Government should establish a working network of professionals to help companies develop new markets in other countries, Larry Placide, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries, has said.

’Selling services is also about confidence. It’s about being sure that the product of your mind will be useful even indispensable to your client. That confidence is needed even more when you try to export those services because you are confronted with persons who perhaps doubt your capabilities or your knowledge or they may come from a different culture, speak a different language,’ he said on Sunday night at a TTCSI dinner to open services week at the Hilton Trinidad. ’But even the most confident among us and the most competent among us needs a little help from time to time. This is where we would like to suggest that Government take a decisive step and establish a working network of professionals that are tasked with helping us develop new markets abroad.’

’In other words we are saying that we need a trade commissioner service or trade consuls or trade attaches,’ Placide told the audience. ’Call them what you like -their job should be to promote the services and goods trade of Trinidad and Tobago. In my experience this idea has come along every few years with perhaps some work done, perhaps an individual here or there is sent to one mission or another, sometimes they experience a little bit of success, most of the time they are frustrated. It is time that we do this and get it right.’

Realistically, Trinidad and Tobago is the only country in the region that can do this, he said, adding that: ’We can be a little bit creative as to where we place our personnel. Perhaps we need to look at starting off with our mission in Costa Rica or India rather than Miami or the UK.’