Really Useful Sites For International Trade Professionals

[Federation of International Trade Associations]

To view this newsletter in full-color, click here:
http://www.imakenews.com/fita/index000012902.cfm?x=72211,64230

REALLY USEFUL SITES FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE PROFESSIONALS
=================================================================
March 4, 2002
Issue 28
VOLUME 2 Issue 5

-----------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1. WELCOME
2. OFFSTATS
3. COMMON COLD
4. OUR FEATURED REGIONAL SITE -- ASIASOURCE
5. FITA BUY/SELL EXCHANGE
6. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS INFORMATION DIRECTORY


-----------------------------------------------------------------
WELCOME
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 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://fita.org, an excellent source for trade leads, news, events, 
and a link library of 4,000+ sites related to international trade. 

 If you wish to unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page to
the Subscriptions section or simply click here [
http://www.imakenews.com/fita/index.cfm#subscribe ], enter your
email address and click on "remove."  

 Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to others. 

 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.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
OFFSTATS
-----------------------------------------------------------------

I've never been fond of statistics -- throw too many numbers at
me and my eyes start to glaze over. However, even a statistics-
impaired guy like me can see that OFFSTATS: Official Statistics
on the WWW at
http://www2.auckland.ac.nz/lbr//stats/offstats/OFFSTATSmain.htm is a
treasure trove of information. OFFSTATS links to sites offering
free and easily accessible social, economic and general data
from official sources, especially those that provide both
current data and time series. What this means is that you can
click on the name of a country and get official government
statistics, plus data from other sources (like the United
Nations, the CIA, and the World Bank). As an example, Malaysia
has 15 separate sources of statistics. This is valuable
information for anyone who wants to get an accurate picture of
an international market.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
COMMON COLD
-----------------------------------------------------------------

My youngest child has been sick all week with a runny nose and a 
cough. By visiting Common Cold at http://www.commoncold.org I found out 
that she has a Red NoseRhinovirus, and that I should expect her 
to have it for 10-14 days. This site, created by two doctors, has 
a lot of solid information about the diagnosis and treatment of 
common colds, and it's helpful in dispelling myths, like "You'll 
catch a cold if you don't wear your winter coat!" (my mother's very 
words). According to Common Cold, a study was done that found people 
who were chilled were no more or less likely to catch a cold.


-----------------------------------------------------------------

Are your prospects part of the international trade community? If 
so, here's an opportunity to showcase your service or product to 
50,000 subscribers of Really Useful Sites for the International
Trade Professional. FITA now offers limited sponsorship
opportunities to selected organizations. For information, please 
contact Barney Lehrer, Director of eCommerce Development at
address@hidden or 1-800-969-FITA extension 4.


-----------------------------------------------------------------


-----------------------------------------------------------------
OUR FEATURED REGIONAL SITE -- ASIASOURCE
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Did you know that there are two televisions for every three
people in the tiny country of Brunei, whereas Tajikistan, which
is 28 times as large, has only one television for every eight
people? I got this interesting statistic from AsiaSource 
at www.asiasource.org, a site that is packed with information about 
the countries of Asia. Besides the statistics section (which lets 
you make comparisons between different countries) AsiaSource has news, 
business resources (links to important business directories, government 
sites, etc.), a calendar of events, maps, a database of experts,
articles & speeches, even a collection of recipes for Asian food!

There are lots more links to China at the FITA site. Go to
http://www.fita.org/webindex, click on Regional Resources and
Multi-Lateral Trading Areas in the left column or "Search by
Country or Region" in the right column, and then go to Asia in
the pop-up window. Or simply type "Asia" in the search box at
http://www.fita.org.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
FITA BUY/SELL EXCHANGE
-----------------------------------------------------------------

FITA and Worldbid.com have launched a new International Buy/Sell 
exchange. The FITA Buy/Sell Exchange at http://fita.worldbid.com is 
FITA's new 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 ofaffiliated trade sites that work together to bring together
businesses across borders. Take a look!



-----------------------------------------------------------------
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS INFORMATION DIRECTORY
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a book I should have written myself. The International
Business Information Directory at http://www.infotoday.com/ibidirectory.htm 
is all about how to find international business info on the Web. This 
Web site has a list of links from the book, and you probably don't need 
the book if you bookmark this page. The only thing I don't like is that 
it's pretty much just a list of links, with no description of what's
at each site (I would have written a little review for each
site, but then that's just me). There are lots of useful links,
though, and you're bound to find something here that will help
you.


-----------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------

For archived issues of Really Useful Sites for the International 
Trade Professional, click here [
http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/mod_archive_view.cfm?u=fita ].

 For a free list of links to useful sites in a wide variety of
categories (both business and personal), visit my Web site [
http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=fita%2C12902%2C64230%2C12423%2C

_________________________________________________________________
Published by Federation of International Trade Associations 
(mailto:address@hidden)
Copyright © 2002 The Federation of International Trade Associations. All 
rights reserved.
=================================================================


Are there topics you'd like to see covered in FITA'S Really
Useful Sites? Send suggestions, ideas, or comments to editor John
McDonnell at address@hidden

=================================================================


This newsletter is distributed by the Federation of
International Trade Associations (FITA) for the benefit of the
worldwide international trade community. If you have a question
regarding this service, please contact FITA by email at address@hidden





-|________________
POWERED BY: http://www.imakenews.com
To be removed from this list, use this link:
http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/address@hidden&s=t
To receive future messages in HTML format, use this link:
http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/address@hidden&s=t