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Hello International Traders! Look east to Thailand if you want to find a thriving market --
and I've got a site in this issue that will help you research
opportunities there. Also, if you want deep demographic info
about U.S. cities and towns, I have a site that will give it to
you. Need to calculate the cost of goods coming into or going out
of the U.S.? I found calculators that will do it for you.
Finally, how do you find out the most reliable health information
on the Web? I have a site that rates the health-oriented sites, so
you can see which are the best.
If you'd like more information about international trade, go to FITA's
International Trade/ Import-Export Portal ( http://fita.org ), an excellent
source for trade leads, news, events, and a link library of 7,000 sites related
to international trade.
| THAILAND -- OUR FEATURED COUNTRY
If you're looking for markets in Asia, consider Thailand. The
country has a well developed infrastructure, a free-enterprise
economy, and welcomes foreign investment. Yes, it suffered in the
Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, but by all measures,
Thailand has fully recovered, and it was one of East Asia's best
performers in 2002-04. It had imports of US $81 billion and
exports of US $88 billion in 2004, so this is a country where
trade plays a significant role. If you'd like more information
about trade with Thailand, go to the U.S. Commercial Service
Thailand Page ( http://www.buyusa.gov/thailand/en/ ). Click on
"Thailand Market Profile" and you'll get a detailed look at the
current state of Thailand's economy. Click on "Doing Business in
Thailand" and you'll find reports on current market conditions
and upcoming opportunities; profiles of Thai industries;
information on the best prospects for exporting to Thailand; a
country commercial guide; a list of trade events; and more. The
site is oriented toward U.S. companies, but there's plenty of
good information here no matter what country you're from.
And FITA's Global
Trade Book Store has a many books about doing business in Thailand. Check out
especially The Business Guide to Thailand, Doing Business With Thailand, Success Secrets to Maximize Business in Thailand (Culture Shock!) and Passport Thailand: Your Pocket Guide to Thai Business, Customs & Etiquette.
There are many more links to Thailand at the FITA site. Go to
http://fita.org/webindex/index.html, click on Regional Resources
and Multi-Lateral Trading Areas in the left column, then scroll
down to Asia and click on Thailand in the drop-down box. Or
simply type "Thailand" in the search box at http://www.fita.org.
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CSG CALCULATORS AND CONVERTERS
The first Web-based calculator I ever used, ten years ago, was a
simple mortgage payment calculator. If I entered a mortgage
interest rate, amount, and term of the mortgage, I could find out
what the monthly payment would be. Nowadays, there are hundreds
of calculators on the Web, for everything from converting
European shoe sizes into American ones, to figuring out complex
scientific problems. You'll find a bunch of them at CSG
Calculators and Converters (
http://www.csgnetwork.com/converters.html ), and some are
especially useful for importers and exporters. Just go to the
home page (close the pop-up window) and scroll down to Grouped
Converters and Calculators, then click on Business and Financial
in the drop-down box. That brings you to a page with lots of
great business calculators. Scroll down to Export Price Index
(XPI) Calculator. This is an inflation calculator for adjusting
costs from one year to another using the International Price
Index (IPI) inflation index as a foundation, and is a useful tool
for U.S. exporters. There's also an Import Price Index (MPI)
Calculator, and many other handy business calculators.
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INVOLVED IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS? ADVANCE YOUR CAREER
http://www.fita.org/jobs
Are you interested in career advancement opportunities? Are you looking for a career portal to serve you when you want to know of job opportunities - especially those with an international dimension - that advance your career? The best career portals provide those seeking career advancement with four key benefits:
- Rich content-information that will help them manage their careers effectively and grow in their profession, craft, or trade;
- Easy interaction-a way to communicate with their professional colleagues for learning, discussion, and debate;
- Dedicated community-an online destination that is devoted to them and where they can associate comfortably with their peers;
- Targeted opportunities-jobs that are relevant, providing them a way to advance their skills and knowledge in their field.
Where can you find such a career portal for international careers? Come and visit FITA Career HQ at http://www.fita.org/jobs/. Currently, over 500 job openings are posted - many requiring international skills. Membership is free; please log on now to take advantage of all the FITA Career HQ can offer you and your career. Active job seekers are also invited to post their resumes at no cost.
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CITY-DATA.COM
After 14 years in our house, my family is looking to move. We're
moving north, closer to where my wife works, and we're looking at
little towns near the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border. That's why
I'm so happy I found City-Data.com ( http://www.city-data.com
). This nifty site has reams of data about thousands of U.S.
cities. There's information about the residents' income,
education, ancestry, employment, and political affiliation, plus
area house prices, crime statistics, weather, hospitals, schools,
libraries, types of businesses, maps -- even satellite pictures!
There are also Top 100 lists, which rank U.S. cities in
categories like Highest Median Household Income, Youngest
Residents, Shortest Commuting Times, etc. This site is a treasure
trove of free information for businesses looking to research U.S.
markets.
CONSUMER HEALTH WEBWATCH
These days, if I have any medical condition from an ingrown
toenail to heart disease, I can get plenty of information about
it on the Web. There are hundreds of Web sites with free medical
information, and the problem becomes one of figuring out which
sites have the most credible information. That's why Consumer
Health Webwatch ( http://healthratings.org ) is
such a valuable site. The people at Consumer Reports and the
Health Improvement Institute have created a detailed rating
system for health-oriented Web sites, so you can easily find out
which ones are the most reliable. On the main page, you'll find a
list of the 20 most-visited health information sites, and each
one is rated according to its ease of use, design, accessibility,
whether it clearly labels advertising and sponsorships, and other
criteria. Each site's strengths and weaknesses are spelled out,
so you can make the best decisions about where to get your online
health information.
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GIVE US FEEDBACK!
Please tell us what you think of these Really Useful Sites! Send us your
comments (newsletter@fita.org) about this or past issues or to give us suggestions about future editions!
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We welcome our subscribers to publish this whole issue or articles from it. But please note that all material is copyrighted by FITA and must be copied with the following attribution: "This is copied from the newsletter Really Useful Sites for International Trade Professionals, a free, bi-weekly email publication of FITA - The Federation of International Trade Associations. Please feel free to subscribe to this newsletter at http://fita.org/useful."
If you'd like to see all back issues of Really Useful Sites for International Trade Professionals, the full list is at http://www.fita.org/useful/archives.
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Published by Federation of International Trade Associations
Copyright © 2005 Federation of International Trade Associations. All rights
reserved.
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