e-trade-center is supported by

German Business Portal

Point of Single Contact

e-trade-center

Business contacts worldwide

Why e-trade-center?

Numerous German organizations both within Germany and abroad receive requests for business contacts from foreign companies. And companies in Germany, for their part, also wish to publicize their business inquiries with a focus on a particular country or countries, or even worldwide.

With the support of the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (Federal German Ministry of Economics and Technology), business contacts inquiries are announced to German and foreign companies via a single access using the central business contacts database.

The fact that a large range of different organizations work closely together in e-trade-center signifies an important step towards more cooperation and efficiency in foreign trade promotion.

What does e-trade-center provide?

www. e-trade-center.com enables both German and foreign companies to publicize their products and services on Internet and, conversely, to enquire for the products and services they need. It provides them with an opportunity of presenting their diverse requirements for cooperation, such as searching for investors, technical know-how, etc. Companies can enter their business enquiries in e-trade-center themselves, using the corresponding questionnaire. As a special service, e-trade-center's Supporting Institutions offer to assist in and to look after the entry or to make the entry for the companies, where appropriate. These entries are then marked as "premium entries".

This site provides interested German and foreign companies with an immediate overview of other companies' requirements for business contacts, enabling them to contact potential business partners directly. Additionally, the comprehensive range of services provided by the individual Supporting Institution is also available.

The consistent high quality of e-trade-center is assured by the Supporting Institutions' premium entries and scrutiny of all entries by Germany Trade and Invest.

Additional services

As well as up-to-date business requirements from around the world, e-trade-center also provides possibilities for searching business partners on partners' databases. These databases for specific industries, countries or economic and foreign-trade sectors are supervised by various industrial associations and/or German Chambers of Commerce. Additional information on the German economy, and on trade fairs, exhibitions and other events taking place in Germany for example, is available on the Internet sites operated by the German Foreign Office, and by the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA), with all of whom e-trade-center is linked.

A network just grows and grows

e-trade-center was set up in 2001 as the Internet database of the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHKs), the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHKs) and the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). The business contact databases operated by the IHKs, the AHKs and the DIHK, plus that of the German Office for Foreign Trade (bfai; since 1, January 2009: Germany Trade and Invest), were merged on December 1, 2002. This cooperation project received the support of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

In August 2003 cooperation started between e-trade-center and the Global Business Platform of the Africa-Association (AV), the Business Association for Latin America (LAV) and the German Asia-Pacific Business Association (OAV). It was supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Global Business Platform is now completely integrated into e-trade-center. In 2004 e-trade-center was enlarged by the Architectural Export Network, (NAX), the Federation of German Wholesale and Foreign Trade (BGA) and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH). In July 2005 the German Chambers of Skilled Crafts, the German Association of Consulting Engineers (VBI) and the East and Central Europe Association (OMV) became Supporting Institutions, followed in July 2006 by the German Near and Middle East Association (NUMOV). In May 2007 the information centre for vocational training iMOVE and in December 2007 the Senior Experten Service (SES) became Supporting Institutions.

Contact us!

Enquiries received by e-trade-center's various partner organizations are made available to interested parties concentrated on a single Internet site. German and foreign companies therefore now only need to visit www.e-trade-center.com to obtain a comprehensive view of potential business contacts.

Editorial responsibility
Germany Trade and Invest
Agrippastr. 87 – 93
50676 Cologne
Germany
Telephone +49-(0)221/2057-0
Fax +49-(0)221/2057-212
www.gtai.com

Brigitte Friese
Editor
E-Mail brigitte.friese@gtai.de
Telephone +49-(0)221/2057-357

Marion Walzer-Rippel
Management and Coordination of e-trade-center
E-Mail marion.walzer-rippel@gtai.de
Telephone +49-(0)221/2057-359