Breaking News

The members of the Northwest Indiana World Trade Council are deeply saddened by the kidnapping of our friend Jeffrey Ake. We extend our thoughts and prayers to his family.

Jeff has been a member of the Council for many years, serving as President in 1995-96. He was honored with our Tai-Pan Award* in 1999. His company, Equipment Express, was honored with our Exporter of the Year Award in 2001. In 1996, Jeff wrote a book, "Aggressive Exporting: How to Make Your Small Company into an International Tiger."

*The Tai-Pan Award will be presented to a northwest Indiana company engaging in international business. Criteria: member or non-member; no particular size company or particular number of employees; any category of international business including but not limited to import, export, consultant, service; northwest Indiana business presence.

A recent Post-Tribune article describes our members' reactions to this news,

Member News

Professor emeritus from IUSB attends conference in Estonia
By JUDY BRADFORD Tribune Correspondent

SOUTH BEND -- Why should we care about little countries like Estonia? And do we need to be nervous about Russia any more?

Those were some of the questions floating around the 51st Atlantic Treaty Association conference, held in Estonia last month and attended by Roger Hamburg, professor emeritus of political science at Indiana University South Bend.

The association, a "support group" for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is made up of citizens of NATO countries. Hamburg, who taught Soviet politics and American foreign policy at IUSB from 1971 to 1999, is an associate counselor with the support group, and was part of an American delegation.

"Estonia is a new NATO country, and they are very grateful to us for getting the Russians off their backs," explained Hamburg. "It's very Western-oriented, but Russians are there, and they still fly over the Estonian border."

A former Soviet Republic, Estonia along with fellow Baltic nations Lithuania and Latvia, are constantly watching Russia, which Hamburg described as "not a threat any more, but an irritant, a presence, a country that still has authoritarian tendencies. Russia is still the big neighbor to these Baltic countries, and they are very conscious of what is said in the Russian parliament."

Estonia also sent a small unit of troops to Iraq, and so far has lost two soldiers there. "For a country that only has about a million and a half people, two people is a lot," said Hamburg.

He said that while the Estonian government supports Democratic efforts in Iraq, there is a "popular uneasiness" among its people about the continuing conflict in Iraq.

NATO's interest in protecting Estonia stems primarily from its motto, "an attack on one is an attack on all," Hamburg said, but there are even bigger reasons.

The subtitle for the recent conference was "Democracy and Human Rights: A New Mission," and served as a reminder that American and European interests in the Middle East and Asia must never boil down to oil and natural gas alone.

"We must make sure we don't lose our sense of priorities," said Hamburg, noting that Russia seems to be enjoying a new spirit of nationalism itself, and is getting more state control over its huge oil and natural gas deposits.

For his participation in the conference, Hamburg received a thank-you letter from U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Hamburg, 71, also belongs to several national and international political think tanks, and has been asked to serve on a panel in December for a nonproliferation conference (working to prevent the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons) sponsored by NATO and SEATO, the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization. The panel will discuss academic papers.

He first became interested in Russia, and learning the language, in 1960 when, as a member of the Illinois National Guard, he was put into an Army Reserve unit assigned to learn interrogation techniques. "It was the nature of the unit. If we got into a war with the Soviet Union, we would be doing the interrogations," Hamburg said.

In 1961, he was called into active duty along with 148,000 other guardsman and reservists, in response to Soviet moves to cut off allied access to Berlin; among those moves was construction of the Berlin Wall.

News & Media

NWIWTC previously provided its members with a quarterly newspaper, Ambassador. Listed below are two articles that, while published several years ago, still contain information that is pertinent to today's export situation. We hope that you will find this information useful.

The Press Releases web page contains the March 2004 press release from Governor Joseph Kernan about Indiana export sales. This web page also contains articles published in The Times and The Post-Tribune newspapers. The Council has selected articles to show the breadth of activities in which the Council has been involved over the last several years.

Russell R. Miller
Speaker for January 28, 2005

Russell R. Miller, a former executive for an international corporation, who was the first American to work in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, shared his experiences working in the "closed city" and his observations of a changing region at a recent World Trade Council luncheon.

Miller served as an advisor for the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programs, and Vienna-based United Nations Industrial Development Organization. He is the author of two additional books about transition economies, "Selling to Newly Emerging Markets" and "Doing Business in Newly Privatized Markets", both published by the Greenwood Group. Miller's books can be ordered at www.sciencehumanitiespress.com.

Other News

Formation of the Purdue University Calumet Center for International Programs

Hammond, Indiana - January 28, 2005 - From the office of Nabil Ibrahim, Purdue University Calumet:

I am pleased to announce the formation of the Purdue University Calumet Center for International Programs. Dr. Jorge Roman-Lagunas will serve as the Executive Director of the Center. Dr. Roman-Lagunas has an extensive experience and understanding of international education and I am confident that he will provide effective leadership to the Center. The mission of the Center is to strengthen our involvement in International Education through several new initiatives including:

• Developing Exchange Programs for faculty and students
• Creating English as a Second Language Program
• Attracting International Students to PUC
• Expanding Study Abroad Programs
• Supporting scholarly collaboration between our faculty and their counterparts abroad.

Please join me in wishing Dr. Roman-Lagunas success in his new responsibility.

Articles

Spring 2002

Indiana Looks East for Business

How can Indiana companies turn the phrase "global village" inward so as to increase their business volume and create more jobs (and profits, of course) in Indiana? Interestingly enough, by looking outward at new economic vistas that hold promise for increasing exports, the next economic frontier for Indiana businesses. Trade, after all, is what creates wealth, generates income and opens up new job opportunities for local residents. Witness the unprecedented success chalked up by Indiana's 13 years of non­stop export growth and its rank as the 14th largest exporter among US states.

While the eye has historically moved to those countries such as Canada and Mexico which border the US, or to those markets where Americans have traditionally seen large export growth such as Europe and the Far East, other emerging markets in the world also hold great potential for Indiana firms seeking to expand their export operations.

The Eastern Mediterranean is one such area that, for many years, has been a "black box" for American business. But no more. With over 400 million people in a region stretching from Turkey to the Persian Gulf, and with preference for importing high-quality US-made products, local companies are beginning to realize that this area is really an untapped export market with significant potential for generating additional income. Some examples follow:

• Israel:  With annual per capita GDP of over $17,000 and in spite of the current political situation in the region, Israel remains a major destination for US products. Its 6.3 million people believe that everything American must be good and, therefore, are willing importers of items that are stamped "Made in USA."
  
  
• Major sectors for imports from the US include: food and food processing equipment (rated as the best market prospect in Israel by the USDOC, with exports of food processing equipment in 2000 of$85 million); infrastructure projects (including airports, highway development and improvement as well as electric poser supply projects); computers & peripherals (US made computers hold over 30% of the Israeli market); franchises (American franchises have flooded Israel in the past five years); telecommunications equipment & services (expected growth? 8-10% over the next three years); and medical equipment & supply (Imports of medical equipment make up 600% of the entire market, with American imports comprising 40% of that figure).
  
  
• Jordan:  A small country lacking significant natural resources, but now the home of a number of trading houses that moved from Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, Jordan is a major jumping-off point from the West to the Arab world, the Gulf States, and should the political climate improve, to both Iraq and Iran as well. A recently negotiated Free Trade Agreement between Jordan and the US (similar to what has existed for the last 11 years between Israel and the US) makes Jordan an ideal trading partner.
  
  
• Major sectors with potential in Jordan include cereals and foodstuff (total US exports of food and agricultural products to Jordan amount to over $1b annually): medical and surgical equipment; aircraft parts (a market that tops $50 million annually remains a mainstay of American exports to Jordan); and industrial machinery (expansion of the joint Jordanian-Israeli "Qualified Industrial Zones," as well as the Aqaba free trade zone, will accentuate demand for industrial machinery in response to the firms establishing operations there).
  
  
• Turkey:  While the predominant aspect of the Turkish economy for most of 2000 was the emphasis on the recent major earthquakes and the need to deal with 200,000-300,000 homeless people there, even this year's financial crisis has not been able to slow the continued development of this country of 68 million people. True, the Turkish economy is in need of reform in the public sector, an effective tax collection system, and elimination of the thriving unregistered or "black market" economy that is estimated to be 50% of the GDP. Nevertheless, its huge population clearly marks Turkey as a major potential untapped market for US products.
  
  
• Prime markets for US goods include building and reconstruction (including pre-fab housing, building supplies and all related materials); electric power supply (electrical energy demand grows 10% annually); telecommunications equipment and services; franchises (potential market value for American franchises could be $3b in 2002); defense (Turkey obtains 79% of its defense equipment from imports including items such as advanced electronic systems, soldiers' equipment and other security applications); and medical equipment ($500 million market that is pratically entirely made up of imports . . . with 20% annual growth).

And these are just three examples with similar situations obtaining in other countries in the region as well. Is it any wonder, therefore, that Indiana, through its export development program, has seen fit to open an office in the region and provide local businesses with the tools to impact those markets? The "global village" is yours to enter and eagerly awaits your products. All it takes is an initial contact.

By Sherwin B. Pomerantz, Director,
Indiana Department of Commerce,
Eastern Mediterranean Office

Spring 2000

Information On France

France is known as one of the four West European trillion dollar economics, the French economy features considerable state control over its capitalistic market system. In running important industrial segments (railways, airlines, electricity, telecommunications), administering an exceptionally generous social welfare system, and staffing an enormous bureaucracy, the state spends about 55% of the GDP.

France has substantial agricultural resources and a diversified modem industrial sector. Large tracts of fertile land, the application of modem technology and subsidies have combined to make it the leading agricultural producer of Western Europe. Largely self- sufficient in agricultural products, France is a major exporter of wheat and dairy products. The industrial sector generates about one-quarter of GDP, and the growing services sector has become crucial to the economy.

In an economic survey of France in January of 1999 and due to be updated this spring, covered are features of the recovery, structural policy developments

Links for France

http://www.oecd.org/eco/surv/ext/fra.htm A database which links to important home pages on France, including trade balance, official interest rates, economic surveys, economic projections, budget results, and statistics.

http://www.pei- intl.com/Publications/WCMR/1999/wr0399.htm This world capital market review gives an outlook for 1999, gold, silver, crude oil, interest rates, US 30 year bonds, US dollar, Euro, Canadian dollar, and Japan.

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fr.html Here is the ever popular background report from the CIA which gives extensive information on France--geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.

http://www.fintrac.com/gain/tradestats/france/ This database gives trade statistics, divided by harmonized code.

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/Europe-cat/econ.html Here is a detailed list of internet resources from the Social Science Information Gateway in England.

Books Which Include France

338.88844 Doing Business in France. Price Waterhouse.
This is a guide, with excellent material on France, especially financial information.

944.0829 France on the Brink. 1999
A guide to social values, economic conditions, social conditions, and politicis and government in France.

909.829 Culturgrams.
A short (usually four pages) of information on the culture of France, with clear instructions on how to go about dealing with the French.

For further information, consult the library catalog and the Internet with keyword(s) France and economics.

By Phyllis Woodward,
Lake County Public Library