WadeTradeNews

Welcome to the July edition of Wade Trade News - our exclusive, free monthly bulletin that keeps you up to date on important developments in international trade and opportunities you can take advantage of. In this issue you'll find information on the upcoming G8 summit, news on India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Azerbaijan and two more very useful sites for trading links and research.

You can't fail to have noticed that the G8 summit of the world's major industrial nations is being held next week (July 6-8) in Gleneagles, Scotland. This year's summit could have important implications for trade, as current G8 President Tony Blair wants the G8 to agree action on implementing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on reducing global poverty. Britain is aiming for commitments from G8 nations to raise development aid to 0.7% of GDP by 2015, and cancellation of debt owed by 62 developing countries to international institutions such as the World Bank.

There's a lot of information on the net about G8, but some of it is misleading or even inaccurate. You can find The Official UK G8 Presidency homepage at www.g8.gov.uk. We also like the Government of Canada's G8 site at www.g8.gc.ca which is simple to navigate and use. The G8 consists of the US, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, and the G8 also meets with finance ministers from South Africa, India, China and Brazil and representatives from the EU.

Exports from the Philippines reversed a two month on-year decline last month, boosted by a recovery in demand for electronics. Exports were up 8.8% on-year to US$3.2 billion after falling 2.8% in the previous month, the Government's National Statistics Office recently announced. Shipments of electronics products, which accounted for 64% of total exports, expanded 6.3% to US$2 billion. Sales of clothing, the country's number two export, declined 5.8% on-year but agriculture products grew 29.8%. Japan was the country's top export market, accounting for 18.6% of receipts for the month. Philippine trade minister Juan Santos said recently that he hopes to finalise a free trade agreement with Japan by the end of the year.

Azerbaijan isn't often thought of as a trading partner but growing export volumes, together with more spending on imports, make it an ever more significant player - despite some political problems. The country's biggest export earner is oil. The State Oil Company exported 688,518 tonnes of oil to the Black Sea ports in 2005, while the Azerbaijan International Operating Company exported 797,330 tonnes.

Azerbaijan has an area of 86,000 square kilometres and a population of 8.3 million. Foreign trade turnover in January and February was US$848 million in imports and US£263.8 million in exports, a 65% growth over the previous year.

Information on Azerbaijan is relatively scarce, but The State Telegraph Agency of The Republic of Azerbaijan has a reasonably good information site in English at www.azertag.com/en.

The European Commission has just launched the second phase of its Online Export Helpdesk for developing countries. The new service provides detailed information on the specific import requirements of the EU and its member states, as well as up to date notice of internal taxes. By providing information on the EU's preferential access schemes and guiding exporters through the process of exporting to the EU, the service is designed to help producers in developing countries benefit fully from the EU market. Visit export-help.cec.eu.int (available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese) to use the service.

We believe you can never have enough trade leads .... but they need to be well organised to be useful. That's why we like this site : The Hot Trade Leads Database at the Centers for International Trade Development, located at www.citd.org. It's California-based but useful no matter what country you're in. This website has links to many trade lead databases on the Internet with enough to keep you busy for weeks. There are hundreds of sites for importers and exporters, searchable by country or region of the world. You'll also find a Trade Information Database with links to statistics, market research, international standards, trade documentation, logistics and more.

India Textiles Exports Boom Expected
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The export potential of Indian textiles is all set to boom in the coming months. Although it was believed the industry might suffer after the ending of the Multifibre Agreement (MFA), increasing numbers of foreign companies are now getting involved. Senior economist at the US Department of Agriculture Thomas Vollrath recently said that 'India is an emerging market. Interest in India has actually intensified due to removal of the MFA'. Two examples of the increasing potential of the Indian textiles and apparel industry are the decision of US retail chain Wal-Mart to purchase textiles worth US$7-$10 billion from India over the next two years, while JC Penny is planning to purchase US$2 billion worth.

The volume of exports from Bangladesh to Canada increased by 40% in 2004. The news was given by David Sproule, Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, at a meeting organised by the Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication (BCDJC) recently. In 2004 trade between Bangladesh and Canada reached over CAN$600 million, of which Bangladesh exports accounted for CAN$490 million. Bangladesh's chief exports are ready-made garments, frozen foods, handicrafts and ceramics.

Have you visited our website at www.wadetrade.com recently? If you haven't, you'll find lots of new and useful information there. There are details of all our recently updated courses, information on joining our World Trader's Club where you can meet 10,000 other members worldwide, and lots of useful, free links for import-export. Plus, in the event that you've only subscribed to this bulletin recently, you access back issues of Wade Trade News direct from the site. Please drop in and visit us soon .... and let us know what you think.