Waldo Lydecker's Journal.: What do they really do?

The Independent is questioning the head of state trade mission concept. They raise quesitons SC trade officials could do well answering. Governor Sanford was off to Europe recently, and announced a deal to bring a big auto parts manufacturer to the state.But what did the Governor do to make the deal happen? What did the officials of the Department of COmmerce do? All we get in the press releases is that the trip was a success and the Department is doing its job well. But why were they needed?

Here's the UK paper's view:

For a thoroughly modern politician, David Cameron appears to have some strangely antiquated ideas about how the modern global economy works. This week, the Prime Minister will board a plane to India in the company of scores of senior British businessmen. At the other end, much flesh will be pressed and the merits of British firms loudly trumpeted. A new defence contract for BAE Systems is expected to be brandished. This is the traditional way of conducting trade policy. It is also thoroughly outdated. If there is business to be done between Britain and India, the private sectors of each country are perfectly capable of getting on and doing it without politicians of either nation smoothing the way.

Of course, all the platitudes about the rising economic clout of India that we will hear this week are correct. At a time of global economic weakness, India continues to power ahead with estimated growth of 9 per cent this year. Because India has democratic institutions, its path to prosperity over the long term will probably be much smoother than that of authoritarian China. And because India, unlike China, is developing a domestic consumer economy, the foundations of its growth will be more robust. Britain certainly has a lot to gain by strengthening economic ties with its former colony.

...But the best thing governments can do to facilitate such economic interaction is to scrap subsidies, dismantle protectionist controls and then, to put it bluntly, get out of the way. This idea that business deals should be brokered and sealed between national political leaders is dangerous. One only needs to look at the travails of BP to see the trouble that can arise when politicians start to regard themselves as champions of national firms.

...This prime ministerial trip is unlikely to do any harm. And if it improves bilateral relations between London and Delhi enabling our two nations to work better together in international forums such as the climate change treaty negotiations, the Doha trade summits, or the United Nations, that is all for the good. But Mr Cameron would be well advised to spend the bulk of his time on this agenda and to leave the business deals to the professionals.