Public Affairs and Communications ‘Bigger Than Ever’ Says Boeing ASEAN Chief - Skip Boyce Interview in PublicAffairsAsia Magazine

HONG KONG -

Big business must reach out more to government and should be supported “aggressively” by their embassies when doing so, former US ambassador ‘Skip’ Boyce says today.

As the autumn edition of PublicAffairsAsia magazine is published, Boyce, former US ambassador to Thailand and now ASEAN president of Boeing, implores business and government to engage in a new round of corporate diplomacy.

Boyce’s comments come as PublicAffairsAsia, the magazine for the government affairs and corporate communications professions, issues the second call for nominations in its Gold Standard Awards for communications and public policy.

In his interview Boyce tells PublicAffairsAsia that embassies should go “as far as possible” in promoting their leading players in Asia.

“If there are several American companies involved, you can expect the embassy to support the American product. If you are the only American company and you are up against other competitors you can expect a specific helping hand in the name of your company — whether it is an ambassador writing to the prime minister or arranging a meeting,” he says.

Boyce says diplomatic missions have a duty to fight for their companies: “There is no limit really. It should be aggressive. Sometimes diplomats need to reach out to the companies and say get us in now, because you might ask later when it is too late, when you have made a mistake, or maybe if you missed a deadline. You should get embassy people in from the beginning.”

Boyce also tells PublicAffairsAsia that in modern business having diplomatic insight is a huge advantage when confronting political or regulatory challenges. “Communications and public affairs in this day and age are bigger than ever. Government works hard every day to get a statement into the news cycle. That is public affairs and it has become a science and an art over the years.”

Boyce’s comments underpin the increasing importance of public affairs in Asia and come as the Gold Standard Awards seek nominations from a wide range of consultancies, corporations, government agencies, SOEs, chambers, NGOs and government agencies.

* The full interview with Skip Boyce can be viewed at www.publicaffairsasia.com

* The full details about The Gold Standard Awards 2009 can be found at www.publicaffairsasia.com/goldstandard/Index.do

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT Mark O’Brien, Vice President, PublicAffairsAsia +66-801-458-697 markobrien@publicaffairsasia.com

Source: PublicAffairsAsia

Mark O’Brien, Vice President of PublicAffairsAsia, +66-801-458-697, markobrien at publicaffairsasia.com