Trade missions serve a valuable function as countries reach out to each other to build trade relationships. For businesses, they provide much-needed platforms that bring buyers and sellers together, while providing opportunities for social and economic growth and knowledge sharing. In many places, particularly in Asia, the importance of in-person meetings is significant. However, post-COVID, trade missions have been hindered due to travel restrictions and safety concerns. Many have been canceled altogether. But some countries, such as Canada, are tackling the problem using virtual trade missions.
Challenges of Going Virtual
Using platforms such as Zoom and others, the work of trade missions continues to be carried out in cyberspace. However, traditional trade missions involve government to business and business to business meetings, site visits, presentations, and other activities, which are difficult and often impossible to replicate. Elements such as the ‘tradeshow experience’, in-person camaraderie, and other cultural experiences such as theatre, food, sightseeing, and riding on public transport simply cannot be delivered virtually.
However, the important parts of actually creating a platform where buyers and sellers can meet and speak to each other are entirely possible to replicate. This has allowed virtual trade missions some success. Also, provided these events are open to all who wish to participate, the one major benefit of online trade missions is that they are highly accessible and affordable, even to the smallest of businesses. This is a huge positive, that has the potential to level the playing field.
Another challenge often faced in terms of virtual meetings is the learning curve and choice of platform. Often different parties prefer different platforms and this can cause friction when trying to set up these events. Usually, this ends up with the event occurring on multiple platforms, which is great for participants but can be cumbersome for organizers to set up.
A Hybrid Future
It is plain and clear that virtual trade missions can never hope to fully replace in-person events. There is nothing virtual that can replace the very real experience of visiting a foreign country, engaging in-person with business people, visiting factories, and understanding the local nuances. However, virtual trade missions have opened up new opportunities and brought benefits, such as accessibility. Thus, in the future, it is likely that we will see hybrid events where there is either a physical and virtual event at the same time, or where virtual and physical events both occur on their own. Either of these outcomes is ultimately beneficial to all stakeholders, particularly small and medium businesses. CategoriesTrade Finance
