http://www.ebm.com.my/news 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z EBM

Atelier des Parfums, a well known French perfume company, is looking to make Malaysia its gateway for the fragrance and cosmetic business in the Asean market, its vice president Hermann J. Porter said.

<p class="MsoNormal" id="byline"><span style=" font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><strong>By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah</strong><br /> <br /> KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- Atelier des Parfums, a well known French perfume company, is looking to make Malaysia its gateway for the fragrance and cosmetic business in the Asean market, its vice president Hermann J. Porter said.<br /> <br /> "We are looking to the future in expanding our business to the Asean region and in particular Malaysia. We are also looking for interested partners," he told Bernama in an interview here.<br /> <br /> Porter said most of the very famous perfumes, had over the years been using components from Atelier des Parfum.<br /> <br /> Since taking over the management,Porter together with the company president, Olivier R. Funel, decided to not only be involved in the development of products for others but also look for markets to sell its own creations.<br /> <br /> Porter used to be the vice president of Apple Computers in California while Funel is a biologist and together they have proven to be an interesting mix of talent in the business of creating perfumes.<br /> <br /> According to Porter, Atelier des Parfum has been partnering a large company from China which had its own retail distribution outlets. "We helped the company create its own brand of perfume for men.<br /> <br /> "The perfume was produced in France. The fact that it was made in France is very important for branding," he said.<br /> <br /> He said the company had also recently introduced a second line of products comprising eight fragrances with different compositions for sophisticated women in Guangzhou.<br /> <br /> Atelier Des Parfums is trying to find its way into the Malaysian and Asean market with the assistance of the Electronic Business Management (EBM). The company specialises in creating business partnerships between companies in Europe, Asia and the United States.<br /> <br /> "Through EBM, we felt we had good information on Malaysia and the Southeast Asian market," Porter said.<br /> <br /> Porter also said:"We are now basically on a fact finding trip to determine potential opportunities by meeting with businessmen in Malaysia and South East Asia.<br /> <br /> "We are looking at using Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur as the hub from which to conduct our business for the region."<br /> <br /> Porter disclosed that Atelier des Parfum had just created the prototype of a product which allows women to make their own perfumes easily and in portions which can last a day or two.<br /> <br /> "We are thinking of using Malaysia as the test market for the product which will revolutionise the way perfumes are used. There is a possibility that we might even manufacture the product here," he said.<br /> <br /> Porter also stated that Atelier de Parfum with its vast experience is also offering consultancy services to companies in the fragrance and cosmetics industry.<br /> <br /> "This is to help the companies take their manufacturing processes to more sophisticated levels, thereby making them more competitive," he said.<br /> <br /> -- BERNAMA</span></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/Atelier_Des_Parfums_To_Make_Malaysia_Gateway_For_E.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Another major South Florida company has expanded into the growing Asian Pacific region, coordinating the development with Electronic Business Management (EBM), a company which specializes in creating partnerships between companies in Asia, Europe and the United States.

<p>Another major South Florida company has expanded into the growing Asian Pacific region, coordinating the development with Electronic Business Management (EBM), a company which specializes in creating partnerships between companies in Asia, Europe and the United States.</p> <p>Waterblasting Technologies, Inc., (Waterblasting Technologies) a leading global provider in the development and production of machinery utilized in the removal of markings and rubber from roads and runways, announced today the appointment of Electronic Business Management (EBM) to head its expansion to the Asia Pacific region. EBM will lead the company's overall expansion in Asia/Pacific and will provide strategic oversight for its first office in Asia that is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.&#160;</p> <p><img hspace="10" alt="James Crocker, President of Waterblasting Technologies and Bernhard Schutte, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM America division" border="0" align="left" height="270" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/Malaysia Contract signing- Bernhard Schutte 011.jpg" width="397" title="James Crocker, President of Waterblasting Technologies and Bernhard Schutte, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM America division" /><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">This move will allow Waterblasting Technologies to enter the Asian region and further develop key-client relationships.&#160; “We are very excited to be entering the Malaysian market,” said James Crocker, President.&#160; Waterblasting Technologies chooses Malaysia to take advantage of Malaysia’s centralized location in the region that allows them to easily leverage their products in over 15 Asian countries, including China.</span>&#160;<span>Bernhard Schutte, who is chairman and chief negotiator of EBM America division, explained that the strategic move for Waterblasting Technologies to open offices in Asia is opening a tremendous new market for the company. The huge infrastructure boom the Asian region is experiencing made this move a logical next step in Waterblasting Technologies, Inc. expansion process. Schutte added: “Malaysia is quickly becoming a hub for trade with Southeast Asia due to the advantages that it offers. English is the main language used for business in the country, making it easy to communicate directly with business contacts. As late as the 1970s, Malaysia was still a developing economy, based on raw materials and primary goods. Today, Malaysia has grown into one of the world’s major manufacturing and service hubs for the whole Asian region.”</span></p> <p><strong>About Waterblasting Technologies, Inc.</strong><br /> Waterblasting Technologies is a multimillion-dollar international company that manufactures high-pressure equipment that removes markings from roadways and rubber from airport runways.&#160; They have sold their equipment in 16 countries and between Waterblasting Technologies and Waterblasting.com, a sister company who provides service, had revenue in excess of $15 million in 2007.&#160; The outlook for Waterblasting Technologies in 2008 is very strong as sales continue on record pace domestically as well as internationally.&#160;&#160;</p> <p><strong>About EBM Asia Sdn. Bhd,</strong><br /> EBM Asia Sdn. Bhd. specializes in creating partnerships between companies in Europe, Asia and the United States. As a full service consultancy, with service sectors including Business Development, Technical Development, Public Relations, Value Added Introductions, EBM is quickly becoming a powerful resource in helping companies grow and navigate their business. EBM works with U.S. and international companies including Government departments in all phases of development, ranging from established companies as well as those just starting out.</p> http://www.ebm.com.my/EBM_to_head_Water_Blasting_s_expansion_to_the_Asia.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

US firm CureOnTour will invest RM200 million in the next five years to promote medical tourism in Malaysia and some other English-speaking countries, chairman and chief executive officer Bernhard Schutte said.

<p align="right" class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;">By Tengku Noor Shamsiah</span></strong></p> <p align="left" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">PUTRAJAYA, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- US firm CureOnTour will invest RM200 million in the next five years to promote medical tourism in Malaysia and some other English-speaking countries, chairman and chief executive officer Bernhard Schutte said.<br /> <br /> The investment could be more, he added, in view of the fact that the medical tourism business is valued at US20 billion currently and is expected to double to US40 billion in the next three years.<br /> <br /> &quot;It is a huge business. Almost every country is involved in medical tourism in some form or another, and the biggest in the medical tourism business is Germany,&quot; he told Bernama in an interview here.<br /> <br /> According to him, CureOnTour was established to promote the availability of top quality medical procedures, and he felt the best value for money is in Malaysia.<br /> <br /> Malaysia, Schutte said, is fast becoming one of the leading medical tourism destinations in Asia because of its high medical standards and best value for money.<br /> <br /> &quot;Nevertheless, we find that medical tourism in Malaysia is way behind compared to countries like Thailand or India, and there shouldn't be a reason for this because the quality of the medical tourism here is very good,&quot; he added.<br /> <br /> &quot;Malaysia has fantastic hospitals here, of high quality with very good surgeons who have been trained in the UK, USA or Australia.<br /> <br /> &quot;So you definitely have the capability that these other countries have. What's missing is marketing, getting people to know and understand what is available here in Malaysia.&quot;<br /> <br /> Schutte, who is chairman and chief negotiator of EBM Asia Pacific division, which owns and manages CureOnTour, explained that if Malaysia wants to market itself in other countries, it has to use the local knowledge of those countries to penetrate their markets.<br /> <br /> &quot;It is not possible for Malaysia to do marketing with a Malaysian marketing company, you've got to use companies in the countries you are penetrating, that is very important,&quot; he contended.<br /> <br /> For instance, he said, the biggest hospital in Thailand is attracting medical tourists by using American firms to advertise in the US market.<br /> <br /> Schutte suggested that rather than sell itself as the cheapest in the region for medical treatment, Malaysia ought to focus on the quality of the services provided and the seriousness with which medical tourism is undertaken.<br /> <br /> &quot;In the US or European markets, if we tell them we are the cheapest, this won't sell because the word cheap is almost like a bad word,&quot; he pointed out.<br /> <br /> &quot;Cheap often means bad quality. So, Malaysia has to learn to sell itself as the best value for money where you still get good quality service.<br /> <br /> &quot;This is the way to go for Malaysia. And this is what CureOnTour is going to be promoting - best value for money medical tourism in Malaysia.&quot;<br /> <br /> In line with this, Schutte said, CureOnTour is only dealing with surgeons and medical facilities that it feels meet the high standards needed to sell medical tourism worldwide.<br /> <br /> Among the hospitals it has signed contracts with is Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC) while others in the pipeline include Gleaneagles and Sunway.<br /> <br /> Schutte said the medical facilities in Malaysia are comparable to those that the company deals with in the US or Germany - &quot;Malaysia has the same kind of quality or standards, sometime even better than a lot of American hospitals.&quot;<br /> <br /> CureOnTour, being a one-stop facilitator, will coordinate everything for the travelling patients and their companions, including planning for the trips, flight reservations, transportation from the airport to accommodation, appointments with doctors and booking procedures, he added.<br /> <br /> -- BERNAMA</span></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/US_Firm_To_Invest_RM200_Million_To_Promote_Medical.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

SUBANG Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC), a hospital owned by Sime Darby Bhd, expects the number of foreign patients to rise by a third to 20,000 this year

<div class="content"><font face="Arial"><span style=" font-size: 10pt;">SUBANG Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC), a hospital owned by Sime Darby Bhd, expects the number of foreign patients to rise by a third to 20,000 this year.</span></font></div> <div class="content"><font face="Arial"><span style=" font-size: 10pt;"><br /> And in the long run, it wants to have a bigger slice of the local private health tourism market - valued at RM204 million last year - from the current five per cent.<br /> <br /> <img src="http://cureontour.com/upload/userimages/medic.jpg" align="right" alt="" />"We are not happy with our market share now and definitely want more," said SJMC chief executive officer Elaine Cheong, adding that various initiatives are taking place to meet this target.<br /> <br /> One of the initiatives was inked yesterday with an international partner to increase the number of medical tourists to Malaysia.<br /> <br /> The partner, CureOnTour Sdn Bhd, a member of US-based DMN Inc, is a newly established company to promote and assist Malaysia to become one of the leading medical tourist destinations in Asia.<br /> <br /> Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony in Subang Jaya yesterday, CureOnTour chairman Bernhard Schutte said the company is targeting in the next five years to bring between 350 and 450 foreign patients into Malaysia a month.<br /> <br /> "We will be working with most of the major hospitals here as we believe that there is so much potential for Malaysia to grow big in this market," he said.<br /> <br /> Cheong meanwhile said SJMC's foreign patients are classified into two groups, namely the medical type and the wellness type.<br /> <br /> The medical type generally come from Indonesia who are here to seek general medical treatment while the Westerners, the wellness type, are here for plastic and cosmetic surgeries.<br /> <br /> It is the latter one that SJMC wants to aggressively promote as it claimed to have excellent facilities for the surgeries.<br /> <br /> "Apart from that, we also have an excellent cancer centre and we specialise in bone marrow and liver transplants, which cost a fraction of the price in the western countries," said Cheong.<br /> <br /> She added that it cost some RM380,000 for a transplant in SJMC compared with S$300,000 (RM696,000) in Singapore.<br /> <br /> Cheong said there are five reasons for medical tourists to come here, namely the price, service, quality, availability and tourism.<br /> <br /> "A hip replacement can take more than a year in Britain or Canada but not in Asia," she said, adding that in terms of cost, Malaysia is on par with India and much lower than Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.<br /> <br /> The medical tourism industry is a US$20 billion (RM70 billion) business and is expected to grow to US$40 billion (RM140 billion) in the next four years.</span></font></div> <p align="right"><font size="1" face="Arial">By Roziana Hamsawi - <em>roziana@nstp.com.my</em></font></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/SUBANG_Jaya_Medical_Centre.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Fear of the unknown may be an excuse for using a night light, but it isn't a good reason for not doing business in Asia. South Florida's new Asia Committee is trying to take the mystery out of trade with Asia by building bonds with diplomats, hosting workshops and seminars and embarking on trade missions to the Far East.

<p align="right"><span style=" font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial;">South Florida Business Journal - May 25, 2007</span> <span style=" font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial;">by Julia Neyman</span></p> <div id="story_images"><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Fear of the unknown may be an excuse for using a night light, but it isn't a good reason for not doing business in Asia. South Florida's new Asia Committee is trying to take the mystery out of trade with Asia by building bonds with diplomats, hosting workshops and seminars and embarking on trade missions to the Far East.</span></div> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Committee chairman Bernhard Schutte said the tri-county effort, organized under the Broward Alliance, should further expose South Florida to the world's largest and fastest-growing market.</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">"Usually if you don't understand something you think it's a threat," said Schutte, who often travels to Asia on business, owns property in Malaysia and has lived in Hong Kong. "I always believe, if you think someone is your enemy, go and check them out. Maybe it's a huge opportunity - that's what I've found."</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The committee includes trade officials, county government representatives and professionals in the banking, real estate and construction sectors. Schutte owns global consulting firm DMNI, while vice chairs Al Redlhammer and Russel Weaver work in freight forwarding and international real estate, respectively.</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The group will be the Broward Alliance's first sub-committee dedicated specifically to a region, said Bob Swindell, Broward Alliance senior VP of business development. But given the level of interest Florida has developed in Asia - and especially in China - this is the perfect region to start with, Swindell said.</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">"Everyone realizes that Asia is a good place to focus the energies of Broward's business," Swindell said. "We've probably focused more resources and business time and interest on the Asian market than any other market."</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Trade with Asia is already booming: <strong>Port Everglades</strong> director Phillip Allen said China grew from the port's No. 3 trading partner two years ago to its second-largest trading partner last year. Trade and economic officials said key trade sectors include technology, medical and construction equipment and manufactured goods.</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Schutte maintains South Florida's key advantage is geography: It is uniquely positioned to serve as a hub for trade between Asia and Latin America.</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">"Most Europeans have been using South Florida as a hub for many years, and we have to offer this to Asian countries," Schutte said. "Most Asian countries don't realize the importance of this area yet, but it's a no-brainer for this to work out of South Florida."</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The key is to get large Asian companies to establish Latin America headquarters in South Florida, Schutte said. Another key is getting foreign governments to recognize South Florida's appeal. For example, a series of successful talks between South Florida and Malaysia resulted in the Malaysian government investing half a million dollars in a regional trade center in Miami last year.</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">John Diep, director of the Asia/Pacific region for Enterprise Florida, said South Florida's relationship with China is already strong and its ties to Indonesia, India and Vietnam are growing. He said domestic interest is mostly coming from small and mid-sized technology companies.</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Schutte agreed that because Florida's main fortes are in technology and services, especially in relation to Latin America, the region should concentrate on building trade relationships in these areas.</span></p> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">"Most people draw on South Florida's service industry, whether it's accountants, lawyers, freighters, shippers or deal makers," he said. "There is no way any Asian country can penetrate the Caribbean or Latin America as quickly and efficiently as we can in South Florida."</span></p> <h5><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Focus sectors for Asia Committee</span></h5> <ul> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">IT</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Medical and life sciences</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Construction</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Aviation</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Environment</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Professional services</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Education</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Real Estate</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Marine</span></li> <li><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Logistics/support</span></li> </ul> <h5><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">ASIA COMMITTEE</span></h5> <p><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Chairman: Bernhard Schutte<br /> Phone: (954) 333-7777<br /> Next meeting: 9 a.m., June 14th at Inverrary Resort, 3501 Inverrary Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale 33319<br /> <em>jneyman@bizjournals.com | (954) 949-7511</em></span></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/Tri_county_committee_looks_to_open_Asia_for_local.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Miami companies are involved in a major initiative in 2007 to use Hong Kong as a launch pad to the Chinese mainland and Asian markets, from comments made by Miami trade promotion agencies and corporations canvassed in the past few weeks.

<table align="right" width="25" border="0"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td valign="top" width="232"><img height="172" alt="Photo" border="1" width="230" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48257M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><font size="1">Miami-based companies like Market America are heading for Asia.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Miami companies are involved in a major initiative in 2007 to use Hong Kong as a launch pad to the Chinese mainland and Asian markets, from comments made by Miami trade promotion agencies and corporations canvassed in the past few weeks.</p> <p>This month sees the Port of Miami send a business delegation to the Chinese mainland, while Hong Kong is taken as a key centre for developing contacts and initiatives for another large Miami delegation in November.</p> <p>"Utilising Hong Kong as a gateway to Asia in general, and the greater China market in particular, is a 'no-brainer'," says Manny Mencia, senior vice president, International Trade &#38; Business Development of Enterprise Florida, the official economic development agency for that state.</p> <table align="left" border="0" width="15"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><img height="230" alt="Photo" border="1" width="172" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48258M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><font size="1">Mencia: consider Hong Kong.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Though he spends his days trying to attract international business to Miami, Mencia says: "I would advise Florida companies that are looking to penetrate the Chinese market to consider Hong Kong as the logical gateway and the location to manage operations."</p> <p>"Hong Kong has a tremendous service support infrastructure, and a wealth of knowledge-based service providers that specialise in the Chinese market. There's also a labour that speaks multiple languages - not just Mandarin but also the different dialects of China, and the area is a great trans-shipping centre."</p> <p>These factors can go a long way to facilitate successful market entry for small- and medium-sized companies, particularly if their efforts are not focused on one area of China, Mencia believes.</p> <p>Xavier Gonzalez' Beacon Council is another organisation that works to bring businesses into Miami. But he says he's seeing more and more of them considering China operations.</p> <p>"Miami and [other] Florida companies are trying to tap into Asia, particularly the booming China market," says Gonzalez, a Beacon Council communications official for Miami's economic development agency.</p> <p>And no wonder. Enterprise Florida says the Sunshine State's trade with China grew 31.9% from 2004 to 2005, climbing from US$3.5 billion to US$4.7 billion. The increased trade volume made the Chinese mainland Florida's fifth largest trading partner.</p> <p>Hong Kong showed a double-digit increase in the same period as well.</p> <p>The SAR achieved a 15.6% gain with a dollar volume increase from US$319 million to US$369 million, making Hong Kong Florida 46th largest trading partner.</p> <p>That followed a jump of 23.4% from 2003 to 2004, when dollar volumes rose from US$258 million to US$319 million, Enterprise Florida says.</p> <p>Trade going the other way is proving to be robust too, according to Enterprise Florida:</p> <ul> <li>Top Florida exports to the Chinese mainland are fertilizers and aluminum waste and scrap. China's top exports to Florida are automatic data processing machines, magnetic readers, luggage and handbags.</li> <li>Major Florida exports to Hong Kong are passenger transport vehicles and electronic integrated circuits.</li> </ul> <p>Meanwhile, Hong Kong's top exports to Florida are data processing machines, magnetic readers and parts for office machinery.</p> <p><strong>China push to increase ties</strong></p> <table align="right" border="0" width="15"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><img height="172" alt="Photo" border="1" width="230" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48259M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><font size="1">Miami team: Association plans return.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Gonzalez says the Beacon Council will take part in the Port of Miami's trip to China in April 2007, in preparation for a full-fledged mission later in the year.</p> <p>"We'll take a full delegation - five to 20 people - to China as part of this business development mission," he reports.</p> <p>The group will comprise public officials, local business people, and Beacon Council staff.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the success of business missions to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland over the past two years has led the Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce in Florida to make plans for a return to Hong Kong and China in November 2007.</p> <table align="left" border="0" width="15"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><img height="230" alt="Photo" border="1" width="172" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48260M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><font size="1">Haeger: assistance in Hong Kong.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>The 10-year-old Miami-based organisation represents 40 national chambers of commerce and has made Hong Kong and the Mainland its lone destinations since deciding to begin taking Pacific Rim trips in 2005, said Lita Haeger, the business organization's CEO/president and representative of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce.</p> <p>Korea and Japan lobbied heavily to make their countries the principal destinations, she says. The assistance which the association's 46-member delegation received in Hong Kong on its November 2006 trip, especially from the HKTDC, helped give the nod to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, Haeger explains.</p> <p>The HKTDC, she says, "understands our way of doing business and that we expect to do business" during the trade trips.</p> <p>"We were made very comfortable. Everybody is pretty much looking to [the Chinese mainland] but with the help of Hong Kong."</p> <p>The Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce in Florida serves as an umbrella organisation for the Miami-based Florida China Chamber of Commerce and nearly four dozen other bi-national chambers from around the Sunshine State.</p> <p>The Florida organisation represents about 8,000 members, says Haeger.</p> <table align="right" border="0" width="15"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><img height="230" alt="Photo" border="1" width="172" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48261M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><font size="1">Schutte: strong interest from South East Asia.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Bernhard Schutte, chairman and chief negotiator of business consulting firm EBM International, was the busiest of the mission delegates.</p> <p>Schutte believes he found strong interest from South East Asian companies wanting to penetrate the US, Latin American and Caribbean markets by establishing offices with South Florida as the hub.</p> <p>"We had 26 appointments before we got there," says Schutte, whose 12-year-old firm is based in Fort Lauderdale and devotes a lot of its work to Chinese medical equipment manufacturers.</p> <p>The firm screened each company that asked for an appointment to ensure its finances, infrastructure and business plan were right for international business.</p> <p>The companies represented a range of sectors, and included a company that makes customised mosaics. Schutte says he likes the prospects for the mosaic maker.</p> <p>"You can give them a picture of something unique to you. They can make a mosaic picture of it and put it in a swimming pool or on a huge wall," he explains. "We took it on because we see a strong market for it here."</p> <p><strong>Small- and medium-sized perspective</strong></p> <p>Companies involved in the China trip in September are both small and large, says Schutte. "Some [have] sales of only about US$5 million a year."</p> <p>They all had in common a desire to sell their products and services internationally, Schutte notes. "Latin America and the Caribbean are virgin territory for China. The way to get into that is a hub through South Florida."</p> <p>EBM performs a market feasibility study, sets up a satellite office operation for the companies and puts the necessary logistics in place. "We give them an address and a phone number that can be answered in either South Florida or China," he explains.</p> <p>Schutte advises his clients to keep a small amount of stock in South Florida for quick delivery. "Americans are very demanding; they want it now," he said. "We can send it out the same day" it's ordered.</p> <table align="left" border="0" width="15"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><img height="172" alt="Photo" border="1" width="230" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48262M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><font size="1">EBM team accommodates inward and outward trade.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>EBM's fees run from US$50,000 to US$100,000 for a company's first year in the market.</p> <p>He says the cost is about double for a company to put a full time representative in South Florida - a move Schutte thinks is unnecessary.</p> <p>EBM International taps a large data base of US and Latin American companies and will initiate contact with potential customers of its clients, Schutte points out.</p> <p>"The middle negotiator has a lot of interest in ensuring this is a long-term deal. If only one side earns money, the other side goes broke."</p> <p>In entering the US market, product/price is not the main factor, Schutte advises. "Chinese companies always think they must be the least expensive. That's a mistake," he says. "Quality of production and consistent ability to deliver are more important."</p> <p>Schutte expects EBM will begin taking on more US clients now that China is in the WTO and has agreed to open more of its markets and allow increased foreign ownership of factories.</p> <p>Schutte, a South African, said the first thing American companies must learn is that the Chinese insist on developing relationships before making too large of a business commitment.</p> <p>"The biggest problem we have with Americans is that if we meet, they say 'let's seal a deal.' Americans are too impatient."</p> <p><strong>Latin American connection through Miami</strong></p> <table align="right" border="0" width="15"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><img height="230" alt="Photo" border="1" width="172" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48263M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><font size="1">Chi: flexible and creative.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Another interested party in the China initiative is Joe Chi's China-Latin America Trade Center, which specialises in helping Chinese companies set up Latin American operations.</p> <p>As a Cuban-Chinese, Chi brings a familiarity with both Latin and Chinese cultures and the business nuances of the two. "I help them get established in the proper channels," Chi says. "I've been doing business in Latin America for 25 years. You just have to be flexible and creative."</p> <p>In the year since the launch of the China-Latin America Trade Center "we have received the CEOs of some of the top Chinese companies," including manufacturing giant Haier, said Chi, the Trade Center's executive director and former head of the Latin Chamber of Commerce of the United States.</p> <p>There's one point he emphasises to visiting Chinese executives interested in the markets of the Caribbean and Latin America: base yourself in Miami. "That's the place to be," he says, noting the city has dozens of international chambers of commerce as well as about 40 consulates.</p> <p>Going directly into the Latin American and Caribbean countries is expensive and carries "a humongous amount of risk," Chi believes.</p> <p>"In Miami, you can pick and choose the countries you want to go to. Many of the companies have a presence here or their executives have second homes here."</p> <p>Chi's clients want to establish a beachhead into Latin America that the online economics magazine the <em>Globalist</em> says has seen a 900% increase in overall trade with China over the past five years.</p> <p>In 2004, nearly half of China's direct investment overseas, almost US$20 billion, went to Latin America, the <em>Globalist</em> reports.</p> <p>Argentina, Peru and, to some extent, Chile see China as an insatiable buyer of commodities and therefore a guarantee of their economic development.</p> <p>Brazil - a seller of soybeans to China - likes that part, too, the <em>Globalist</em> reports.</p> <p>As a consulting agency, the China-Latin America Trade Center handles the more complex set ups, Chi says. "For the simple transactions, we delegate to the local chambers."</p> <p><strong>Sales centre in Hong Kong</strong></p> <table align="left" border="0" width="15"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><img height="172" alt="Photo" border="1" width="230" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48264M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><font size="1">Market America product line.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Miami Beach-based Market America, a product brokerage and Internet marketer of vitamins and other health products, plans to inaugurate a Hong Kong trading platform in June 2007 to serve the Hong Kong market and enhance its Pacific Rim presence.</p> <p>The privately held Market America estimates demand for its products in Hong Kong alone will produce sales of at least US$7 million the first year. Expansion into the Pacific Rim tops a 5-year-plan initiated two years ago, company executives say.</p> <p>The Hong Kong move follows Market America's launch of a branch in Taiwan in 2005, where in less than two years it has recruited 35,000 seller/distributors and posted sales of US$55 million. Company-wide, Market America claims accumulated annual retails sales of US$2.1 billion.</p> <p>"We had great success in Taiwan, so expanding into Hong Kong is the logical next step," said Joe Bolyard, executive vice president, international development.</p> <table align="right" border="0" width="15"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><img height="230" alt="Photo" border="1" width="172" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/48271M.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top"><font size="1">Direct seller to market.</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Specialising in direct marketing and mass customisation, the company sells what it calls "innovative products" that range from health elixirs and vitamins to laundry soap and a US$249 kit that analyses the buyer's DNA to determine what customised nutritional formula to follow for optimum health.</p> <p>As a product broker, Market America must have near-total accuracy in gauging what the customer wants. To achieve that, the company relies on what it says are sophisticated surveying methodologies to determine customers' preferences and then sources and provides the most desired products.</p> <p>The knowledge gained from mining the accumulated customer data is the foundation of Market America's Mall Without Walls, where more than 700 products are sold. It offers another 2 million-plus products through a setup the company calls the Endless Shopping Experience.</p> <p>The Shopping Experience has enlisted such retail giants as Wal-Mart, Target, Macys, Dell and even eBay as affiliate retail partners.</p> <p>Oriental Logistics Miami Inc executive Anly Liu has taken part in the China-Miami trade boom since arriving in Miami nearly three years ago.</p> <p>He is helping to strengthen trade ties through his work with the Florida China Chamber of Commerce, with a focus on companies in Hong Kong.</p> <p>Liu's company is an arm of Hong Kong-based Oriental Logistics Group and sees Miami as a rival to New York and Los Angeles for commercial ties with China.</p> <p>The opportunities in the China market are beginning to be realised, according to Howard Ullman, CEO of Florida-based China Direct Trading Corp, which brokers sales of products ranging from souvenirs to construction materials.</p> <p>"Many US companies are making the shift to China," says Ullman.</p> <p>Such companies as China Direct Trading, Oriental Logistics and Market America are making efforts to create a bridge that could see 2007 as a watershed year for Florida-China trade.</p> <p align="right">from special correspondent Terrence Carter, Miami</p> <div align="left"><strong>Contact:</strong></div> <table align="center" width="90%"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td>&#160;</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <div align="center"> <table border="1" width="90%"><tbody _base_href="http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/07041002/trade058.htm"> <tr> <td align="center" width="50%" valign="middle"> <div align="center"><strong>Company/Contact Person</strong></div> </td> <td align="center" width="50%" valign="middle"> <div align="center"><strong>Tel/Email</strong></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <p>Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce in Florida<br /> Lita Haeger<br /> </p> </td> <td align="left" valign="top"> <p>Tel: (1) 305-365-7247<br /> Email:<a href="mailto:lita@abicc.org">lita@abicc.org</a></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <p>China Direct Trading Corp<br /> Howard Ullman<br /> </p> </td> <td align="left" valign="top"> <p>Tel: (1) 954-252-3440</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">China-Latin American Trade Center<br /> Joe Chi<br /> </td> <td align="left" valign="top">Tel: (1) 305-636-0904</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">EBM<br /> Bernhard Schutte<br /> </td> <td align="left" valign="top">Tel: (1) 954-333-7777<br /> Email: <a href="mailto:Bernhard@Dmni.com">Bernhard@Dmni.com</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Enterprise Florida<br /> Manny Mencia<br /> </td> <td align="left" valign="top">Tel: (1) 305-569-2650</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Market America<br /> Joe Bolad<br /> </td> <td align="left" valign="top">Tel: (1) 336-605-0040</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Miami-Dade Beacon Council<br /> Xavier Gonzalez<br /> </td> <td align="left" valign="top">Tel: (1) 305-579-1300<br /> Email: <a href="mailto:xgonzalez@beaconcouncil.com">xgonzalez@beaconcouncil.com</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Oriental Logistics Miami Inc<br /> Anly Liu<br /> </td> <td align="left" valign="top">Tel: (1) 786-845-0781<br /> Email: <a href="mailto:anly.mia@orientalair.com">anly.mia@orientalair.com</a> <a href="mailto:Anly.mia@orientalair.com">&#160;</a></td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div align="center"></div> <p>&#160;</p> http://www.ebm.com.my/Miami_leaps_forward_to_China_business_in_2007_10_A.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

The King of Malaysia recently celebrated the successful completion of the first two cases of severe obesity surgery with surgeons and businessmen from South Florida. Dr. Norman Samuels, pioneer in obesity surgery and Dr. Paul Wizman, specialist in laparoscopic surgery worked with KPJ Hospitals in Asia to train Malaysian surgeons in obesity surgery. The deal was put together by Bernhard Schutte, CEO of Advanced Surgical Training and Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><font size="2" face="Arial">The King of Malaysia recently celebrated the successful completion of the first two cases of severe obesity surgery with surgeons and businessmen from South Florida. Dr. Norman Samuels, pioneer in obesity surgery and Dr. Paul Wizman, specialist in laparoscopic surgery worked with KPJ Hospitals in Asia to train Malaysian surgeons in obesity surgery. The deal was put together by Bernhard Schutte, CEO of Advanced Surgical Training and Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><font size="2" face="Arial">Schutte of Broward County, a specialist in international business and his team worked for two years to establish a Center for Severe Obesity. This marks a new chapter in Malaysian medical history, Schutte predicted.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">&#160;</p> <p align="center" class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/Copy%20of%20DSC02687-king.JPG" alt="Left to right: Dr. Norman Samuels, Dr. Paul Wizman, King of Malaysia His Majesty Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin (seated in front), Dato’ Dr. Haron Ahmad, Mr. Bernhard Schutte" /></p> <p align="center" class="MsoNormal">Left to right: Dr. Norman Samuels, Dr. Paul Wizman, King of Malaysia His Majesty<br /> Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin (seated in front), Dato’ Dr. Haron Ahmad, Mr. Bernhard Schutte</p> http://www.ebm.com.my/Malaysian_Obesity_Center_a_Success.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

According to Dato’ Dr. Haron, one of the major reasons for early death is obesity, which most of us are unaware of.

<p align="center" style=" text-align: center;"><strong><u>OBESITY CAUSES EARLY DEATH</u></strong></p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">According to Dato’ Dr. Haron, one of the major reasons for early death is obesity, which most of us are unaware of.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">Damansara Hospital specializes in treatment of obesity with instant results.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">Yesterday, there was a press meeting regarding obesity.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">In this meeting, Dato’ Dr. Haron Ahmad, Dr. Sukumar Nadesan, as well as internationally acclaimed doctors Norman Samuel and Paul Wizman explained the different problems and different treatments for obesity.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">Since last November, Damansara Hospital specializes in the treatment for obesity, with the help of expert doctors in the field.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">The aim of the hospital is to treat obese patients with the most convenient methods, and if necessary they also use surgical methods.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">Dato’ Dr. Haron Ahmad and Dr. Sukumar Nadesan gained their expertise training in America.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">The objective of DSH, Damansara Hospital is to lead Malaysian citizens to a healthy life.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">A survey shows that obese people have to spend more on medication than regular sized people.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">All the doctors replied and explained to the queries of the media.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">Dr. Sukumar mentioned that most of the obese patients are Indians and Malaysians, especially between the ages of 30 and 40.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">Ex-Chief lecturer of UKM University, Dr. Sukumar emphasized that youngsters spending more time on the internet and watching television should spare time for exercise.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">We have to change our lifestyle, we should also avoid fast food as well as junk food to reduce obesity and have a healthy body. Obesity reduces life span.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">To have a healthy body the weight of the body should be maintained according to height.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">For example for a person with the height of 172cms, he should maintain his weight between 60kgs to 74kgs.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">To maintain the weight, diet and exercise should be utilized. Obese people would generally suffer from blood pressure, edema, joint pains, respiratory problems, and many more diseases.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">According to Dr. Haron, 12% of Malaysians are on the verge of obesity.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">Dr. Norman Samuel and Dr. Paul Wizman, emphasized that avoiding obesity will lead to a healthy body and a healthy life.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">For obese and excessive obese people, an intestine surgery is performed as a treatment.</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">The body mass index was distributed to everyone in the press meeting to spread awareness. The doctors emphasized the popular saying “eat to live and not to live to eat.”</p> <p style=" text-align: justify;">Indians can use the instructions specified for obesity to benefit their lives.</p> <table class="MsoTableGrid" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="1" style=" border: none; border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 147.6pt; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;"><strong>HEIGHT (Cm)</strong></p> </td> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;"><strong>Minimum Weight (kg)</strong></p> </td> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;"><strong>Maximum Weight (Kg)</strong></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">145</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">42</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">52</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">147</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">44</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">54</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">150</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">45</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">56</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">152</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">46</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">58</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">155</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">48</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">60</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">157</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">50</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">62</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">160</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">51</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">64</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">162</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">53</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">66</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">165</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">55</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">68</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">167</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">57</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">70</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">170</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">58</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">72</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">172</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">60</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">74</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">175</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">62</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">76</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">177</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">64</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">79</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">180</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">66</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">81</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">182</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">67</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">83</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">185</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">69</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">85</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">187</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">71</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">87</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style=" padding-bottom: 0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding-top: 0pt; padding-right: 5.4pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">190</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">73</p> </td> <td style=" padding-top: 0pt; border-top: none; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; width: 147.6pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt;" width="197" valign="top"> <p style=" text-align: justify;">90</p> </td> </tr> </table> <p style=" text-align: justify;">&#160;</p> <p style=" text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/indian-newspaper1.jpg" /></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/obesity_causes_early_death1.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Schutte said he found a strong interest from South East Asian companies wanting to penetrate the U.S., Latin American and Caribbean markets by establishing offices with South Florida being the hub. Schutte and his team met with representatives from over 25 companies in Hong Kong

<table align="left" id="table1" border="0" width="295"> <tr> <td><img alt="" width="295" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/hongkongpromenade1.jpg" height="240" align="left" border="0" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1">Bernhard Schutte, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM International, center, with Justin John, Executive Assistant of EBM Asia Pacific Division (Malaysia) at right and Marcus Koch, Executive Assistant of EBM Americas Division (USA) during the WorldSME Expo in Hong Kong.</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">The Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce in Florida (ABICC) just returned from a successful trade mission to Hong Kong. Among the active participants was Bernhard Schutte, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM, Schutte said he found a strong interest from South East Asian companies wanting to penetrate the U.S., Latin American and Caribbean markets by establishing offices with South Florida being the hub.<br /> Schutte and his team met with representatives from over 25 companies in Hong Kong that had requested appointments with his company, EBM, to inquire about establishing offices in South Florida.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">After the meetings Schutte and his team traveled on to Thailand and Malaysia where Schutte gave a seminar on behalf of the U.S. Departament of Commerce, hosted by the Federation of Malaysian manufacturers.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">For the past three years, Schutte, who lives in Broward County and is a specialist in international business, has been working closely with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Federation of Malaysian Manufactures and various other organizations around the world to promote South Florida and Malaysia as hubs for international business.<br /> <br /> Ed. Note: To see a profile of Bernhard Schutte visit our web site at</font> <a href="http://www.promenadenews.com"><font size="2" face="Arial">www.promenadenews.com</font></a></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/South_Florida_Promoted_In_China__Thailand_and_Mala.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Malaysia’s obese people are on the increase and their chances of contracting modern illnesses are double. With an aim of reducing obesity in the country, Damansara Specialist Hospital has created “The Severe Obesity Centre” operated by a team of very experienced surgeons, doctors and medical assistants to perform “Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass” to assist obese people to reduce weight.

<p>Malaysia’s obese people are on the increase and their chances of contracting modern illnesses are double. With an aim of reducing obesity in the country, Damansara Specialist Hospital has created “The Severe Obesity Centre” operated by a team of very experienced surgeons, doctors and medical assistants to perform “Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass” to assist obese people to reduce weight.</p> <p>Also known as “Roux-en-y”, Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass” will restrict obese people’s food intake and reduce food absorption. After the surgery, all food taken will bypass the stomach and go directly into the intestine.</p> <p>Damansara Specialist Hospital Severe Obesity Centre started its operation in November 2006. Interested patients will need to go through a series of tests and counseling by a team of Doctors comprising General &#38; Gastro Intestinal Surgeon, Advance Laparoscopic &#38; Obesity Surgeon, Psychologist, Radiologist, Anesthetic, Gastro, Lung and Cardiac Specialists and Plastic Surgeon.</p> <p>Both Dr. Haron and Dr. Sukumar are Consultant Surgeons of Advance Surgical Training (AST). AST is based in Florida USA and managed under the supervision of Dr. Norman Samuels, American Executive Surgeon and Dr. Paul Wizman, Medical Director of Bariatrix, Florida. Both Dr. Samuels and Dr. Wizman are very experienced surgeons and have done over 2,000 and 1,000 surgeries respectively. Dr. Samuels said Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass is not new and has been in practice for sometime. The main advantage of this surgery is low risk and patients can recuperate within a short period.</p> <p>Damansara Specialist Hospital is currently conducting free tests and diagnoses for the public who are obese and want to know whether they are suitable to do this surgery. Dr. Samuels said this surgery is suitable for obese people between the ages of 18 to 63 years.</p> <p>Dr. Wizman said from testing, diagnose, counseling to surgery will cost around 40,000 Ringgit Malaysia. He said patients also need to return to the hospital for post surgery observation for a period of time.</p> <p align="center"><img alt="" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/newspaper_chinese1.jpg" /></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/Damansara_Specialist_Hospital_offering_Laparoscopi.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

“People don’t realize that Malaysia is a carbon copy of South Florida in Southeast Asia,” says Bernhard Schutte, CEO of Digital Media Network in Fort Lauderdale and a member of the trade mission. Like Miami, he explains, Malaysia is a spot where multiple nationalities congregate. And just as South Florida provides a gateway to Latin America, with major cities in the region an average of four hours away by plane, Malaysia is a four hour jet trip from many of Southeast Asia’s key cities.

<p align="right"><span style=" font-size: 8pt;">by Claudio Mendonca<br align="right" /> WorldCity Business Magazine</span></p> <p align="left"><img alt="" align="left" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/Miami Malaysia connection.jpg" hspace="10" border="0" />Most of the road from Kuala Lumpur International Airport is lined with oil palm trees, a visual reminder of one of Malaysia’s important trade commodities. Oil from these trees is shipped around the globe for use in both food and in the production of soap and other products.</p> <p>The palm oil joins computers, cell phone transmission apparatus, color televisions, rubber gloves, wood furniture and other products leaving the country in growing quantities and, increasingly, making their way to the United States. In 2005, Malaysia was the United States’ tenth most important trading partner – the first time it slipped into the Top 10 – as the commercial exchange between the two grew nearly 13 percent to exceed $44 billion.</p> <p>Now Malaysia is on track to boost that trade even more. And South Florida is poised to play a role.<br /> More than three dozen business leaders – representing 30 South Florida companies – headed off on a trade mission to Malaysia in 2005, a year that saw South Florida’s trade with the Southeast Asian nation leap more than 30 percent to $221.8 million. In April 2006, Malaysia opened a trade office in Miami, only the third in the United States after New York and Los Angeles. Nova Southeastern University has begun offering doctorate courses in Kuala Lumpur. And even the IFE Americas Food and Beverage show in Miami Beach in early November had displays of Malaysian food products.</p> <p>“People don’t realize that Malaysia is a carbon copy of South Florida in Southeast Asia,” says Bernhard Schutte, CEO of Digital Media Network in Fort Lauderdale and a member of the trade mission. Like Miami, he explains, Malaysia is a spot where multiple nationalities congregate. And just as South Florida provides a gateway to Latin America, with major cities in the region an average of four hours away by plane, Malaysia is a four hour jet trip from many of Southeast Asia’s key cities.</p> <p>Just as Miami is filling with skyscrapers, Malaysia’s symbol has become the towering Petronas twin towers, housing the government oil industry offices and a collection of multinationals. (The towers are the second tallest buildings in the world after the Taipei 101 in Taiwan.) Even Malaysia’s hot and humid weather is similar to that of South Florida.</p> <p>Trade results for the first three quarters of 2006 show Malaysia’s exchange with South Florida totaling $162 million, down 1.5 percent from the same period a year earlier. Imports dipped 0.5 percent to $143.1 million while Malaysia-bound exports from the Miami Customs District fell 8.7 percent to $18.9 million.</p> <p>But Malaysian trade officials are unfazed by the slip, explaining that their interest in Miami is not only as a final destination for products but also as a transshipment point to the Caribbean, Colombia and Venezuela. Colombia is Malaysia’s eighth most important trading partner in Latin America, while Venezuela is its tenth.<br /> “Miami is the ideal place to showcase products and warehouse inventories for smaller importers in the Caribbean and Latin America,” says Islahuddin Hassan, director of the Miami office of the Malaysia Trade Center, or Matrade.</p> <p>The Dominican Republic and Jamaica are top buyers of Malaysian-made electrical machinery while Haiti imports palm oil. Hassan says electrical and electronic machinery are shipped in volume to South America. Colombia is a market for Malaysian-made apparel, machinery, appliances, rubber products and chemicals. Venezuela, meanwhile, imports electrical equipment, shoes, clothing and plastics.<br /> Matrade Miami is not the only office for the region. The entity has branches in São Paulo, Santiago and Mexico City. For the first nine months of 2006, Malaysia’s exports to Latin America grew by almost 40 percent, according to Matrade. By the same token, shipments from Latin countries to Malaysia grew 25 percent.</p> <p><strong>Putting on the gloves</strong></p> <p>Malaysia is a hot country, with temperatures in the 80s, but it is hotter still in the rubber glove factory operated by Supermax in the city of Sungai Buloh, 12 miles northwest of Kuala Lumpur. Men and women in blue uniforms and masks sit along conveyor belts where white gloves rhythmically pass by. The gloves are for medical use, for the food preparation industry and for workers at computer chipmaker Intel.<br /> At some work stations, the gloves are inflated with air to test for punctures, just one of the quality-control procedures designed to ensure the rubber gloves meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards. “If they don’t meet Food and Drug Administration requirements, gloves can’t enter the country,” says Dato’ Seri Stanley Thai, group managing director at the rubber company. Supermax ships 66 percent of its exports to the Americas, with the United States accounting for 40 percent of that total. Eight percent of those shipments pass through Miami en route to Central America.<br /> In total, the Miami Customs District imported $5.1 million-worth of rubber products, principally gloves, from Malaysia last year. That was nearly double the value of the same imports in 2004.<br /> While Miami is a destination for rubber gloves, it’s just as likely to be a transshipment point for Malaysian wood and wood furniture. Furniture alone makes up more than a quarter of Malaysia’s exports and 37 percent of those shipments goes to the United States. In 2005, U.S. furniture imports from Malaysia rose 24 percent to close the year at nearly $544 million.</p> <p>Hassan at Matrade says some of the furniture passing through the Miami Customs District continues on the Caribbean. Still, he adds, there is room for more goods to stay in South Florida. He says Malaysian timber could feed the demand from Miami’s construction sector, adding that Malaysian building material suppliers need to begin forging ties with South Florida construction companies.<br /> Expanding trade ties</p> <p>Because of its geographical proximity, the Miami Customs District has long relied on trading partners in the Caribbean and Latin America. In the past two years, however, the origin of container vessels arriving at South Florida ports has shifted slightly and commerce with Asia has been on the rise. Although trade between Miami and Malaysia grew 30 percent in 2005, the Southeast Asian nation remains Miami’s forty-third trading partner, far behind China, Taiwan and South Korea and just ahead of neighboring Thailand.<br /> That said, the proposed widening of the Panama Canal to accommodate large post Panamax vessels will likely boost Florida and U.S. East Coast trade with Asia. Malaysia is positioning itself to take advantage of that.</p> <p>Just as Malaysia understands what Miami can offer it as both a market for goods and as a transshipment point, South Florida may do well by diluting its dependency on Latin American markets. For one thing, if – as economists assert – the future is a knowledge economy – then Malaysia is certainly positioned to take advantage of that. Cyberjaya is evidence of that.</p> <p>Cyberjaya – part of a so-called “multimedia super corridor” – resembles a U.S. college campus, with wide, low-rise buildings separated by lush landscaping and walkways. Inside the air-conditioned buildings, Intel has its global design center and employees of companies such as DHL develop scanners.</p> <p>Opened in the late 1990s, Cyberjaya was promoted as a “fresh place to think.” Malaysian government and business leaders decided the country should create an information technology hub to attract leading companies. They implemented fiscal incentives to persuade the multinationals to use Cyberjaya as the place to develop cutting edge products and technologies for export. Those incentives include a 10-year exemption from Malaysian corporate taxes, which average 28 percent a year.</p> <p>“We want Malaysia to start moving from a production to a knowledge-based economy,” says Bill Chin, program director at Multimedia Development Corp., the company that manages Cyberjaya. “We see Cyberjaya as a playground for companies, and we want them to stay and continue to play here.”</p> <p><strong>Boosting Florida exports</strong></p> <p>Enterprise Florida says Malaysia’s trade with the state as a whole is on the rise, with Florida imports from the Asian nation doubling to $391.5 million in 2005. Exports rose 55 percent last year to $50.3 million.<br /> Florida’s major exports to Malaysia include computer hardware, medical devices and aircraft parts.<br /> John Diep, Enterprise Florida’s director of the Asia-Pacific region, says commerce between the state and Malaysia has good growth potential in coming years. In particular, he says there are opportunities for Florida exporters.</p> <p>“There is a tremendous amount of interest on their side in doing business. Their economy is growing and politically the country is very stable,” says Diep, indicating that there was a possibility of another trade mission to Malaysia in 2007. “I wish we had more money to promote Florida even more in Southeast Asia.”<br /> A U.S. Malaysia Free Trade Agreement under negotiation could also boost future trade. In October, the two nations concluded a third round of trade talks but did not report headway on the sensitive issue of government procurement. Malaysian government contracts are awarded to the country’s majority ethnic Malays. The United States wants a trade pact that eliminates that favoritism.</p> <p>At Matrade in Miami, meanwhile, Hassan is also optimistic about the future – although he cautions that South Florida’s trade growth with Malaysia will also be affected by economic conditions in Latin America.</p> http://www.ebm.com.my/Miami_Malaysia_Connection.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Last month's business trade mission to Hong Kong's SME World Expo fair was a great success, according to several South Florida trade officials and business leaders.

<p align="right"><font size="1" face="Arial">South Florida Business Journal - December 29, 2006<br /> by Julia Neyman</font></p> <p><img alt="" align="left" vspace="0" hspace="6" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/DSC01876-1-1.JPG" /><font size="2" face="Arial">Last month's business trade mission to Hong Kong's SME World Expo fair was a great success, according to several South Florida trade officials and business leaders.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">The global city's affinity for the English language and familiarity with Western business practices helped local delegates who attended its massive trade show from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 strike deals and find prospective partners from both Hong Kong and mainland China.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">&quot;When you deal with Hong Kong it's like dealing with any country in the world that is developed and prepared to do international business,&quot; said Lita Haeger, president of the Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce in Florida, which led the mission. &quot;By being introduced by them to China, we believe that we are in the right hands.&quot;</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">Haeger said the 46 delegates, who stayed in top hotels and were &quot;treated like VIPs,&quot; took advantage of several networking opportunities and symposiums at the annual world expo. Seminars on doing business with Latin America were especially popular, since half of the South Florida delegates were from Latin American countries, Haeger said.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">&quot;They could immediately meet the people who wanted to do business in Latin America,&quot; Haeger said. &quot;They took the opportunity right on the spot. We didn't even think about it, but it happened that they did two things at once.&quot;</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">One such delegate was Luis Bonilla, president of Interlink18, a plastic and chemical trading company that has operations in Peru, Venezuela and Miami. Bonilla said he made contacts with Chinese companies that will potentially supply plastic resin for his manufacturing in Peru.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">&quot;I had made some contacts (in Asia) before but it truly has to be Hong Kong, because you can speak English with everyone,&quot; said Bonilla, noting that when he ventured into Beijing after the expo he had a hard time communicating with the mainland population.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">Bonilla said while he didn't strike any concrete deals, he accomplished his goal of establishing communication with prospective Chinese partners.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">&quot;I made my contacts. I know who the people are now, and we start from there,&quot; he said.<br /> Digital Media Network CEO Bernhard Schutte set the record by meeting with 25 companies during the three-day symposium. Schutte extended his visit to travel to Thailand and Malaysia, where he spoke to more than 160 manufacturers interested in using South Florida as a hub. Schutte was not the only delegate who took advantage of business contacts outside the expo. Miami attorney Robert Rigal used his time to solidify relationships with existing clients from Hong Kong and China, and gave a lecture on business and social relationships between mainland China and Latin America.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">Rigal, who also attended last year's SME World Expo, said while much of his work took place outside the fair facilities, the expo gave his law firm, Diaz Reus Rolff &amp; Traug LLP, enough legitimacy to prospect foreign companies and make new clients.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">&quot;The trade mission was ancillary to much of the work we did there,&quot; he said. &quot;However, the mission gave us a profile and a marketing platform that I would have not been able to have but for the mission.&quot;<br /> Haeger said she plans to lead another Hong Kong trade mission next year, and hopes to institutionalize the SME World Expo as an annual opportunity for South Florida businesses.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">&quot;We cannot find a better partner than Hong Kong to introduce us to China,&quot; she said. &quot;And the whole world is looking for opportunities to get into China.&quot;</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">E-mail international business writer Julia Neyman at <a href="mailto:jneyman@bizjournals.com">jneyman@bizjournals.com</a></font></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/Mission_finds_pathway_to_China_and_Hong_Kong.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Mr. Bernhard Schutte, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM, found a strong interest of South East Asian companies wanting to penetrate the United States, Latin American, and Caribbean markets by establishing offices in South Florida as a hub.

<p><font size="2" face="Arial">(Fort Lauderdale, Fla., December 20, 2006) - - The Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce in Florida (ABICC) just returned from a successful trade mission to Hong Kong, lead by Lita Haeger, President of ABICC.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">One of the most active participants, Mr. Bernhard Schutte, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM, found a strong interest of South East Asian companies wanting to penetrate the United States, Latin American, and Caribbean markets by establishing offices in South Florida as a hub.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">Mr. Schutte and his team met over 25 companies in Hong Kong that had requested appointments with his company EBM, to inquire about establishing offices in South Florida. Afterwards Mr. Schutte and his team traveled to Thailand and Malaysia where Mr. Schutte gave a seminar on behalf of the US Department of Commerce and hosted by the Federation of Malaysian manufacturers. Mr. Schutte spoke to over 160 Malaysian manufacturers in Kuala Lumpur and Penang who are interested to use South Florida as a hub.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial">For the past three years, Mr. Schutte, a specialist in International Business, has been working closely with the US Department of Commerce, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (Malaysia) and various other organizations world wide to promote South Florida and Malaysia as hubs for international business.</font></p> <div align="center"> <table width="300" cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" id="table12"> <tr> <td><span style=" font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12.0pt;"><img width="300" height="259" alt="" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/ebm-team-seminar.jpg" /></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p align="left"><font face="Arial" size="1">Left to right:&nbsp; Marcus Koch, Executive Assistant of EBM Americas Division (USA) – Bernhard Schutte, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM International – Justin Jong, Executive Assistant of EBM Asia Pacific Division (Malaysia)</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <table cellspacing="0" height="20" border="0" id="table13" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> <div align="center"> <table width="300" cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" id="table2"> <tr> <td><img alt="" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/LitaHaeger.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p align="left"><font face="Arial" size="1">Left to right: Bernhard Schutte Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM International – &nbsp;Lita Haeger, President of ABICC</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <table cellspacing="0" height="20" border="0" id="table8" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> <div align="center"> <table width="300" cellspacing="0" border="0" id="table3" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"> <img width="300" height="225" alt="" src="http://www.dmni.com/upload/userimages/FMM1.jpg" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p align="left"><font face="Arial" size="1">Left to right: Jhitraporn Techacharn, Director General – Office of SMEs Promotion Thailand – Bernhard Schutte Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM International Kuala Lumpur – Manufacturers at the Seminar on doing Business in the in the USA, Latin America, and the Caribbean by using South Florida as a hub.</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <table cellspacing="0" height="20" border="0" id="table9" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> <div align="center"> <table width="300" cellspacing="0" border="0" id="table4" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"> <img width="300" height="225" alt="" src="http://www.dmni.com/upload/userimages/Seminar.jpg" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="1">Kuala Lumpur – Seminar on doing Business in the in the USA, Latin America, and the Caribbean by using South Florida as a hub.</font></td> </tr> </table> </div> <table cellspacing="0" height="20" border="0" id="table10" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> <div align="center"> <table width="300" cellspacing="0" border="0" id="table5" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"> <img width="300" height="225" alt="" src="http://www.dmni.com/upload/userimages/Seminar1.jpg" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="1">Left to right: Joe Kaesshaefer, Commercial Counselor Embassy of the United States of America – Tn. Hj. Md. Khair Bin Ahmad, FMM Council Member – &nbsp;Bernhard Schutte, CEO of DMNI, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM International</font></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">FMM Council Member Tn. Hj. Md. Khair Bin Ahmad presents Mr. Schutte with a gift of appreciation for giving the seminar to the Malaysian Manufactures in Kuala Lumpur</font></p> <div align="center"> <table width="300" cellspacing="0" border="0" id="table6" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"> <img width="300" height="295" alt="" src="http://www.dmni.com/upload/userimages/Seminal2.jpg" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="1">Left to right: Tn. Hj. Md. Khair Bin Ahmad, FMM Council Member – &nbsp;Bernhard Schutte, CEO of DMNI, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM International</font></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Dato’ Muhammad Bin Ismail, Vice Chairman of FMM Northern Branch, presents Mr. Schutte with a gift of appreciation for giving the seminar to the Malaysian Manufactures in Penang</font></p> <div align="center"> <table width="300" cellspacing="0" border="0" id="table7" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"> <img width="300" height="454" alt="" src="http://www.dmni.com/upload/userimages/Penang_Seminar.jpg" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p align="left"><font face="Arial" size="1">Left to right: Dato’ Muhammad Bin Ismail, Vice Chairman of FMM Northern Branch – Mr. Bernhard Schutte, Chairman and Chief Negotiator of EBM International</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <table cellspacing="0" height="20" border="0" id="table11" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> <div align="center"> <table width="52%" border="0" cellpadding="0" id="table1"> <tr> <td width="190&lt;font size=" face="Arial" valign="top"><font face="Arial" size="2">For more information contact:</font></td> <td valign="top"> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Bernhard Schutte, CEO<br /> DMNI<br /> Phone 954-333-7777<br /> Fax 954-333-7774</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> http://www.ebm.com.my/Asian_Companies_interested_in_opening_offices_in_S.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Although the roundtable participants disputed details of South Florida’s demographics, they agreed on the importance of a diverse community in building and energizing the area’s appeal for businesses. All five participants at this gathering – banker, real estate developer, airline manager, software developer and industrial manufacturer – are clearly the richer because of it. But if diversity is Miami’s biggest strength, then measures to discourage immigration in the U.S. may be its biggest threat. Although the roundtable participants disputed details of South Florida’s demographics, they agreed on the importance of a diverse community in building and energizing the area’s appeal for businesses. All five participants at this gathering – banker, real estate developer, airline manager, software developer and industrial manufacturer – are clearly the richer because of it. But if diversity is Miami’s biggest strength, then measures to discourage immigration in the U.S. may be its biggest threat.

<p align="right"><span style=" font-size: 8pt;">6CEO RoundTable<br align="right" /> by WC</span></p> <p><img alt="" vspace="3" align="left" hspace="6" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/worldcity%20-%20ceo%20round%20table-1.jpg" />“I’m guessing that I’m the only one at this table born in this country,” said Stephen Owens, a native of North Carolina and the president of Swire Properties, when he introduced himself at WORLDCITY’s most recent<br /> monthly CEO Roundtable breakfast. He was right.<br /> <br /> Owens’ companions were Cuban-born lawyer Ramon Rasco, chairman of US Century Bank; Brazilian-born and Argentine-bred Nicholas Anderson, president of John Crane Latin America; Chilean Luis Eduardo Riquelme, vice president for North and Central America at LAN Airlines; and South African Bernhard Schutte, CEO of software company DMNI (Ditigal Media Network) based in Fort Lauderdale.<br /> <br /> Despite Owens’ homegrown status, the company he heads is anything but parochial. Swire Properties is part of a global behemoth, the Swire Group, with two international headquarters, one in Hong Kong, home to publicly traded Swire Pacific, and another in London, John Swire &amp; Sons, a private holding company.<br /> <br /> Founded in 1816 in Liverpool and present in Hong Kong since 1870, the Swire Group today has 136,000 employees working in shipping, airlines, beverages, marine services, road transport, trading, real estate and agriculture across the globe. The group’s crown jewels include Cathay Pacific Airways, China’s Coca Cola operations, vast agricultural holdings in Australia, massive property development in Asia and a prominent North Sea oil service company, not to mention the venerable British tea company, James Finlay &amp; Co. Limited, founded in 1750 with plantations in East Africa, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.<br /> <br /> In South Florida, Swire Properties, the developer of swanky Brickell Key, is leaving its distinct mark on the<br /> Miami skyline and shoreline. That a Hong Kong and London-based group would establish such a strong presence here led to a lively discussion about what is touted as one of South Florida’s most important comparative advantages: its ethnic and cultural diversity.<br /> <br /> From a sleepy backwater, Miami has evolved – in large part due to the influx of Cuban exiles – into a cauldron of entrepreneurial activity. And now it is increasingly a magnet for multinationals. “Diversity,” said Owens, echoing a common refrain, “is Miami’s greatest strength.”<br /> <br /> But Schutte, whose software business is booming in South East Asia, southern Africa and other parts of the<br /> world – with the notable exception of Latin America – challenged that conventional wisdom. “When it comes to diversity,” said Schutte, “Miami is way behind other international business hubs. The diversity here consists of Latin Americans and that’s about it.” Schutte said companies in South Florida have barely begun to look at Asia and Africa, and only when they really take an interest in the world beyond Latin America and Europe will diversity really flourish.<br /> <br /> “The Asians are not even here yet, but the prospects for Asia doing business in Latin America are huge,” Schutte said. He sees the recent opening of the Malaysia trade office in Miami (see Miami’s Malaysian Connection, p. 24) as just the beginning of Miami’s Asian awakening. Accepting Schutte’s challenge, Owens revealed that the Asians are already present in a big way, at least in Miami’s real estate market.<br /> <br /> “Over the past 15 years,” said Owens, “some of the principal owners of the major buildings in the Brickell area of downtown Miami have been Malaysians, Singaporeans and investors from Hong Kong.” Swire is currently working with a Malaysian partner on a major real estate development that has yet to be announced.<br /> <br /> “Asians may not be here in terms of numbers or in terms of restaurants – we all know how hard it is to find a good Malaysian curry – but there certainly is an awareness of Miami and real estate investment is often a precursor of other things to come,” Owens added. That may very well be, said Anderson, who runs the Latin American division of British-owned John Crane, a precision manufacturer of mechanical seals for heavy industry, but he maintained “Miami is still heavily biased toward Latin America.” He acknowledged that more than 60 percent of the population was born outside the United States, the highest percentage of any major urban area in the country, but said “85 percent of those people are probably from Latin America.”<br /> <br /> And while the number of Asians may increase, every participant at the CEO Roundtable said it is unlikely to shift Miami’s makeup in a significant way any time soon. “It’s a simple question of geography,” said Rasco, the co-founder of US Century Bank. Rasco, however, is not concerned about the origin of Miami’s residents. His company is too busy leveraging the diversity, regardless of its breakdown.<br /> <br /> US Century Bank, which focuses on small and medium-sized businesses, is literally banking on the entrepreneurial forces that diversity unleashes in South Florida. “This area attracts people from all over the world. They come here not just to buy a second home but to do business and to open businesses,” he said. “We see that every day.” One sector attracting a lot of new investment at the moment, said Rasco, is healthcare. “We see a lot of loan demand for new healthcare ventures.”<br /> <br /> Miami’s diversity is also a direct driver of business for LAN, the successful Chilean-owned airline that is a model of efficiency and profitability. Growing trade with Latin America is boosting LAN’s lucrative cargo operations and Miami’s concentration of corporate regional headquarters is feeding its business travel segment. But the market known within the airline business as VFR, for “visiting family and relatives, is also contributing to LAN’s success. Latin Americans in South Florida are an important component of that market. “As long as people who live here but still have their families in Latin America continue to do well, this will be an important driver of our business,” said Riquelme at LAN.<br /> <br /> Although the roundtable participants disputed details of South Florida’s demographics, they agreed on the importance of a diverse community in building and energizing the area’s appeal for businesses. All five participants at this gathering – banker, real estate developer, airline manager, software developer and industrial manufacturer – are clearly the richer because of it. But if diversity is Miami’s biggest strength, then measures to discourage immigration in the U.S. may be its biggest threat. Said Swire’s Owens, the lone U.S.-born participant at the table: “Immigration and the immigrant work ethic are fundamental to this country and it’s critical that we not lose that. And it’s particularly important for Miami because it brings that international energy.”</p> http://www.ebm.com.my/WorldCity_Business_Magazine___CEO_RoundTable.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

One local CEO is looking south to do business - South Africa, to be exact. Fort Lauderdale business consultant Bernhard Schutte, founder of Digital Media Network, took an 11-day trip to South Africa and Botswana to plan an upcoming trade mission to the region.

<p><font face="Arial"><span style=" color: #0072BC; font-size: 12pt;">One local CEO is looking south to do business - South Africa, to be exact.</span></font><span style=" font-size: 10pt;"></span></p> <p><font face="Arial"><span style=" font-size: 10pt;">Fort Lauderdale business consultant <strong>Bernhard Schutte</strong>, founder of <strong>Digital Media Network</strong>, took an 11-day trip to South Africa and Botswana to plan an upcoming trade mission to the region.</span></font><span style=" font-size: 10pt;"></span></p> <p><font face="Arial"><span style=" font-size: 10pt;">Schutte and his team inspected several potential sites throughout Capetown and Johannesburg, and met with South African officials to identify opportunities for the South Florida delegation slated to arrive next October. Among the industries identified: aerospace, manufacturing, marine, retail, freight and information communications technology.</span></font><span style=" font-size: 10pt;"></span></p> <p><font face="Arial"><span style=" font-size: 10pt;">Schutte said he chose Capetown for the trade mission because of the similarities between the port city and Fort Lauderdale.</span></font><span style=" font-size: 10pt;"></span></p> <p><font face="Arial"><span style=" font-size: 10pt;">"They're both water cities and they have the same growth problems, in terms of logistics and harbors," he said. "They are both very involved with trade."</span></font><span style=" font-size: 10pt;"></span></p> <p><font face="Arial"><span style=" font-size: 10pt;">Schutte spent the second half of his trip in Botswana, where he attended the Botswana World Expo and identified several opportunities for South Florida businesses in the country's energy sector. As energy contracts between Botswana and South Africa expire next year, energy prices are expected to increase drastically in Botswana, according to the nation's economic officials.</span></font></p> <p align="right"><font size="2" face="Arial">Julia Neyman<br /> </font><font size="1" face="Arial">South Florida Business Journal</font></p> http://www.ebm.com.my/Heading_South.html 2008-11-21T16:36:09Z

Africa Opportunity - Pre-Mission Trip October 2006 to Cape Town, Johannesburg in South Africa and Gaborone in Botswana. Bernhard Schutte meet with key people to talk about the Trade Mission.

<p style=" font-family: Arial;"><strong> <font size="2">Thursday October 12^th - Cape Town</font></strong></p> <ul> <li type="square"> <p><strong><font face="Arial" color="#000080" size="2">Meeting with Mr. Mansoor Mohamed - Executive Director for Economic &amp; Social Development for the City of Cape Town.</font></strong></p> </li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Mr. Mohamed committed his full support to make the mission a success for everyone. One of the sectors that has great opportunities in Cape Town is ICT (Information Communications Technologies).</font></p> </blockquote> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="377" id="table1" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style=" color: black;"><img alt="Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Mansoor Mohamed, Executive Director for Economic &amp; Social Development for the City of Cape Town" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/skcnxjxq54690.jpg" title="Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Mansoor Mohamed, Executive Director for Economic &amp; Social Development for the City of Cape Town" width="375" height="351" border="1" /></span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="40"> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1">Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Mansoor Mohamed, Executive Director for Economic &amp; Social Development for the City of Cape Town</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <ul> <li type="square"> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with the Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Ms. Helen Zille.</strong></font></p> </li> </ul> <p style=" margin-left: 40.0px;">Mayor Helen Zille committed her full support for the trade mission. Ms. Zille also requested a proposal for a Sister City agreement between Cape Town and Fort Lauderdale.<br /> </p> <p><strong>Friday, October 13th - Cape Town</strong></p> <ul type="square"> <li><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Dr. Gerald Wolman, Chairman for the International Trade Forum and Ms. Narieman Solomon, Business Information Officer, The Cape Chamber of Commerce.</strong></font></li> </ul> <p style=" margin-left: 40.0px;">Dr. Wolman and Ms. Solomon were pleased to hear about the trade mission and committed their full support. Dr. Wolman requested that we arrange for involvement of the Rotary Club in Cape Town and Fort Lauderdale.<br /> </p> <ul> <li type="square"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Nils Flaatten, acting CEO of WESGRO.</strong></font></li> </ul> <p style=" margin-left: 40.0px;"><font face="Arial" size="2">Mr. Flaatten outlined some of the needs and opportunities in Cape Town. He put special focus on the aerospace industry. Mr. Flaatten asked DMNI to start negotiations with NASA to select a South African to go to space.</font></p> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="326" id="table2" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"> <img alt="Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Nils Flaatten, acting CEO of WESGRO" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/ngkwqxiq54691.jpg" title="Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Nils Flaatten, acting CEO of WESGRO" width="324" height="333" border="1" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="25"> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1">Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Nils Flaatten, acting CEO of WESGRO</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <ul type="square"> <li><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Mr. Luzuko Mdunyelwa, Director for External Relations for the City of Cape Town</strong></font></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Mr. Luzuko will do everything in his power to assist us in planning and organizing a successful trade mission.</font></p> </blockquote> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="326" id="table3" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><img alt="Mr. Luzuko Mdunyelwa, Director for External Relations for the City of Cape Town- Mr. Bernhard Schutte" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/pmzmfrqu54692.jpg" title="Mr. Luzuko Mdunyelwa, Director for External Relations for the City of Cape Town- Mr. Bernhard Schutte" width="336" height="343" border="1" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="40"> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style=" color: black;">Mr.</span></font><span style=" color: black;"> </span><font face="Arial" size="1">Luzuko Mdunyelwa, Director for External Relations for the City of Cape Town - Mr. Bernhard Schutte</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <p style=" font-family: Arial;"><strong> <font size="2">Monday, October 16^th - Johannesburg</font></strong></p> <ul> <li type="square"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Mr. Keith Brebnor (CEO); Ms. Nada Reyneke, Head of International Trade; Ms. Liz Mitchell, Head of Information Centre, Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce &amp; Industry.</strong></font></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Mr. Brebnor and his team are very enthusiastic about assisting their members to match up with American companies. The chamber will research opportunities in Johannesburg. The One opportunity identified already is the Security Sector (airport/port scanners)</font></p> </blockquote> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="313" id="table4" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"><img alt="Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Keith Brabnor, CEO of Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce &amp; Industry - Ms. Liz Mitchell, Head of Information Centre" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/htmkggqa54693.jpg" title="Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Keith Brabnor, CEO of Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce &amp; Industry - Ms. Liz Mitchell, Head of Information Centre" width="311" height="329" border="1" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="60"> <p align="center"><span style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;"> <font size="1">&nbsp;</font></span><font face="Arial" size="1">Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Keith Brabnor, CEO of Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce &amp; Industry - Ms. Liz Mitchell, Head of Information Centre</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <p style=" font-family: Arial;"><font size="2"><strong>Tuesday, October 17^th - Johannesburg</strong></font></p> <ul type="square"> <li><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Mr. Xolile George, Executive Director for Economic Development, City of Johannesburg</strong></font></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Mr. George and his team committed their full support to assist us in bringing a successful trade mission to Johannesburg. Some opportunities identified by Mr. George and his team are ICT (Information Communications Technologies) and tourism.</font></p> </blockquote> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="313" id="table5" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"><img alt="Mr. Thokozani Thwala, Investment Facilitation and BEE Portfolio - Mr. David J. Van Niekerk, Program Manager: Joburg 2030 - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Xolile George, Executive Director for Economic Development" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/nejezwnn54694.jpg" title="Mr. Thokozani Thwala, Investment Facilitation and BEE Portfolio - Mr. David J. Van Niekerk, Program Manager: Joburg 2030 - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Xolile George, Executive Director for Economic Development" width="492" height="387" border="1" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="60"> <p align="center"><span style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;"> <font size="1">&nbsp;</font></span><font face="Arial" size="1">Mr. Thokozani Thwala, Investment Facilitation and BEE Portfolio - Mr. David J. Van Niekerk, Program Manager: Joburg 2030 - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Xolile George, Executive Director for Economic Development</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <ul> <li type="square"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Ms. Luanne Grant, Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa</strong></font></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Ms. Grant was very supportive in identifying opportunities in South Africa. She identified the Educational Sector to have huge opportunities. Ms. Grant offered to speak to the delegation about challenges and solutions when entering the South African Market.</font></p> </blockquote> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="313" id="table6" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="2"><img alt="Ms. Luanne Grant, Executive Director, Amcham - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Ms. Tongila Manly, Managing Director, Enterprise Florida Southern Africa" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/uuxkgleu54695.jpg" title="Ms. Luanne Grant, Executive Director, Amcham - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Ms. Tongila Manly, Managing Director, Enterprise Florida Southern Africa" width="384" height="339" border="1" /></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="40"> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1">Ms. Luanne Grant, Executive Director, Amcham - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Ms. Tongila Manly, Managing Director, Enterprise Florida Southern Africa</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <ul> <li type="square"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with US Commercial Service: Ms. Pamela Ward, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer; Mr. Johan van Rensburg, Commercial Specialist</strong></font></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Ms. Ward and Mr. van Rensburg were most helpful in identifying the needs and opportunities and South Africa. They said that they will support this mission where ever possible. Some of the opportunities identified include Aerospace, Defense, Safety and Security, and Water &amp; Environmental Technologies.</font></p> </blockquote> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="313" id="table7" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><img alt="Mr. Johan van Rensburg, Commercial Specialist - Ms. Pamela Ward, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer - Mr. Bernhard Schutte" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/vnmvsftx54725.jpg" title="Mr. Johan van Rensburg, Commercial Specialist - Ms. Pamela Ward, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer - Mr. Bernhard Schutte" width="396" height="408" border="1" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="40"> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1">Mr. Johan van Rensburg, Commercial Specialist - Ms. Pamela Ward, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer - Mr. Bernhard Schutte</font><font size="1"><span style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;</span></font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <ul> <li type="square"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Mr. Smuts L. Ngonyama, Speaker of the House, ANC. We visited Mr. Ngonyama in his private residence.</strong></font></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Mr. Ngonyama was pleased to hear about the trade mission. He will be the Chairman for the mission in South Africa. Mr. Komani will coordinate the planning for the mission in South Africa.</font></p> </blockquote> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="313" id="table8" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><img alt="Mr. Smuts L. Ngonyama, Speaker of the House, ANC - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Blacky Komani" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/cnwdcept54718.jpg" title="Mr. Smuts L. Ngonyama, Speaker of the House, ANC - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Blacky Komani" width="469" height="381" border="1" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="25"> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1">Mr. Smuts L. Ngonyama, Speaker of the House, ANC - Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Mr. Blacky Komani</font><font size="1"><span style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;</span></font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><strong>Wednesday, October 18^th - Gaborone</strong></font></p> <ul> <li type="square"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Ms. Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, CEO of BEDIA</strong></font></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">Ms. Masire-Mwamba is fully supportive of the mission. In fact Ms. Masire-Mwamba will visit Florida beginning of 2007 to start the process of opening a BEDIA office in Florida. BEDIA will promote and the support the trade mission as much as possible.</font></p> </blockquote> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" width="313" id="table9" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><img alt="Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Ms. Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, CEO of BEDIA" src="http://www.ebmamerica.com/upload/userimages/nugsjzka54719.jpg" title="Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Ms. Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, CEO of BEDIA" width="348" height="516" border="1" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="25"> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1">Mr. Bernhard Schutte - Ms. Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, CEO of BEDIA</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><strong>Thursday, October 19^th - Gaborone</strong></font></p> <ul> <li type="square"> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Meeting with Mr. Blackie Marole, Managing Director of Debswana,