Press Release ECE/TRADE/00/14
Geneva, 31 October 2000
A New Internet Free Site for
International Trade
http://www.UNeTrades.net
What do you do if you want to send an e-mail order to a company and you
want to be sure that your correspondent understands you? Imagine this company is
located in Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk in the Netherlands and you are not sure how to spell it.
Your order is valued in local currency and you want to mention the volume of the order.
How can you make sure that your order is understood correctly? The best way is to use
international codes, Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk is coded NL-ZWD, the Netherlands Guilder is
coded NLG and metre cubed is coded MTQ.
Why are these codes and standards needed? They are needed to
provide a common language, in particular for electronic commerce as spelling may differ
from one country to another. These codes are a kind of Esperanto for international trade.
Such codes exist not only for thousands of locations but also for measurement units,
countries, currencies, airports, etc.
Where can they be found? The three Regional Commissions of the
United Nations are jointly launching a Website today that provides new services to the
International trade community. UNeTrades.Net, the United Nations Standards
for Trade and electronic Business Net, which can be found at: http://www.UNeTrades.net,
addresses directly the needs of businesses in promoting global trade standards and
provides a one-stop shop for information on trade facilitation, best practices, reference
materials and regional trade facilitation programmes.
UNeTrades.Net pays special
attention to the requirements of the digital economy by distributing, ready to use,
downloadable electronic versions of important standards and codes such as country codes,
currency codes or UN location codes. In the area of electronic business UNeTrades.Net is the main publication site for all official releases of the UN/EDIFACT directories,
a global EDI standard that is used today by over 100,000 companies worldwide.
As trade facilitation standards and electronic business concern people
and businesses in all countries, the UNeTrades.Net is managed jointly by the
Regional Commissions of the United Nations. The initiative is hosted by the Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) and supported by the Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
(ESCWA). As a cooperation project UNeTrades.Net will be open for future
participation of all interested UN bodies.
UNeTrades.Net can be accessed at the following address:
http://www.UNeTrades.net
For further information please contact:
Mr. Markus Pikart
Electronic Business Team
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Room 425
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: +(41 22) 917 20 16
Fax: +(41 22) 917 00 37
E-mail: [email protected]
In order to provide you with a better
service, we would appreciate it if you would send a copy of your article to: Information Unit, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), Palais des
Nations, Room 356, CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland,
Tel: +(41 22) 917 44 44, Fax: +(41 22) 917 05 05,
E-mail: [email protected], Website: http://www.unece.org
Thank you. |