IT Products - International Trade Forum - The quarterly magazine of the International Trade Centre

By Peter Hulm

In this award-winning business case, technology opens new job opportunities and allows Bushmen to share their valuable knowledge to conserve the environment.

© WNS

Tunisia’s Boom in ICT

This Tunisian businessman is representative of his country’s effort to position itself in Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Debriefing session with SETI 2001 participants and ITC staff.

ITC Sponsors Pavilion at European Week of Information Technologies

For the second time, ITC promoted IT exporters in developing countries and economies in transition at the European Week of Information Technologies (SETI 2001, Paris, March 2001). The fair attracted over 140,000 professional visitors and more than 1,600 IT exhibitors.

Participants welcomed this initiative and requested ITC to pursue its efforts in promoting information technologies, with a special effort for LDCs. Developing countries and economies in transition have a clear competitive advantage and benefit from high-level competence in the development of IT products such as software programming, applications development, database management, call centre maintenance, Internet distance-learning,

multilingual products and translation services.

The International Pavilion, sponsored by ITC, gathered 13 countries, some of them LDCs (Burkina Faso, Hungary, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Romania, Senegal and Slovakia), represented by national trade promotion organizations, trade associations and IT exporters. Most made successful business contacts and intend to return for SETI 2002.

The Centre Français du Commerce Extérieur (the French Foreign Trade Centre), in association with foreign-based French Trade Promotion Officers, attended the fair to establish trade contacts with SETI participants and French IT entreprises. The World Information Technology and Sevices Alliance, the World Trade Center Association, the Pacific Telecommunication Council, l’Union des Chambres de Commerce et d’Industries Françaises à l’Etranger and the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) also joined the International Pavilion.

For information on SETI 2002, contact Bernard Ancel, Chief, ITC Trade Information Section, at tis-alert@intracen.org or visit the Promote iT web site (http://www.tradepromotion.org).

Software for Environmental Engineers

The overall environmental software market was estimated at about US$ 1.8 billion in 1995, of which US$ 1.14 billion for consulting and services. So what IT tools does a consulting engineer in a developing country need to compete in the market for environmental engineering services? This article provides a quick checklist.

Regional round tables stimulate networking and capacity building for e-trade.

Business Round Table on IT Prospects in Central and Eastern Europe

ITC joined with the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Relations and Development and WTO to hold a regional business round table on International Market Prospects for Information Technology Industries (Portorose, November 2000).

Business Views on WTO Agreements for Information Technology

Few industries drive the pace of social and economic change as fast as information technology. World Trade Organization Agreements on Information Technology and Basic Telecommunications Services, conducted in the 1990s, aim to liberalize these areas in order to spur economic growth in the twenty-first century. ITC surveyed over 600 business and government leaders in developed and developing countries for their reactions to these Agreements. Market opportunities and challenges for developing countries are highlighted in this article, adapted from the ITC publication, Trade in Information Technology Products and the WTO Agreements.