The Australian Trade and Investment Commission, or Austrade ( ), is the Australian Government's trade, investment and education promotion agency which was also given responsibility for tourism policy, programs and research from 2013. Austrade was established under the Australian Trade Commission Act 1985. It is a non-corporate Commonwealth entity under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, and a statutory agency under the Public Service Act 1999. Austrade is part of the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio. Under Austrade's corporate structure, its Chief Executive Officer is accountable to the Federal Minister for Tourism, Trade and Investment. Mr Xavier Simonet was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Austrade in November 2020. Global network Through a global network of offices, Austrade aims to assist Australian companies to connect with buyers in offshore markets, attract foreign direct investment into Australia, and promote Australia's education sector internationally. In Australia, Austrade's services and programs are delivered through a national network of offices and TradeStart locations in metropolitan and regional areas, operating in partnership with Australian state and territory governments, industry associations and regional development bodies. Historical overview Austrade was established in 1986 initially tasked with coordinating and facilitating the country's export promotion schemes (Fletcher, as cited in Chung and Mascitelli, 2017, p. 417). Since then, it lies at the forefront of both Australia's bilateral and multilateral trade agreements and is also tasked with organising policies on imports. This extended role since its establishment has increased the international competitiveness of Australian businesses post globalisation, a vision arranged by John Dawkins, former Trade Minister under the Hawke government. Austrade has allowed for countries to be economically integrated more than ever and is described as one of the most ambitious changes on the government trade promotion landscape since the creation of the Trade Commissioner Service in 1933 (Nicholls, as cited in Chung and Mascitelli, 2017, p. 417). There are four separate government entities under the original export promotion scheme, including a segment of the Department of Trade, Trade Commissioner Service, Export Finance Insurance Corporation and the Export Market Development Grant scheme (Dawkins, as cited in Chung and Mascitelli, 2017, p. 417). Dawkins was a key proponent for focusing on markets that needed assistance and has stressed the importance of directing attention to sunrise industries in order to help them compete on a global scale. According to Ferris in Chung and Mascitelli (2017), under these goals; the Australian economy