UNCTAD REDESIGNS ONLINE TRADING NETWORK

Press Release
TAD/1922

UNCTAD REDESIGNS ONLINE TRADING NETWORK

GENEVA, 19 July (UNCTAD) -- Jamaica has become the first country to participate in UNCTAD’s newly redesigned Global Trade Point Network (GTPNet) following its signature in Kingston on 12 July of the terms and conditions for membership in the Trade Point Programme. Local tools have been made available to the trade point -- which is hosted by the national investment promotion agency, JAMPRO -— to allow it to populate local databases handling information on trade and local services and local companies and to replicate them to the central site, thanks to the GTPNet, an interactive tool developed to help companies explore new markets and make trade transactions at lower costs.

More specifically, the GTPNet is a database-driven Internet system with password-protected areas designed to provide international traders with up-to-the- minute listings of potential buyers and sellers of products and services and other trade-related information not usually available online. The clients -— most of which are small- and medium-sized enterprises -— access the network through UNCTAD's "trade points", which are either government-subsidized outfits; entirely private-sector operations; or mixed public-private ventures. Trade points, all of which are non-profit entities, may be based in such institutions as ministries, trade promotion organizations or universities. Their role is to compile, standardize, centralize and update information on a national or local basis.

Interactivity and decentralization are the buzzwords of the new network architecture, which uses state-of-the-art tools for uploading, downloading, automatically updating and searching for information. On the GTPNet, information is shared through central databases, making data retrieval easier and faster. A full text search capability, and customized search tools including user-defined fields for sorting and matching, are available. Electronic trading opportunities are posted for registered clients for an eight-day period before being listed on the publicly accessible part of the site. All the information on each trade point has been formatted into standardized categories and codes, and the trade points in turn periodically verify the data on their member enterprises.

Three types of information can be found on the GTPNet Web site:

-- General information maintained by UNCTAD, including a list of trade points world wide, their home pages and status, relevant guidelines and frequently asked questions;

-- Specific information on individual trade points, providing details on their services and fees, direct business contacts, local companies and national trade regulations, posted by the trade points via online secured forms or automated replication processes; and

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-- Open areas for the exchange of information, such as electronic trading opportunities or technology developments, and for user feedback, a discussion database, newsletters and special announcements. A knowledge management framework including online training courses will be set up shortly to make this type of pooling of knowledge, information and experience among trade points even easier.

Currently there are more than 200 trade points in 130 countries, and as the number continues to grow, along with the sheer volume of available business information and quantum leaps in information technology, the GTPNet is expected to expand even further.

The long-term objective of the Programme is for the trade points to become self-sustainable and to take ownership of the GTPNet. The forthcoming VI Worldwide Trade Point Meeting, to be held in Geneva from 6 to 10 November this year, will provide an opportunity to strengthen and institutionalize the growing community of trade points.

For more information, please contact Vlasta Macku, World Trade Point Coordinator; telephone: +41 22 907 6227; fax: +41 22 907 0052; e-mail: or UNCTAD Press Unit; telephone: +41 22 907 5828; fax: +41 22 907 0043; or e-mail: .

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