Cultural & Travel:

Business Netiquette International - Hosted by the Business Start page, this is the only netiquette to consider business etiquette, keeping international business in mind.

International Addresses and Salutations - This page provides the correct address formats and appropriate personal salutations for each and every country.

The Worldwide Holiday and Festival Site - Knowing international holidays around the world is a courtesy among friends and a necessity in business, this site provides a listing of all official and religious holidays, indexed by country and by religion.

International Holidays Around the Globe - Offers a monthly list of holidays celebrated in each country around the world. The holidays list includes the holidays that businesses and government offices will be closed.

International Voltage - Provides the voltage standard in a specific country.

The Web of Culture - The Web of Culture seeks to educate and entertain visitors on the topic of cross-cultural communications. The site features a vast amount of information on languages, religions, gestures, holidays, and more...

Travlang Site - Consists of numerous utilities and a wide variety of information on cultural and language issues. Some features of interest: international calendars of holidays, online translating dictionaries, common phrases for business travelers, currency exchange rates, hotel directories.

U.S. State Department Travel Warnings and Consular Information Sheets - Includes only the current information. Gives information on: Visa Requirements; Areas of Instability; Medical Information; Crime Information; Dual Nationality; Drug Penalties; Consulate Locations.

The International Business Kiosk - This site includes information and links on overseas Hotel and Car Rentals, Passport and Country Visa Information, Translators and Trade Resources. Also available are calculators for Weight, Volume and Measurement conversions plus Time and Weather in many cities around the world.

Getting Through Customs - Omnibus This site provides various practical information for the business traveler from cultural tips to business etiquette issues.

WebFlyer - Information by The Inside Flyer magazine and Frequent Flyer Services.

Country or Regional Information:

Regional or Country Specific Information (General)

Regional or Country Specific Information (Africa)

Regional or Country Specific Information (Asia and Oceania)

Regional or Country Specific Information (Europe)

Regional or Country Specific Information (Central and South America)

Regional or Country Specific Information (North America)

Economist Intelligence Unit TradeWire - A country-specific information service providing the latest trade briefings, economic indicators and forecasts, country risk information and other related trade data.

Foreign Exchange Resources:

Currency regulations by Country

European currency converter

Foreign currency converter

International currency information and Tips

Value of foreign currencies

Currency regulations by Country

Latest currency exchange rates (United Nations)

Estonian Bank Currency Exchange Rates

Universal Currency Converter Form

FAQ - Money Abroad

Government Resources:

GENERAL: Mark Bernkopf's Central Banking Resource Center - Central Banking Resource Center is a comprehensive guide of central banks, and of ministries of finance, economy and treasury around the world. The site also features links to various resources on monetary issues.

Australia: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - The online service of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Australia: Australian Trade Commission - Austrade was created by the Federal Government to help Australian businesses sell their products overseas - whether they are perishable goods, manufactured items or professional services.

Canada: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade - Provides a wealth of information on the department's activities, as well as trade and investment information for Canada, foreign policy information and much more.

Canada: InfoExport - InfoExport is the international trade web site of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).

Estonia: Estonian Investment Agency - Information about Estonian economy, foreign trade, finance and banking, privatization, taxation. Fact sheets, reports, and links to other Estonian sites are also provided.

Estonia: Ministry of Foreign Affairs - A multi-lingual site, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs web site provides information on Estonia, with an overview of its economy and foreign policy as well as facts and information on Estonia and links to other government sites.

Hong Kong: Government Information Center - The central site for the Hong Kong government. All Hong Kong government departments and agencies can be accessed as well as investment information.

Hong Kong: Economics and Trade Office in San Francisco - A site rich in business and governmental information on Hong Kong.

India: Ministry of Finance Includes a lot of economic and financial information about India.

Israel: Ministry of Finance - Includes information on the Israeli economy, Israeli investment policy, privatization, and the country's infrastructure.

Israel: Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Contains information about the ministry, the Israeli government, the peace process. Also there is a section on Facts about Israel which contains some economical and trade related information.

Japan: Japanese Economic Foundation - Ministry of International Trade and Industry This service provides Japanese trade and industry information. Much of the information on the site is taken from MITI's news releases pertinent to international trade. The site also features the Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry.

Japan: JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) - JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) is a nonprofit, Japanese government related organization dedicated to promoting mutually beneficial trade and economic relations between Japan and other nations. Provides a lot of information for foreign investor on exporting to Japan, investing to Japan, foreign access zones (FAZ), various newsletters and publications.

Mexico: Ministry of Finance - The site has official information on the Mexican economy, including basic data as well as documents and reports on the economic policy.

Netherlands: Ministry of Foreign Affairs - The ministry's site provides a wide variety of information: foreign policy statements, detailed information about Netherlands (both general as well as business specific), news releases, regional policy documents.

Netherlands: Publications of the Netherlands Foreign Trade Agency - A part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Netherlands Foreign Trade Agency has created this site to provide economic and industrial information regarding the Netherlands. Features include reports on the Dutch economy, export graphs, facts on industrial sectors, as well as a news bulletin.

New Zealand: New Zealand Government Web Pages - The New Zealand Government Web Server is an excellent source for information on government departments and Parliamentary documents. While the sites main focus is to act as a gateway to various departments, there is plenty of information on current affairs as well.

New Zealand: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Includes a guide to the ministry and its services, a list of representatives abroad, and press releases. A new feature is the business section which aims to assist New Zealander export companies. Exporting guides and articles on current topics of interest to the country's exporter companies can be accessed.

Peru: Ministry of Foreign Affairs - A bilingual site (Spanish/English) providing information on the Peruvian economy. Includes quarterly economic trend reports as well as information on how to set up a company in Peru. The English version was under construction at the time of this review.

Singapore: Singapore Trade Development Board - With the goal of fostering trade and internationalization of businesses, STDB has put a wealth of information on their web site. Statistical releases, import/export guides, country reports, foreign policy statements, trade opportunity listings, trade fair listings are only some of the information on this web site.

Thailand: Department of Export Promotion - An agency working under the Department of Commerce of the Thai government. The site includes an overview of Thailand, an economic profile, exhibition halls, listing of qualified exporters, news from trade associations and various sources, trade fair listings, and contact addresses for various trade organizations.

Turkey: Ministry of Foreign Affairs - The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides a wealth of information including basic facts and history of Turkey, business information, foreign trade policy, economic information, information on regulations and multilateral conventions and much more...

Turkey: Prime Ministry - The Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade Another source for a wealth of information on Turkey's economics and foreign trade policies, trade statistics, exporters directory, information on Turkey and the European Union, free trade zones in Turkey, and more..

United Kingdom: Department of Trade and Industry - The site is provided with the goal of being a valuable resource for UK Business and Industry. There is export related information to help UK businesses, as well as information on various programs such as the Competitiveness UK, a program to improve the competitiveness of UK firms.

USA: Department of Commerce - The site mostly serves as a gateway to several agencies working under DOC.

USA: MAC - Department of Commerce Market Access and Compliance Online - The U.S. Department of Commerce's home page for country and regional information for American Exporters!! Info is available on all regions of the world including Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the Newly Independent States, NAFTA, and the Special American Business Internship Training Program.

USA: International Trade Administration - A government agency with a mission to help exporters. The Trade Information Center provides a wealth of information and statistical data for exporters. In addition there is a good collection of links to expedite research to attractive markets.

USA: Top Targets for US Exporters - Provided by the International Trade Administration, top targets for trade promotion highlights outstanding markets for American industries - ranked by potential gain in export sales over the next two years.

USA: International Trade Commission (USITC) - The USITC is an independent, quasi-judicial federal agency that provides objective trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches of government, determines the impact of imports on U.S. industries, and directs actions against certain unfair trade practices, such as patent, trademark, and copyright infringement. USITC analysts and economists investigate and publish reports on U.S. industries and the global trends that affect them. The agency also updates and publishes the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS).

USA: U.S. Trade and Development Agency - The U.S. Trade and Development Agency assists in the creation of jobs for Americans by helping U.S. companies pursue overseas business opportunities.

USA: Small Business Administration - The agency is dedicated to assisting small businesses in the U.S. The web site also serves the same purpose with numerous how-to guides, statistics, news, and other resources.

USA: International Trade Data System International - Trade Data System (ITDS) Project Office is an interagency office of the U.S. Department of Treasury which provides independent staff support to develop and implement the North American Trade Automation Prototype (NATAP).

USA: US Business Advisor - This site acts as a gateway to information that various government agencies provide to businesses. It provides access to how-to guides, other publications, answers to common questions, and much more.

USA: SCORE - Service Corps of Retired Executives Sponsored by the US Small Business Administration, SCORE provides free, confidential, one-on-one counseling to small-business owners and those interested in starting businesses. SCORE members are retired or working executives with in-depth expertise in a wide spectrum of businesses nationwide.

USA: US Energy Information Administration - Contains detailed information on both U.S. and international energy matters, including an international energy outlook annual report. Historical and current data, country reports on energy sectors, mailing lists on energy issues, information on various fuel groups are some of the information that can be accessed through the site.

International Trade:

Breaking Into the Trade Game: Small Business Guide to Exporting The U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of International Trade (OIT) developed this Trade Guide as an information tool to assist American business develop international markets.

WBENet Encyclopedia of Exporting Provided by WBE-Net - An on-line clearinghouse for international traders, this is a dictionary of trading terms.

Incoterms by Scheneker International INCOTERMS provides a set of international rules, published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), for the interpretation of the most commonly used trade terms. INCOTERMS help to clarify responsibilities between the buyer and seller engaging in foreign trade.

Inc. Online: International Business Inc. Online's site for international business professionals. With bulletin boards, recommended readings, and "real questions and answers" a very detailed site particularly for beginner's in international business.

Hieros Gamos Hieros Gamos is one of the largest and most comprehensive law and government site on the Internet. Virtually all law and government information is accessible for free within three levels. Of particular interest are the Doing Business Guides that provide a detailed outline of the legal framework for each country.

Find Law: International Trade Another resource for finding legal information regarding international trade.

TradeWinds Publishing Co's Trade Law Library From Canada to Europe to Japan, a smaller library of international trade law information.

GATT - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 The full GATT agreement in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat) can be accessed through the Trading Floor.

GATS Info-Point GATS "Info-Point", designed to help European service operators to provide their services around the world, contains a complete guide to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), legal texts and commitments, as well as perspectives and position papers on GATS 2000.

MERCOSUR: IDRC's MERCOSUR site IDRC, International Development Research Center, has created this site for individuals looking to find information on recent developments and news concerning this particular integration process, trade related opportunities and specific commercial information on the different countries, and on many MERCOSUR research related aspects.

MERCOSUR: Uruguayan Perspectives A site in Spanish providing very detailed information on MERCOSUR, its history, legal perspectives, economic implications, and more.

Guide to the Investment Regimes of the APEC Member Economies Provided by Strategis Canada, these pages offer detailed descriptions and analysis of the investment regimes of the APEC countries.

Statistical Data and Information Resources:

World Bank Public Information Resources The Public Information Center (PIC) has been established to make available to the public a range of operational documents that were previously restricted to official users.

World Bank - Economic Growth Research Data Sets This site contains the data sets related to some of the published articles and working papers on economic growth. Besides the datasets, a description file, as well as the abstracts of the articles are available online.

World Bank World Development Report The World Development Report is an annual publication of the World Bank that focuses on a different specific topic every year. In addition to detailed analysis and data on this specific topic, the report also offers selected World Development Indicators, statistical tables providing instant access to the most current data available on social and economic development in more than 200 economies. The complete report and the statistical tables are accessible online in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

World Bank Development Data The World Bank has created a special section on the web site dedicated to providing development data from their research publications. Based primarily on the World Development Indicators, an annual statistics publication of the World Bank, the website provides access to the data by country (across indicators) as well as by topic (across countries). All deliverables are in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

World Bank Development Economics Prospect Group Offers analysis and advice concerning the prospects for economic growth, world trade, financial flows, and primary commodities, the impact of global economic trends on the developing countries, and information about global and regional economic forecasts. The Global Economic Prospects 1998-1999 analyzes short- and long-term future prospects for developing countries in the wake of the East Asia crisis; maps out policies to deal with crises once they erupt; and focuses on ways to prevent future crises on the scale of East Asia’s recent experience. The publication includes several vital global economic indicator tables in an Appendix. In addition, monthly updates for the global commodity prices (Global Commodity Data - Pinksheets) can be accessed.

OECD Frequently Requested Statistics A number of indicators provided by OECD for member countries. Includes GDP, unemployment rates, purchasing power parities, and leading indicators. A slightly different set of statistics is provided under the National Accounts section. The statistics are in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

CIESIN - Center for International Earth Science Information Network An organization dedicated to making information available to a wide range of users--researchers, policy makers. Includes a gateway to some of World Bank's data.

Social Indicators of Development, 1995 Contains the World Bank's most detailed data collection for assessing human welfare to provide a picture of the social effects of economic development.

Trends in Developing Economies (TIDE), 1995 Trends in Developing Economies (TIDE) provides brief reports on most of the World Bank's borrowing countries. This compendium of individual country economic trends complements the World Bank's World Development Report, which looks at major global and regional economic trends and their implications for the future prospects of the developing economies.

Others:

Virtual International Business and Economic Sources - Virtual International Business and Economic Sources (VIBES) provides over 1,300 links to Internet sources of international business and economic information that are in English and available free of charge.

Dept of State Background Notes Home Page - Background Notes provide information on geographic entities and international organizations and are updated periodically. Background Notes for some countries are currently unavailable.

Forbes International 800 - Top international companies. Searchable by company name, country or industry

The Fortune Global 500 list