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Here's your latest issue of Really Useful Sites for International Trade Professionals. This free bi-weekly newsletter reviews useful Web sites from the Web Resources database at FITA's International Trade/ Import-Export Portal at http://www.fita.org, an excellent source for trade leads, news, events, and a link library of 7,000+ sites related to international trade.
My name is John McDonnell, and for years I've been writing about useful Web sites for businesspeople, in various publications. Now I've focused on international trade, using my Web research skills to find sites that are useful for international businesspeople, and some sites that are just plain fun for anyone.
Here are the sites:
| | OUR FEATURED COUNTRY SITE -- SINGAPORE
Some years ago I got into a conversation with a businessman on a plane, and he
said to me, "If I were just starting out today, I'd move to Singapore. That's
where the future is."Singapore has one of the highest living standards in the
world, and it's a country of glittering skyscrapers and a thriving port. It depends
heavily on trade -- it's one of the largest U.S. trading partners -- and you'll
find plenty of opportunities here.
A good place to start your research is Singapore:
Past, Present Future (hhttp://www.ntu.edu.sg/lib/ne/default.htm), a site
from Nanyang University. I profiled this site before for its Asian resources,
but it's worth highlighting today for the quality of its links that are specific
to Singapore. If you click on Web
Resources, for instance, you'll
find links to Singapore's history, news, politics, government agencies, databases,
speeches, a calendar of events, economic reports, and more. There's plenty of
useful information at this site -- it's worth a look if you're interested in
Singapore. There are many more links to Singapore 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
or "Search by Country or Region" in the right column, then scroll
down to Asia and click on Singapore in the drop-down box. Or simply type "Singapore"
in the search box at http://www.fita.org.
LATIN AMERICAN POST
I just found a way to stay up to date on Latin American news without taxing my
high school Spanish. It's a site called LatinAmerican
Post ( http://www.latinamericanpost.com/ ), and it's got news about Latin
America in English. The easy-to-use format has breaking news, current events analysis,
economic and financial data, feature stories, an art gallery featuring Latin American
artists, travel profiles, sports, and plenty more.
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THE FITA BUY/SELL EXCHANGE
http://fita.worldbid.com
FITA and Worldbid.com now offer an International Buy/Sell exchange. The FITA
Buy/Sell Exchange at http://fita.worldbid.com is FITA's business-to-business
marketplace that helps your company find more business by delivering tender opportunities,
RFQ's and qualified offers to buy and sell. You will have access to a global network
of affiliated trade sites that work together to bring together businesses across
borders. Take a look!
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FLIGHT TRACKER
Recently, my wife was returning home on a business flight. When she didn't call
from the airport to tell me she had landed, I got worried. Luckily, I was able
to allay my fears by going to the FlightTracker
page ( http://www.trip.com/trs/trip/flighttracker/flight_tracker_home.xsl) at
Trip.Com, where I found out her flight was delayed due to weather. At this page,
you can find out the status of U.S. and international flights, and all you need
is the airline and flight number, or arrival city and time. FlightTracker will
show you exactly where the plane is (there's even a graphic interface that will
show you the plane's progress), and the reason for any delays. It's a handy tool
for people who fly a lot (and their relatives).
FAST FOOD FACTS
"We're eating too much fast food," is a lament I often make to my family. Although
I feel guilty about it, there are times when we're too busy to cook a meal, and
I am forced to buy fast food. With Fast
Food Facts ( http://www.olen.com/food/ ) at least I can determine which are
the healthiest cheeseburgers out there. At this site you can find the calories,
fat content, sodium, cholesterol, and other nutritional numbers for food items
at the most popular fast food restaurants. If you want a comparison, just type
in "french fries", for example, and select "Display all restaurants", and you'll
get a handy comparison of the nutritional content of french fries across a range
of restaurants. There are also links at this site to recipes for healthy meals
-- so now I'll feel even more guilty about feeding cheeseburgers to my kids.
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If you'd like to search back issues of Really Useful Sites for International Trade Professionals, there's a search page at http://fita.org/useful/search.html.
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 © 2003 Federation of International Trade Associations. All rights reserved.
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