Foreign Presence and Export Performance: The Role of Portuguese Commercial Diplomacy

This article studies whether export supporting activities developed by Portuguese diplomatic representations in the last decade have had any impact on Portugal’s international trade. It used data for 187 destination countries, for the period of 2008 to 2017, controlling for other determinants of trade through a gravity model. Complementing the econometric analysis of the macro data, a survey was applied to 238 Portuguese exporting firms. The results imply a less relevant role for embassies and consulates in export promotion and facilitation. These results highlight the necessity to change the way that national diplomatic representations interact with exporting firms, in particular SMEs.