Candidates for Commercial Diplomatic Education, Training and Practice
The most obvious candidates for training in commercial diplomatic field are the officials or diplomats responsible for developing their country's international trade and investment policies, for negotiating international trade and investment agreements with other countries and for managing international trade, investment and commercial disputes. What is less obvious is that all other stakeholders involved in the trade policy development and advocacy processes need the same training. 

'International Trade Policy Officials' are only the most visible practitioners of commercial diplomacy. They usually are outnumbered by officials with trade-related responsibilities in many other government departments and ministries, officials from departments or ministries responsible for international trade and investment, commerce and industry, agriculture and natural resources, maritime services and industry, foreign affairs, labour, health and the environment, justice and the judiciary, the regulation of banks, telecommunications, air transportation, or the accreditation of professionals. 

Others who need instruction in commercial diplomatic practice include managers in the international departments of industry associations, corporations, unions and non-governmental organizations that have a stake in the outcome of trade policy decisions. In order to play an effective role in the domestic and global political advocacy and coalition-building process that precedes negotiations, these stakeholders need most of the same commercial diplomacy skills as government trade negotiators. Skill in commercial diplomacy is also required of corporate managers posted in foreign countries, who often must interact with the host government on a broad range of regulatory issues.   

Another group that requires training in commercial diplomatic practice is the secretariat staff of international organizations that deal with global trade, investment and trade-related regulatory issues. While such officials as a rule play less of a direct role in the political management of trade issues, they can most effectively do their job if they understand the politics of trade.

Diplomacy Designed to Influence Foreign Policy and Regulatory Decisions
Issues Addressed by Commercial Diplomats: Influencing Foreign Policy and Regulatory Decisions
Commercial diplomacy is a unique profession that requires advanced specialized training and a formal qualification. Diplomacy designed to influence foreign government policy and regulatory decisions that affect global trade, intellectual property and investment. In the past commercial diplomacy concerned itself largely with negotiations on tariffs and quotas on imports. In today's more interdependent world, trade negotiations cover a far wider range of government regulations and actions affecting international commerce, including standards in health, safety, environment, and consumer protection; regulations in banking, telecommunications and accounting; competition policy and laws concerning bribery and corruption; agricultural support programs, and industrial subsidies.  Commercial diplomacy encompasses the whole analysis, advocacy, coalition-building and negotiation chain that leads to international agreements on these trade-related issues.

What Career Commercial Diplomats Must Learn
A commercial diplomacy practitioner must learn how to analyze all the factors that have a bearing on the policy decision-making process at home and abroad, including an in-depth analysis of:

• The commercial interests at stake,
• The macro-economic impact of alternative policy options,
• The political influence of all the stakeholders with commercial, policy-oriented or institutional interests,
• The domestic policy issues that may be entwined with the foreign trade issue,
• The applicable domestic and international legal provisions,
• The state of public opinion, and including the impact of media coverage and
• ........many more

Policy Advocacy:  Commercial Diplomatic Policy Advocacy - Influencing Foreign Policy and Regulatory Decisions
Use of 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:

• officials of any government department or regulatory agency with a policy interest or bureaucratic stake;
• any firm, union, or industry association with a commercial stake;
• any non-governmental organization with a policy or organizational stake in the outcome; and
• individual citizens as voters.

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 the Government, Industry or Interest Group
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.