Really Useful Sites for International Trade Professionals, Issue 52 Volume 3 Number 4

[Federation of International Trade Associations]

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Really Useful Sites for International Trade Professionals Issue 52 Volume 3 
Number 4
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February 12, 2003
Issue 52
VOLUME 3 Number 4
 
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 IN THIS ISSUE
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OUR FEATURED COUNTRY SITE -- REPUBLIC OF KOREA
LARGEST FREE PUBLIC RECORDS DATABASES
GOOGLE LANGUAGE TOOLS
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL


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://xis.xtenit.com/ct.jsp?u=327937&i=38203 an excellent 
source for trade leads, news, events, and a link library of 5,000+ 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 -- REPUBLIC OF KOREA
http://www.adb.org/Korea/default.asp

Although there has been a lot of turmoil in North Korea lately, the economic 
outlook in South Korea has remained good. South Korea is one of the ten largest 
U.S. trading partners, and it has weathered many crises in the last 50 years, 
so it's a safe bet the country will weather this most recent storm in its 
region. If you'd like to research opportunities in this part of the world, go 
to the Asian Development Bank's profile of the Republic of Korea 
<http://www.adb.org/Korea/default.asp> (http://www.adb.org/Korea/default.asp). 
This site is loaded with information, including economic statistics, news, 
business contacts, lists of partnership opportunities, cofinancing projects, 
and more reports than you can read in one visit. 
There are many more links to South Korea at the FITA site. Go to 
http://fita.org/webindex <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 South Korea in the drop-down box. Or simply 
type "Korea" in the search box at http://www.fita.org <http://fita.org/>. 

LARGEST FREE PUBLIC RECORDS DATABASES
http://www.searchsystems.net

Before the Internet, if you wanted to search public records you had to hike 
over to the local government office and page through dusty ledger books till 
you found what you wanted. All that's changed now. There are thousands of sites 
on the Web where you can search public records databases with the click of a 
mouse. There's a gateway to these sites at the Search Systems Largest Free 
Public Records Databases <http://www.searchsystems.net> ( 
http://www.searchsystems.net/ ) page. This site has links to free public record 
databases around the world. You'll find links to databases that provide 
business information (corporations, limited liability companies, limited 
partnerships, assumed business names), licensing (dentists, physicians, real 
estate, therapists, etc.), criminal records, sex offenders, inmates/offenders, 
unclaimed property, trade names/trademarks, and much more. 


MEDJET ASSISTANCE: PEACE OF MIND WHEN TRAVELERS NEED IT MOST 
http://www.fita.org/travel/medjetdescript.htm 
<http://xis.xtenit.com/ct.jsp?u=327937&i=38215>


A medical doctor from West Virginia was on vacation with his wife in Rome 
recently when they had an extreme medical emergency. As MEDJET Assistance 
members, they made a collect call to the 24 hour hotline and received quick 
assistance. 

They wrote, "My wife and I wish to express our deep appreciation for your rapid 
and professional response to our medical emergency in Rome. We were amazed at 
how you took care of the most minute detail and made it possible for us to 
return to medical care in the States as quickly as possible. When we tell 
people about our experience and how expertly you handled our return to the 
United States they cannot believe that this could be done so expertly and 
efficiently." 
MEDJET Assistance is an annual membership program for U.S-based travelers 
providing air medical transportation to its members should they become 
hospitalized due to accident or illness virtually anywhere in the world. The 
program transports members, free of charge, to the hospital of their choice, 
most often in medically equipped and staffed jets. Click on 
www.fita.org/travel/medjetdescript.htm 
<http://xis.xtenit.com/ct.jsp?u=327937&i=38215> to become a MEDJET Assistance 
member now at reduced FITA rates. 
MEDJET Assistance publishes a free brochure, "A Guide To Traveling Smart". 
Contact MEDJET Assistance directly at (800) 963-3538 to order it. Make sure to 
mention FITA to get the FITA discount if you enroll.

GOOGLE LANGUAGE TOOLS
http://www.google.com/language_tools

Even though I studied French in high school, my language skills are limited. I 
butt up against this every day on the Web, when I see interesting sites that I 
can't read, because they're written in languages that are foreign to me. Now 
there's at least a partial solution, in Google Language Tools 
<http://www.google.com/language_tools> ( http://www.google.com/language_tools 
). At this site you can search for Web sites by language and country, and when 
you find a site that looks interesting, you can click on "Translate this page" 
in the search results. The translations are not perfect, but they're good 
enough to give you a working knowledge of the page, and that might be enough if 
you're looking for sales leads or new markets for your products.  

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL
http://www.transparency.org

Political corruption is a stumbling block to success in international business, 
and one thing I'd want to know before establishing trade ties in a country is 
the state of corruption there. You can find that out at Transparency 
International <http://www.transparency.org> ( http://www.transparency.org ). 
Transparency International is a nonprofit organization that monitors corruption 
worldwide, and this site has plenty of useful information for businesspeople. 
There are country papers on corruption, a Bribe Payers Index, a Global 
Corruption Report, news, a Corruption Perceptions Index, and much more. You'll 
get the inside dirt on corruption here.  





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Published by Federation of International Trade Associations 
Copyright © 2003 Federation of International Trade Associations. All rights 
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