He noted advances in food sovereignty and fishing, industrialization with added value, the fight against smuggling and taking advantage of the country's geographical location, and highlighted 22 consecutive quarters of economic growth.

 

Saatdjian highlighted the diversity of foreign trade actors: State industries, socially owned companies and communes, and the private sector, represented by unions such as the Venezuelan Association of Exporters (AVEX).

 

 

The incorporation of the new Vice-Ministry of International Trade to the Foreign Ministry, dedicated to strengthening international trade with the support of the diplomatic corps and officials in the country, represents an innovative commitment for Venezuela. This will is reinforced by the joint efforts between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Center for Research and Development for Economic Management (CIDGE) of the National School of Administration and Public Finance (ENAHP-IUT) and the Bolivarian University of Peace Diplomacy (UBDP), formerly the “Pedro Gual” Institute for Higher Diplomatic Studies, which promote the training program of which this course is part.

 

The program is taught online through the PEGASO Virtual Business School, with seven modules that range from institutional foundations and business intelligence to geopolitical analysis, national regulations, international standards, popular and communal economy, and simulations and the integrative project.

 

 

The Deputy Minister of Anti-Blockade Policies and Director General of the Venezuelan Anti-Blockade Observatory, William Castillo; the Deputy Minister for the Communal Economy, Saúl Osio; the President of Venexporta, Andrea Corao, and the President of the Foreign Trade Bank (Bancoex), Guillermo Lara, as well as teachers from ENAHP, the CIDGE and the UBDP.

 

The course seeks to provide diplomatic representation abroad and the professional staff of the Foreign Ministry with tools to lead processes of market intelligence, export promotion and investment attraction, and thus contribute to the competitive insertion of domestic supply in global circuits.

MPPRE