MANILA, Philippines - Do not be so naïve as to believe that diplomats, dapper in their Armani suits, are only conspicuous in the Capitol Hills cocktail circuit. They also help sell their respective countries' brand of big commercial aircraft.
I guess I can advance the notion that this hustling and dealing is prevalent mainly in the civilian aviation industry.
Beneficiaries are the American Boeing Aircraft Company and the European Airbus Industrie.
In the January 8, 2011, issue of The New York Times weekend supplement in the Manila Bulletin, there appeared on Page 5 a revealing but odiously undiplomatic feature article titled, Hidden Hand of Diplomats Swings Jet Deals. It was jointly authored by Eric Lipton, Nicola Clark, and Andrew W. Lehren.
The feature notes that American diplomats act like marketing agents, "offering deals to heads of state whose decisions could be influenced by price, performance, and, as with all finicky customers, perks."
The business of selling billion-dollar-priced large commercial jets is likened to high-stakes international bazaar, according to the feature.
And, "to a greater degree than previously known, diplomats are a big part of the sales force ... politicking and cajoling at the highest levels," continues the news story.
But the customers, taking advantage of the sellers' all-out desire to clinch the deal, ask for sometimes capricious perks before affixing their names on the dotted line, and normally get them. For example:
* The king of Saudi Arabia wanted the United States to outfit his personal jet with the same high-tech devices as Air Force One.
* The president of Turkey wanted the Obama administration to put a Turkish astronaut on a NASA flight.
* In Bangladesh, the prime minister pressed to have landing rights re-established at Kennedy International Airport in New York.
"State department and Boeing officials, in interviews in December, acknowledged the important role the United States government in helping companies sell commercial airplanes," says the feature story.
Ironically, there is a trade agreement signed by American and European leaders in the early 1980s keeping international politics away from multi-billion private business deals.
"The United States economy, said Robert D. Hormats, undersecretary for economic affairs at the State Department, increasingly relies upon exports to the fast-growing developing world.
"So pushing sales of big-ticket items like commercial jets is central to the Obama administration's strategy to help the nation recover from the recession," notes the article.
Saying simply that such diplomatic salesmanship is a reality of the 21st century, governments assume an extra but effective role of supporting their companies' efforts of selling their products in pinpointed markets.
Something like, the Maharlika Hall in Malacanang sporting a hanging signage that says, International Marketing Division, Jollibee Foods Corporation.
