Strands of international trade information

This photo taken by James Siddle is of some living weaving. It is harakeke or flax found near Paritutu, New Plymouth, and is still on the plant.

This reminded me of all the strands of information that might be needed to answer a query within our organisations. To fulfil the need for information on exporting to a new market for example, we may need to gather cultural and 'doing business in' information, phytosanitary guidelines, competitor lists and so on.

It is also information that needs to be refreshed and updated or 'kept alive' for the time of the project.

Appropriately Paritutu is a volcanic rock which is located near Port Taranaki, New Plymouth - a port with a lively international trade.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina || The Library of Alexandria

Photo: Plaza of Bibilotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt.  Bibliotheca Alexandrina 24 Sept. 2007 Creative Commons image.
The BA or Library of Alexandrina http://www.bibalex.org/home/ built in 2002 and is regarded as an attempt to rekindle of the brilliance of the ancient Library which was partially destroyed in 48 BC and completely destroyed by the the 6th century AD.  From the photographs it appears to be a stunning building, and although it does not have a dedicated trade libary or collection, I thought it was worth posting about.
Wikipedia suggests that it will never be funded properly and will always be subject to censorship.  Certainly the trade resources seem a little dated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina
It has four objectives and aspires to be:

• The world's window on Egypt
• Egypt's window on the world
• A leading institution of the digital age
• A centre for learning, tolerance, dialogue and understanding

In accordance with the third of these objectives the BA has developed a Digital Assets Repository (DAR) to create and miantain the Library's digital collections.   There are over 115,000 books available through the DAR.  These include 178 titles in Arabic on 'foreign trade'.
Tomorrow the BA will host a conference entitled: The Legal and Economic Aspects of the Development of Seaborne Trade in the Euro-Med Region.  This is being held on the occasion of the establishment of the Free Trade Area for Euro-Med based on the Barcelona Process and the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP).

PS.   There is a tribute to Paul Reynolds  on the Exportersblog posted yesterday: http://exportersblog.blogspot.com/

Mineral export index

Can any information specialist out there help with finding a "Mineral export index"?   There are lots of energy indexes but a search hasn't produced a mineral export index.  Any ideas?

And BTW following on from the Quiz post, here's a question for you?

Q. What is  the world’s largest harbour for supplying coal?

A. selaW htouS ni tsaoc tsae eht no eltsacsweN troP s’ailartsuA

What's in a name?

Obviously plenty when it's 'trade'.   The word dates from the 14th century and it came from the Old English tredan = to tread.   It is a little like the Old High German trata meaning track or course.
There are so many uses of the word trade or trades:

• the rag trade meaning the clothing industry
• terms of trade as in the ratio of the prices a country pays for its imports to the prices it receives for its exports
• 'vast crude finds excite oil trade' - presumably all the people involved; drillers, venture capitalists, oil companies etc.
• international trade - the selling and buying of goods across national borders
• trades - used on the stock exchange
• a trade as in bricklaying
• trade wind - one of the prevailing winds which facilitated the passage of ships carrying goods for trading.

There are almost certainly lots more with slightly different shade of meaning, and you can see that some have a core of that original meaning.  For example when you choose a trade like bricklaying, you choose a path for your immediate employment future.  Or even in 'international trade' there is a track to follow conforming to the rules, Incoterms and so on.

Just thought I would share with you some of my random thoughts...

Country Quizzes

Ever needed country quizzes for your colleagues as an activity at a Professional development session? Or even for a party?  Go no further than this page on the New Zealand School of Export website:

http://www.export.ac.nz/countryquizzes.html

It is being added to each week or fortnight and eventually will be a compendium of Quizzes, or a Quire of Quizzes!   The latest quiz is on Greece - very topical given Greece's current woes.

Industrious Kiwis: Archives and Industry

Records and Archives Week May 1-7, 2010

This is the stunning poster that has been produced for RAW 2010.  You can look at it by going to: http://www.aranz.org.nz/Site/events/RAW.aspx

The theme for RAW 2010 is archives and records of industry. New Zealanders are renowned for our ingenuity and clever ideas (our No.8 wire mentality). Archives and records are an important means of preserving our history of industry, innovation, trade, enterprise, research, science, technology and economic development. This is particularly relevant in the current economic state in helping us to reflect on our history of enterprise and ingenuity.

The organisers have suggested that these themes are considered:

• Retaining our archives and records of industry is important to our economic and social history.

• The economic development of New Zealand has been based on our primary industries, such as agriculture and horticulture.
• Our sense of pride and national identity is linked to industry; from the first export of frozen meat from Port Chalmers in 1882 to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy in 2001-2003
• The industries that New Zealand is engaged in is widening and changing from predominantly primary industries into more secondary industries.
• We need to be aware of the risk to these records that may be lost to future generations if these records are not retained

Exporting companies - of both merchandise and services are vital to this country.  This is a week when you might think about where your archives are, how they are being preserved and whether you should be asking for help from your local library or archival repository.   As you can see from the poster, photographs are so important as a record of what has happened in our international trade history.  Perhaps you have photos from when you went on a Trade Mission, or when you received an export award.  Or maybe you still have design materials from when you were developing your marketing for your overseas markets.  Better still do have the packages or containers?   All these are a very important part of our heritage and exporting companies are a part of that.

Company archives and records - THINK and ACT this week - 1-7 May 2010

Expo 2010 Shanghai - NEW Pathfinder

Looking for material on Expo 2010 - here is a short guide/pathfinder for you and your colleagues.   I would have liked to use the logo of the Expo which now starts in 9 days but haven't had any joy from the Expo people about using it!!

Click on the title to go to the Pathfinder.