Chile to Upgrade Business Ties With India

NEW DELHI - Chile said it wants to enhance its commercial ties with India by upgrading the preferential trade pact it has with New Delhi since 2006.

At a luncheon meeting with apex business chambers here, visiting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said her country was keen on promoting the preferential trade pact with India to a full-fledged free trade agreement.

“The conditions have arrived to take step forward to increase our commercial links...I hope this will be a prelude to sign an FTA with India as soon as possible,” Bachelet said at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Assocham and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) meeting.

The two countries have agreed to take steps for doubling the bilateral trade, which was a mere $2.09 billion in 2007-08. Chile has decided to open a commercial and investment office here for facilitating commercial ties. Earlier in the day, the two countries signed four agreements to strengthen their bilateral ties in the areas of space, renewable energy, education and mineral resources.

Source: http://www.indiajournal.com/

South Africa hosts India business summit

DURBAN: The first Durban-India business summit was hosted here on Thursday to encourage trade and investment between the two countries.

The summit, at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre here, was hosted by Indian Consul-General Harsh Vardhan Shringla in partnership with the Durban Investment Promotion Agency, audit firm KPMG, the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Trade and Investment KZN.

Shringla said the aim of the summit was to reach out to companies that were not yet involved in business in India but which had the potential to engage with the subcontinent.

"South Africa is India's biggest investment destination in Africa. A bulk of the Indian investment, particularly in the manufacturing sector, is in KwaZulu-Natal," Shringla said.

Indian High Commissioner Rajiv Bhatia justified the summit in the current deepening global economic crisis, as he noted that both the Indian and South African economies have been affected negatively by the crisis, "even though perhaps we have not experienced its intensity as much as those in the developed world".

Noting that bilateral trade, which was valued at only $1.3 billion in 2000-01, had increased to $6.27 billion in 2007-08, a growth of 382 percent in seven years; Bhatia urged the delegates to focus on five key sectors - Manufacturing and Infrastructure, SMME & Skills Development, ICT & Services, Tourism & Entertainment and Maritime & Logistics.

"In fact, the basic thrust of this conference should be on studying in depth the investment climate, the factors that encourage the two-way flows and an identification of the existing constraints, which if removed, would see a much bigger progress in this area."

Bhatia highlighted two issues which could assist in easing business links - faster visa processes and the possibility of increased air links.

The high commissioner said the two governments had recently reached agreement on liberalising the civil aviation regime, thereby encouraging their carriers to put in place more flights on the basis of a multi-designation system.

"The challenge now is for their carriers to move forward into the implementation phase without delay."

Bhatia added that the South African authorities had shown their goodwill by liberalising their business visa regime, to a certain extent, thus encouraging Indian business people to visit South Africa more as their business needs grew in future.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Connectivity options: New portal slashes EDI/B2B onboarding costs; simplifies trading partner enablement

RollOut Portal—an online tool offered by Seeburger that facilitates self-serve onboarding and recertification of customers and suppliers to EDI/B2B systems operated by automakers, CPG companies, and other organizations—can be used with any B2B gateway. The portal virtually eliminates the cost, time, and effort required to connect new trading partners to the central hub, migrate existing partners to a new system, change partner configurations, and launch new roll-out campaigns.

According to industry estimates, manual trading partner enablement by a hub company’s IT staff takes 10 to 15 days and costs around $15,000 to $20,000 per partner. According to Seeburger, its RollOut Portal reduces the time frame to a few days and removes the company running the EDI/B2B system from the partner testing process entirely by automating all functions and providing step-by-step online instructions.

Customers and suppliers can self-test both the data structure of a given EDI/B2B message and the communications protocol being used to transmit the message—including AS2 and OFTP— simply by uploading the test message and pressing ‘Start Test.’ This allows partners to control the testing schedule and avoid IT bottlenecks on the sponsoring company’s side. Test results are delivered immediately with reports that pinpoint the cause of any testing failures.

If the hub company is using the Seeburger Business Integration Server (BIS) or other Seeburger solutions for EDI/B2B communications, a new Seeburger-exclusive Move2Production capability automatically puts successful RollOut Portal-tested messages into production without the time, expense and error risk of rekeying all information.

Companies that use Seeburger BIS or adapters also have access to connectivity options for trading partners of any size and technology infrastructure. Seeburger offers solutions for automating transaction document exchange via traditional EDI, a Hub & Spoke system that supports AS2-based point-to-point integration for partners that are too small or unwilling to be EDI-enabled, and a variety of Web-based options for smaller partners that still do business on paper.

Source: http://www.mbtmag.com/

IndustrialCOOP.com Introduces Its West Virginia Material Handling Equipment Directory

IndustrialCOOP, an industry-focused co-op search engine has launched a vertical materials handling equipment online buyers' guide and directory for companies based in or serving West Virginia.

Charleston, WV, March 20, 2009 --(PR.com)-- An international co-op industrial search engine IndustrialCOOP.com announced today the completion of its all new West Virginia Material Handling Products Buying Guide and Directory at http://arrivenews.com/?p=604. A correspondent for the company said the publication was created to help companies in West Virginia find local suppliers of conveyors, forklifts, hoppers and a wide range of other new and used material handling equipment.

According to Cindy Gomez, spokeswoman for IndustrialCOOP, a division of the online B2B publisher Industrial Leaders Group (ILG), the West Virginia Materials Handling Equipment Directory is designed as a value-added feature to the company's interactive Material Handling Equipment Marketplace at http://industrialsaver.com/classifieds/index.php/cat/9. Gomez said the directory along with the marketplace is utilized by MRO personnel, manufacturing managers, facility coordinators, stockroom personnel, shipping and warehouse managers and other buyers of material handling products.

"West Virginia companies in need of hoists, industrial trucks, drums, pallets, conveying equipment carousels and other material handling equipment can utilize the marketplace to locate manufacturers and distributors serving the mountain state," said Gomez. She added, IndustrialCOOP is dedicated in helping manufacturers and construction companies all over West Virginia find suitable local suppliers of material handing products." Gomez concluded, "Meanwhile suppliers of material handling products serving Charleston, Martinsburg, Weirton, Fairmont, Beckley, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Huntington, Clarksburg and other areas of West Virginia are all welcome to post offerings of their own on the marketplace and buying guide."

As a division of ILG, IndustrialCOOP also publishes several material handling equipment directories for North America, Europe and several Asian markets. The publications, according to Gomez, include special offerings from domestic and global manufacturers, exporters, dealers and authorized distributors of material handing, warehouse and storage products at:

* http://www.worldwideindustrialmarketplace.com/directory/material_handling_equipment.html (Worldwide New & Used Materials Handling Equipment Directory)

* http://www.foreigntradeexchange.com/suppliers/material_handling_equipment.html (Suppliers of Material Handling Products & Services)

* http://www.industrialleaders.com/listings/material_handling_equipment.html (The Online Material Handling Equipment Guide & Directory)

Source: http://www.pr.com/

Company to build warehouses in foreign-trade zone

Pittsburgh International Airport's efforts to develop its cargo business advances today when a Dallas-based developer breaks ground on warehouses in the foreign trade zone, officials said.

Trammell Crow Co. will announce its PIT International LogisticsCentre, a 90-acre industrial park where it plans to build as many as seven warehouses, said airport senior development director Randy Forister. He said he did not know if the company has secured tenants for the properties.

Officials at Trammell Crow's Cranberry office did not immediately return a call seeking comment. More details are expected during a 12:30 p.m. news conference at the airport's cargo facilities.

The site's location in a foreign trade zone means tenants could import goods to the warehouses, assemble or repackage them on site, and not pay tariffs until the finished goods are trucked to U.S. markets, Forister said.

Local officials in recent years have touted the possibility of bringing direct air cargo service from China to develop logistics jobs around the airport. Those efforts continue, Forister said.

"We also plan to continue outreach into European countries," home to many of the state's largest trading partners, he said.

The LogisticsCentre is adjacent to the airport's northern runway at its Northfield site. Dick's Sporting Goods also is building its headquarters there.

Source: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/

Foreign businesses attempt to share Vietnam’s e-commerce “pie”

VietNamNet Bridge – Foreign companies that have entered Vietnam to do e-commerce have many plans and they are waiting for suitable moments to conquer the market.

With over 20 million Internet users, most of them youth, Vietnam has emerged as an attractive destination for foreign e-commerce service providers.

eBay, a famous online shopping network, entered Vietnam last June through its cooperation with chodientu.com. This event marked a turning point when online shopping in Vietnam connected with eBay’s international system.

Yahoo! and Google have provided some specialized services for Vietnamese people. Yahoo! has opened Yahoo! Vietnam Co., Ltd. after over two years operating in Vietnam through a representative office.

Alibaba, the world’s leading business to business (B2B) e-commerce floor, has joined hands with Vinalink. Accordingly, Vinalink has the right to provide Alibaba services on its websites.

“Vietnam has many favourable opportunities to develop e-commerce,” said Vu Minh Tri, Director of Yahoo! Vietnam. Tri analyzed that developed countries have electronic payment systems so it is easy to develop e-commerce. However, the number of Internet users in these countries hasn’t increased in the past several years.

“Foreign businesses will invest in Vietnam through cooperation with potential local partners,” said Nguyen Hoa Binh, the representative of eBay in Vietnam. He anticipated that foreign firms will not do e-commerce themselves in Vietnam because they are afraid of risks.

“Yahoo! will seek a Vietnamese partner because this business mode is the most appropriate at present,” Tri said.

It is also very important for foreign investors to choose products for e-commerce in Vietnam. In a country like Vietnam, consumers can buy everything on the street and it is really difficult for online delivery.

E-commerce is developing in Vietnam but the legal corridor is still a problem for e-commerce. Vietnam still lacks laws on e-commerce, for instance regulations to control taxes on online transactions, the border between online service providers at home and abroad and the verification of prestige of companies doing online business.

“The core for developing e-commerce is changing awareness, man, and policy,” said the Vice chief of the E-commerce and IT Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Tran Huu Linh.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s report on Vietnam’s e-commerce in 2008, of 1,600 surveyed companies, 75% had over 5% of their total revenue come from e-commerce.

There are 49 schools offering e-commerce training courses but they are not assisted by state agencies. Most of the schools don’t have relationships with companies, which need e-commerce personnel.

The Vietnamese government plans to put all public administrative services online in the 2006-2010 period. The Ministry of Industry and Trade provided the electronic origin certificate granting service (eCoSys) online in 2008.

E-commerce models like B2B (business to business), B2C (business to customers), and C2C (customers to customers are expanding in Vietnam.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/

Buyers and sellers in Kolkata

Buying and selling are the two main parts of all business activities. All business concerns aim ate earning revenue from the sale of the products that they buy in finished form or in the form of raw materials from others at a lesser cost. They look for buyers and sellers and buyers simultaneously. Other than this, business concerns look for sellers through whom they can take their products and services at the doorsteps of customers. They look for markets and shops where they can supply their products for sale. On the other hand, before launching a product in the market, they make an idea about the market and buying capacity of the people of the area where they are planning the launch. It is also very essential for them to have a thorough idea about the level of demand for a particular product in a particular idea.

Not only business concerns but general people too look for sellers and buyers. A person who needs to buy a particular product or avail a particular service look for stores and companies where it is available. Suppose, you are planning to buy a television set or a personal computer. What would you do? You will surely look for shops and markets where electronic appliances are sold. Similarly if you want to sell something you will look for buyers.

Many people sell their own properties for different reasons. While some sell their properties to replace them with new ones and some do it to get rid of financial burden. Car tops the list of personal properties that are sold by people. If you have a car and planning to buy a new one, this is what you will surely do. But to get a good value for your beloved car you need to get a good buyer or customer. So what would you do? Publishing advertisements in newspapers is an age old practice which is still on but today one cannot depend on such ads as they come on newspapers pages weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Today people don’t have the time to wait and that’s why publishing advertisements in newspapers is a not the smartest thing to do. To get quick response for your advertisement you need to opt for a medium, which provides service 24 x 7 and is available in all parts of the globe. That’s internet.
On the internet, you will find hundreds of portals where advertisements on various subjects related to business are are published. If you want to publish advertisements for selling something that you possess, the B2B portals are the best mediums. B2B portals r the business-to-business portals are electronic business guides of the hi-tech age. All kinds of information that business-class people may have interest in are available on these portals in detail. Just log on to any B2B portal and you will find several categories from where you can acquire necessary data. If you want to sell something click on the ‘buyer’ category and a list of buyers will displayed on the monitor screen. Similarly if you looking for people who sell a particular kind of product or service, click on the seller category.

With the introduction of B2B portals, the process of communicating with people has become simpler. These B2B portals actually work like chains that keep different entities of business like buyers, sellers, wholesalers, dealers, retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and others in close contact. If buyers and sellers in a particular city are your searching subject then look for the city-based B2B portals. Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal is a large city and a major center for commercial operations. The city is home to hundreds of potential buyers and sellers of different goods, products and services. So if you want information on them, then opt for the Kolkata-based B2B portals. Lots of people engaged in various business activities enlist their names and profiles in the Kolkata-based B2B portals. Just log on to them and you will get long lists of buyers and sellers in Kolkata.

Source: http://www.bignews.biz/