How to find Buyers (Part V) : Trade information from Chambers of Commerce

Chambers of Commerce play a very important role in dissemination of trade information. Essentially an association of businesses in a particular region, its main purpose is to help its members maximize their business. Trade Promotion and developing market opportunities for members occupy very important place in any chamber's activity list. Apart from organizing trade shows and foreign delegations, most chambers maintain a trade information cell for dissemination of information on products, services, opportunities etc.

Though not all chambers provide international service, quite a few do. Contacting Trade Information Officers of such chambers for specific information on products or companies in the region can be extremely helpful. The challenge is to identify right chambers from thousands and home on to right person in the organization.

Before the advent of Internet it was a difficult and expensive job. Today Internet has made it fairly inexpensive and less difficult. World has become that much smaller as anyone with right aptitude can find extremely valuable information from the Net.

At www.infobanc.com we started the process of identifying chambers in 1999 and have developed comprehensive in-house database of important contacts. Some of these have been displayed at country profiles (http://www.infobanc.com/indexebz.htm).

We have an information sharing program with many chambers around the world. Our weekly publication 'SUCHNA' is meant only for foreign trade organizations. SUCHNA contains trade inquiries from Indian importers. Overseas trade organizations receiving SUCHNA send us BUY/DEMAND inquiries received from their members for distribution among Indian exporters. This has proved to be extremely helpful as Indian importers receive excellent quotations from actual manufacturers and exporters and our exporter members receive genuine buy/demand inquiries from overseas importers.

As there are literally thousands of Chambers of Commerce, we list here select sources from the Net. Each of the websites listed below has a directory of Chambers of Commerce ranging from local to national to international.

 

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Source: FAIDA - Newsletter on Business Opportunties from India and Abroad Vol: 2, Issue 35 February 7' 2002

Author : Dr. Amit K. Chatterjee
(Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15 years in various capacities like Research and Information Analysis, Market Development, MIS, R&D Information Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce venture in 1997. The views expressed in this columns are of his own. He may be reached at amit@infobanc.com )


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