1. As a rule of thumb, it is inevitable that one should become a free member of any B2B portal and should understand the features as well as the functionalities of these portals, before upgrading one’s membership.

2. B2Bs basically are based on ‘Trade Leads’. Trade Lead is an explanation of one’s product or service, perhaps with an image, extended to the market with an intention of buying or selling. Therefore, it is recommended to assure the relevant Trade Lead is available in the database of the portal, which one is desirous to be a premium member.

3. While signing up as a free member, one’s company profile should be with below details:

a) The criterion one selects should be correct. For example, if one is an exporter and selects an importer criterion, one’s profile will be in the importer section and therefore, when an importer searches for a related exporter, one’s profile cannot be seen by the importer since it is in not in the appropriate list. Hence, one cannot be contacted to do business.
b) Make sure that contact information provided is accurate.
c) The company description should be condensed and should have all the details pertaining to one’s business interest.
d) One should choose the appropriate sector/s painstakingly, to insure one’s company and Trade Lead to be listed in the relevant sector/s. Further same accuracy should be shown, if the portal has provided with sub-sectors.
e) Authenticity of the firm is enhanced by providing all the details including awards received, rating certification, etc.

4. It is ideal to ascertain the presence of related businesses in the database of the portal of your interest, to avoid any disappointment in generating business inquiries or even to make a contact. Suppose one wants to proceed even after not able to find related businesses, one should verify the business prospects by directly contacting the portal personnel.

5. Another important factor is one should make sure the portal is user-friendly. If it is not user-friendly, it is most unlikely to produce favorable results.

6. Insure the authenticity of contact address of the portal to avoid any fraud. Secured payment modes should be emphasized while making payments.

7. Top B2Bs will have interactive tools including Live Chat, Toll Free numbers, etc.; try to interact with these tools to guarantee that these functions are not mere decorations.

8. Check whether all the features are up to date.

9. Besides, the list of Trade Leads, Exporters, Importers; it would be ideal to go for a B2B which has lists of Transporters and International Services as well. Such a compilation can further minimize one’s endeavor in obtaining business.

10. It will be an added advantage if one looks for B2Bs which have collaborations with famous international organizations too.

In addition, it is highly recommended to utilize all the available features of the B2Bs to get best results.

Toboc

A large portion of animal imports to the UAE come from the European countries including the UK, Portugal and Austria. There are several cases reported in the last one year from countries such as – Germany, Italy, Norway, Greece, Spain, Israel, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Algeria and Austria.

Blue-tongue virus is non-transmittable to humans and non-contagious among animals. The disease is characterised by changes to the mucous membranes of the tongue and nose, and certain types of midges are vectors of this animal disease. The ruminants including camels, cattle and sheep are chiefly susceptible to the virus.

According to new regulation, every animal arriving from blue-tongue affected countries will be individually inspected. Prior to the directive, only a random sample of about 10 per cent of each shipment had undergone inspection.

Besides, the animals should not be stung by the midges for a period not less than 28 days from the date of shipping. Regarding import of sperm, embryos and ova, the donating animals should be immunised against stings of midges for a period not less than 60 days before and during the process of collecting the sperm, ova and embryos.

However, OIE is surprised by the timing of the UAE’s move to clamp restrictions to animal imports particularly because these strains have been reported for more than a decade in Europe and the Mediterranean. Glaieul Mamaghani, deputy director of communications at the OIE asserted that the virus could not be transmitted to humans. The UAE ministry said that the effective date for the new regulation would be made known in a few days’ time.

Toboc Trade News

Sri Lanka was devastated by terrorism sponsored by the LTTE that demanded separate land carved out of the country for the ethnic Tamil minority of Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population and a large number of them follow Buddhism. Currently, its defence forces are in the final stages of completely wiping out the last bastion of the terror outfit to free the country from the prolonged violence of two decades.

Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union (EU) said the re-branding would encourage foreign tourists to look at Sri Lanka with new eyes and enable the country to position itself as a destination second to none. He added the core idea was to change the perception of the travellers from far-away lands that the country has returned to normalcy where everyone could experience its rich culture and beautiful locales peacefully. He also drew attention to the fact that despite the country had to bear the brunt of terrorism Sri Lanka grew by about 6 percent in recent years, and continued to invite steady flow of foreign investments and tourists.

According to sources, Sri Lanka is planning to launch several promotional programs through print and electronic media to tide over its ‘unsafe’ image abroad. At the re-branding function the state-owned Sri Lankan Airlines launched “Buy One, Get One Free” sales theme targeting the European travellers. The tour operators’ primary focus would be to promote Sri Lanka as a safe tourist destination, and thereby remove it from the list of travel advisories by several countries.

Toboc Trade News