Boost trade, Bishop tells Australian diplomats

Top diplomats are being asked to drum up more business for Australian companies.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has outlined how the government's emphasis on "economic diplomacy" is being put into practice, including recruiting ambassadors in a new trade and investment push.

Ms Bishop says the government is leaning on its global network of 95 ambassadors, high commissioners and consul-generals, who have produced detailed plans about how to increase Australian trade and investment.

"Every post - from Ankara to Amman, Shanghai to Suva, New York to New Delhi - has submitted a strategy with highly specific local goals," she told the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

"They have produced over 2000 specific, practical ideas to implement across our global diplomatic footprint."

Apart from boosting Australian trade and investment, economic diplomacy would also promote regional and global prosperity, she said.

Citing the rise of China and South Korea, she said foreign aid was not the panacea to poverty.

"The total value of foreign aid funding from all nations is ... utterly dwarfed by international investment flows, remittances, and other sources of capital to developing countries," she said.