It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of commercial activity to a country and its people. In almost all developing countries, economic development depends upon growth in export trade, which in turn creates jobs and raises living standards. The increasing import requirements which flow from economic development must be financed from foreign exchange receipts derived from export earnings and capital investment. With out dynamic expansion in exports, the growth of your country’s economy will almost certainly slacken. Your objective as a commercial representative is obviously to do the best possible job of improving your country’s export earnings, in the broadest meaning of that term.
The time has long since arrived to recognize commercial representation as a profession per se, the successful exercise of which is positively correlated with careful selection of commercial representatives, the level and content of their formal education and specialized training, the length and variety of their pertinent experience, and the quality of support they receive from the Trade Promotion Organisation (TPO) or ministry at home.