Trade and Business Support Services

CBI's company database: CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries) is an Agency of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On its website CBI publishes a company database with reliable suppliers in developing countries.  All companies in this database were audited by European experts and extensively coached for doing business in Europe. You can use the online search facility to look for partners in the sectors or countries of your interest. Refer to http://www.cbi.eu/Company%20database

CIMS: The Sustainable Markets Intelligence Center (CIMS) is a small and dynamic non-profit established in 2003 focused on sustainable agricultural value chains. CIMS mission is to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers throughout Latin America. They provide evidence-based research and strategic advice to the private, public and NGO sectors working in agricultural supply chains. This could contain valuable information (lessons learnt) for the firms in the CARIFORUM. Refer to http://www.cims-la.com/

EUROPA-Gateway to the EU: EUROPA is the official website of the European Union. It is a good starting point if you are looking for information and services provided by the EU but you don't know your way around the multiplicity of sites. This site gives you basic information on how the EU works; the latest EU news and events and links to EU information on the websites of EU institutions and agencies. Refer to http://europa.eu.

European Union Export Helpdesk: The Export Helpdesk is an online service, provided by the European Commission, to facilitate market access in particular for developing countries to the European Union. The service is free and it provides relevant information required by exporters interested in supplying the EU market. Refer tohttp://exporthelp.europa.eu.

International Trade Centre: The International Trade Centre is a joint agency of the World Trade Centre and the United Nations. Its mission is to enable small business export success in developing and transition-economy countries, by providing, with partners, sustainable and inclusive development solutions to the private sector, trade support institutions and policymakers. Refer to http://www.intracen.org.

Investment map: Investment Map combines statistics on foreign direct investment and international trade, tariff data and activities of multinational firms. The tariff data includes MFN tariffs as well as multilateral, regional and bilateral preferences and covers ad valorem equivalents of specific tariffs, tariff quotas and anti-dumping duties. Tariff and trade data are available for merchandise goods (not services) at the 6-digit level of the Harmonised System for about 5,000 product items. Information on foreign direct investment (FDI) is available on goods and services for up to 150 sectors. Refer to http://legacy.intracen.org/marketanalysis/InvestmentMap.aspx

ITC Market access map: Market Access Map provides information on applied customs tariffs including MFN tariffs and preferences granted unilaterally and in the framework of regional and bilateral trade agreements. Users can find ad valorem equivalents (AVEs) for non-ad valorem duties in order to compare tariffs across countries and simulate tariff reduction scenarios. The application also covers tariff rate quotas, trade remedies, rules of origin as well as the corresponding certificates, bound tariffs of WTO members, non-tariff measures (NTMs) and trade flows to help users prioritize and analyse export markets as well as prepare for market access negotiations. Refer tohttp://legacy.intracen.org/marketanalysis/MacMap.aspx

Private Sector Investment Programme (PSI) in the Netherlands: The Private Sector Investment Programme (PSI), is a subsidy programme supporting innovative investment projects in developing countries. The objectives of PSI are to stimulate financial growth, create employment opportunities and generate income in the developing countries. Refer to PUM: PUM connects entrepreneurs in developing countries and emerging markets with senior retired experts from the Netherlands each of whom has gained at least 30 years of experience in a business environment. These senior retired experts voluntarily devote their knowledge to the execution of short-term, solid consultancy projects at the work floor. Refer to https://www.pum.nl/content/Apply_for_advice

United States Commercial Service: The Commercial Service provides an array of research tools such as market reports and commercial guides with respect to world markets. Refer to http://www.trade.gov/cs.

United States Department of Agriculture: The US Department of Agriculture regulates the import of meat, poultry, and egg products into the US to ensure that they are safe, wholesome, and properly labelled, and packaged. Refer to http://www.usda.gov.

United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA): The FDA is responsible for assuring that foods sold in the United States are safe, wholesome and properly labelled. This applies to foods produced domestically, as well as foods from foreign countries. Refer to http://www.fda.gov.

World Intellectual Property Organisation: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, which rewards creativity and stimulates innovation. For more information on intellectual property, patents and trademarks, refer to http://www.wipo.int.