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BOT
British Overseas Trade Board
IN CONFIDENCE
Caribbean section would be kept busy with an initiative on the rich Puerto Rican market and the development of Miami; in Australasia section had already been cut back.
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resources
Similarly there was no apparent slack in commercial depart- ments in Latin America and the Caribbean. Some additional locally employed staff might be justified in the latter area and might best be placed in Jamaica. While Posts in Australia were more generously staffed the Australian Bicentenary in 1988 was likely to lead to additional activity which could in turn impose a serious strain on market branch resources.
SUB SAHARAN AFRICA
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This was a diverse area where
prospects were uncertain
for a variety of reasons. The emphasis of work in S Africa section had shifted towards trade policy and away from export promotion but other than Fairs and Missions we continued to offer BOTB services for S Africa and this message needed to be got across to industry. It was expected that export promotion work in
Nigeria would increase as medium term credit was restored. It was felt that outside these two major markets the staffing of the market branch looked fairly generous when compared with the size and potential of the market. Even though this to some extent reflected the fragmentation of the area it could be argued that the Francophone countries were receiving a disproportionate amount of attention, given the limited success achieved in these markets. Strategy towards the Francophones would be reappraised by the end of March 1987 and it was possible that some staff saving should be achieved for reallocation to other markets.
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Africa accounted for a very substantial proportion of FCO commercial staff overseas in relation to the size and potential of the market. But these were difficult markets and businessmen required considerable support. Any reallocation of resources within Africa might be aimed at reinforcing Ghana, Cameroon and perhaps Kenya.
JAPAN, KOREA, TAIWAN
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It was recognised that the Japanese market was sui generis; it presented difficult problems for both market branch and commercial department staff; and that high levels of initiative work were required in order to make any effective impact on industry. Although staff resources deployed on the market were high for its size, the market's potential justified this.
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The relatively high staff resources devoted to Korea were also justified by a rapidly expanding market and the need to overcome the UK's historically weak position.
SOUTH EAST ASIA
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From being a prime growth area, economies in these markets had turned down because of lower commodity prices. Many were still moderately successful although there was concern about
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