Examination of Witnesses (Questions 240
- 249)
TUESDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2007
DTI/FCO, UKTI, DTI
Q240 Chairman: I think you will find
that in terms of inquiries per staff member it is the highest
in South America. There is no lack of interest in Uruguay; you
have just decided to find a few extra people to shove into Brazil
and the only way you can afford to do it is by closing Uruguay.
That is the truth.
Mr McCartney: I disagree with
that entirely.
Chairman: I should be interested to see
figures showing the level of inquiries per staff member employed
across South America. I think you will find that Uruguay comes
out very highly on that basis.
Q241 Mr Hoyle: We are moving the
chairs round the table, because we have just moved staff from
Uruguay to Brazil. You may think that that is the right decision,
but the bottom line is that it is not an increase in staff; it
is just moving them round.
Mr McCartney: No. It is an increase
in investment in one of the biggest emerging markets in the world
where we have been under-performing.
Q242 Chairman: I think we are going
round in circles, but I just make the point that Brazil is going
up by two and the total of Latin American staff is down by 1.5
over a five-year period. These are hardly huge figures.
Mr McCartney: But it is in addition
to significant staff input already in the marketplace.
Q243 Chairman: We are saying that
Mercosur and the emerging markets there are important and our
reaction as a country is to reduce our representation overall
in the total markets.
Mr McCartney: I can only say to
you again that in terms of this country's trading interests the
two marketplaces we are talking about are 144th and 105th. I believe
that the Chairman nodded in agreement to a point I made earlier.
We have to prioritise and we should not begin to consider fantasy
worlds here. The reality is that there is a finite amount of resources
and we are investing to get the best bang for our buck, and quite
frankly that is the best way to do it.
Q244 Chairman: But what you are prioritising
are the cuts, not the increases. Brazil is not getting a significant
increase. Just as Mr Hoyle said, you are shuffling the chairs
around. These are friendly questions, Minister, because we intend
to help you in your negotiations with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
You are getting support, not aggression, and you should embrace
it warmly. This Committee may be concerned about your overall
resource levels.
Mr McCartney: Who knows what I
do in the privacy of negotiations? It is the first time I have
been able to attest that an increase in staff in Brazil can be
judged as a decrease. It is not; it is an increase in resources.
Q245 Chairman: No. I am saying very
clearly that there are two more people in Brazil and 1.5 fewer
overall in South America over five years. That does not seem to
me to be huge. These are very small changes. Minister, you said
that you wanted to leave at half-past 12. You have Foreign Office
Questions to deal with this afternoon when I am sure other important
issues will be raised. We are genuinely grateful to you for coming
with your officials and for the support and interest we get from
UKTI staff in preparing our very good briefing material and in
terms of written evidence provided to the Committee. You have
promised a lot of additional written material. I feel sorry for
your staff who have to provide a lot more, but we appreciate it.
Mr McCartney: I will have to bring
them back from Brazil to answer them.
Chairman: Thank you very much.
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