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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:
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OUR FEATURED COUNTRY
SITE -- THE NETHERLANDS
If I say, "the Netherlands" and you immediately think
of tulips, dikes, and wooden shoes, think again. This country
of 16 million people has a strong tradition of international
trade going back centuries, and is today one of the top dozen
trading countries in the world. The Netherlands ranks eighth
in imports of goods and services from the U.S., making it
one of America's biggest trading partners.
If you want to investigate trade opportunities with the
Netherlands, a good place to look is the U.S. Commercial
Service Country Commercial Guide to the Netherlands ( http://www.usatrade.gov/website/CCG.nsf/ShowCCG?OpenForm&Country=NETHERLANDS
). This site has everything you need to get started: detailed
information on the country's political environment, economic
trends, trade regulations, and investment climate, plus
a schedule of trade events, business contacts, and much
more.
There are many more links to the Netherlands 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 Europe and click
on Netherlands in the drop- down box. Or simply type "Netherlands"
in the search box at http://www.fita.org.
DISEASE OUTBREAK
NEWS -- SARS
As I write this, there is breaking news that the cause
of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, has been identified.
It's an unfortunate fact that the ease of modern air travel
has meant people can spread disease around the world more
rapidly than ever before. If you travel, or if you just want
to stay updated on the spread of contagious diseases, go to
Disease
Outbreak News ( http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/ ). This
site, created by the World Health Organization, gives the
latest news and reports on diseases worldwide. Besides breaking
news (a lot about SARS), there are reports on the response
to outbreaks of disease, preparedness for chemical or biological
warfare, drug resistant strains of disease, profiles of various
diseases, and much more.
And here's another site with facts on SARS. Medlineplus
( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/severeacuterespiratorysyndrome.html
) has a whole page of links to news and analysis about the
disease.
THE EUROPEAN
BUSINESS DIRECTORY
500,000 companies in 33 countries
http://www.europages.com
EUROPAGES
is a business directory listing 500,000 companies
selected for their import-export dynamism in all business
sectors in over 35 European countries. EUROPAGES is
an ideal tool for finding new clients, suppliers and
partners: it is a popular reference guide with European
purchasing directors. Europages.com,
your connection to the business world !
One single ad in EUROPAGES generates an average
of 102 business contacts in one year. People like
Peter from Denmark say, "EUROPAGES is our best investment
for export." Click
here to learn about how your company can be featured
in EUROPAGES.
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THE TRANSPORTATION
DIRECTORY
Selling your product is only half the story, when it
comes to international trade. The rest is getting your product
to the buyer, on time and in good condition. For that you
need the services of a transportation company -- and that's
where this next site comes in. The
Transportation Directory ( http://www.transport911.com/
) has lists of companies you need to deal with to get your
product from Point A to Point B. There are links to air cargo
companies, freight brokers, freight forwarders, intermodal
cartage, and truckers, to name just a few. There are phone
and Fax numbers, and Web addresses (where available) for each
listing.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
FOR STANDARDIZATION (ISO)
There are thousands, maybe even millions, of credit
cards in the world, and yet they're all the same size and
thickness. My teenage daughter doesn't care about this when
she's charging her latest budget-busting purchase, but I got
curious about it recently, so I went to the Web site of the
International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) ( http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage
). The ISO is the federation that oversees standards for products
worldwide (including credit card thickness), to "facilitate
the international exchange of goods and services". It's a
good bet that the ISO affects you if you're involved in international
trade. This site is a good place to find news and information
about standardization issues, read up on the 13,700 standards
covered by ISO, and get standards information relevant to
your industry in online forums.
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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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Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to others.
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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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