For the firm interested in a particular country or wishing to evaluate the relative advantages of different countries, we have a series entitled "Establishing a Business in X Country" (France, for example), and we have separate numbers covering virtually every country in the world. Our country series are progressively more specialized, as illustrated by these titles: "Basic Data on the Economy of—." "Establishing a Business in-." "Preparing Shipments to-." "Living Costs and Conditions in—." "Living Conditions of-." "Foreign Trade of-." "Trade of the United States With-." "Civil Aviation in—.” "Railways of-." "Electric Power Supply in-." "Transportation in-.' "Highways of-." Perhaps I might digress for a moment at this point to indicate what is involved in preparing these reports. Our Office of Economic Affairs is organized to provide maximum experience and continuity respecting economic data and business information relating to particular countries. Putting these reports together is quite a job, and individual reports may involve several hundred man-hours of the time of a specialist. Our recent report on the economy of Brazil, for example, required the examination of information from many sources. This stack of published material, partly in Portuguese, is only indicative and is far from complete as to the sources used. Imagine the magnitude of the task for any single business firm to obtain and then digest all this material from one country-and we do it for the whole world. What we have done, the material we prepared on Brazil is a condensation of all of this here, with the translations and all brought out and put down in terms that the average businessman can use. You could see a person that had any desire of going into business in Brazil or selling something to Brazil would find that kind of information invaluable, and it would not be available from any other source. As I indicated earlier, this country information is also conveniently drawn together in our investment handbooks, which are specifically designed to emphasize the factors and conditions likely to be important in business decisions regarding new or expanded invest ments. Foreign investment may take place in a number of ways, such as building a plant, merging with or acquiring an interest in a foreign firm, working out patent licensing or technical agreements with foreign firms, and so forth. At the present time we have books for 19 countries. This is the series we have that we prepared up to now. The demand tells us this is a service that should be expanded substantially, and as the interest grows in foreign trade, the demand will of course grow, too. Of course, we are not satisfied to answer a business inquiry by sending a firm a publication. We have country desk officers, insurance and transportation specialists, and marketing experts who are ready to sit down with a businessman and give him the facts and insights acquired during many years of service in Washington and foreign posts. These specialists also answer inquiries coming through our field offices-often by teletype if speed is important. Specific information on foreign firms-both potential customers and potential sources of supply-is available through our Commercial Intelligence Division. This Division compiles listings by commodity and country, called trade lists, giving the names of foreign firms in most foreign countries covering approximately 60 commodity or industry classifications. These lists cover importers and dealers, manufacturers and exporters, service organizations, and professions. There is a special service on request for information on individual firms of individuals engaging in foreign trade in foreign countries. These reports are not essentially credit reports, but rather are reports on the commercial operations of the firms involved, with particular emphasis on the firm's reputation and capability as a distributor of U.S. goods or as a continuing source of supply. Additionally, the specific sources of credit information are also provided. This service is, as previously indicated, called the World Trade Directory Service. Information on particular firms and countries is supplemented by special reports on foreign industries and on particular commodities. The Business and Defense Services Administration, a bureau of the Department of Commerce, has recently prepared reports covering international developments in the chemical and rubber industries, paper and pulp, scientific and industrial and technical instruments, and pest control products. In the matter of specific business opportunities, the Trade Development Division supplies the business community with trade opportunity leads. Most of the information in our trade opportunity service is based on up-to-the-minute reports prepared by the commercial and economic officers of the Foreign Service. This information is taken from the Foreign Service dispatches, collated and classified, and published in Foreign Commerce Weekly, and given publicity in vari ous ways. In addition, our trade missions, which I shall describe later, supply large numbers of current trade leads. Our Investment Development Division performs roughly the same service respecting investment leads as the Trade Development Division does respecting trade leads. In addition, the Investment Development Division works closely with the International Cooperation Administration to help give publicity to private investment opportunities that may open up as a part of or in supplementation of the aid projects of the ICA. The Investment Development Division also publishes a weekly bulletin entitled "Investment Opportunities Abroad." A copy has been submitted for your examination. Inasmuch as time is often a crucial factor in trade, we have made it a practice to issue press releases covering important business opportunities for trade or investment. We have some of these available if you wish to see them. For example, we publish all important NATO construction notices and announcements by foreign countries of notice to bid on construction contracts for roads, dams, bridges, and so forth. The distribution of information in printed form to businessmen is only one of the many services which the Department of Commerce renders. When a purchaser abroad, either a businessman or a representative of a foreign government, is interested in purchasing a particular product, an effective trade promotion technique is to put him, in contact with the local agents who represent the U.S. firms making the product. In this way the trade opportunity may be swiftly translated into actual business for U.S. firms. With this in mind, the Bureau of Foreign Commerce presently is expanding the information available to the commercial officers at the Foreign Service posts by which they can readily identify the local agents of U.S. producers. This is being done by placing index cards, actually prepared by American firms, in the commercial files of the Foreign Service where they can be used to answer the important question: "Where and how quickly can I purchase the specified U.S. product?" We also arrange for American businessmen going abroad to visit commercial and economic officers of the Foreign Service. Advance notice to the U.S. Foreign Service posts is provided for this purpose. Likewise, foreign commercial visitors to the United States are assisted in making business contacts and for this purpose we publish in the Foreign Commerce Weekly arrival dates, general purpose of the visit, etc. Information respecting opportunities for U.S. and foreign distributorships are also handled in this way. Special market surveys are also arranged. We have some copies of these as examples of the type of surveys we make. In addition, through our Business Relations Division, special programs are arranged for businessmen visiting Washington, enabling them quickly and conveniently to discuss their problems and needs with officials and technical experts of the Department of Commerce and other Government agencies. This one-stop service for the businessman saves them much time and difficulty which otherwise would be consumed in locating the proper Government officials and arranging conferences. These are some recent typical examples as to how the system has actually been put to use to help small business firms enter or increase their role in foreign trade: 1. A Danish businessman seeking a U.S. line of major household appliances was in the Los Angeles area. A visit to the only U.S. manufacturing firm in the Los Angeles area making these appliances was arranged. Business resulted. 2. The Miami field office brought to the attention of a local exporter an opportunity in Ghana for the sale of used clothing. The exporter made a sale of 5,000 tons of used clothing. He informed our field office this order had given him "new life." 3. A Cincinnati firm decided it wanted to establish its own export department. From the facts given, they decided that their initial venture should be in Japan. Assistance was given the company representative who was sent to Japan enabling him quickly to choose an agent in that country for asbestos. At our request, the U.S. Embassy in Japan provided on-the-spot assistance to this business visitor. The assistance was timely and his visit was accomplished at reasonable expense and without delay because of the advance notice by the Bureau of Foreign Commerce to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. 4. A light switch manufacturing company was encountering difficulty in selling its product abroad because of the varying standards and sizes of such switches used in foreign countries. Information was provided on specifications in use in the foreign countries in which the firm was interested. 5. Other trade examples would include: Farm machinery to be sold in Iraq; wheat products to be sold in Latin America; hand tools in Latin America; laundry and drycleaning equipment in Canada; motorcycles in Guatemala; used cars and auto parts in several countries; mine safety appliances in Germany. 6. Investment possibilities were assisted relating to chemicals in Latin America; plastics in the United Kingdom; paper containers in the United Kingdom; pharmaceuticals in several countries; taping tools in Germany; sugar mill in the Sudan; cement factory in the Sudan; silverware plant in Belgium, Luxembourg, or the Netherlands. The Office of International Trade Fairs is another of the Department's segments performing a most important function for all of business, including small business, interested in world trade, travel, and foreign investment. Immediately after the close of World War II, the Soviets and their satellites began extensive participation in International Trade Fairs throughout the world. As the result, by 1954, they were exhibiting their goods, wares, and methods extensively and with telling competitive effect. To combat this, the Congress, at the request of the President, appropriated emergency funds so that the United States could begin to participate in international trade fairs, and shortly thereafter enacted legislation authorizing such participation on a continuing basis. The Office of International Trade Fairs was established to operate the program under the policy guidance of the Operations Coordinating Board. Through the Office of International Trade Fairs, official U.S. exhibits have been placed in strategically located trade fairs throughout the world. The determination of where the United States will participate in a trade fair is made by an interagency trade fair committee. Once par ticipation in a given trade fair abroad has been determined, all available facts as to the economic and political situation of the country concerned are accumulated, and, on this basis, an exhibit is planned which will fit the local condition and appeal to the people of that country. The theme and content of the exhibit require the approval of the interagency committee and of the American Embassy in the host country. In preparing an exhibit, we do almost the same as if you were staging a play on Broadway. We plan a story that we wish to tell, how we will tell it with the exhibits that are available, so that as the foreign visitor goes through the exhibit he gets a continuing story. It is not just an exhibit of pieces of material, it is a continuing story of our development and technology, our system of production, and doing business, and this is one of the reasons the program had such a telling effect abroad. Once this process of planning and approval has been completed, the industry contact staff of the Office of International Trade Fairs, which maintains constant contact with businessmen throughout the country, approaches them for the load of suitable products and materials for the exhibit. To inform businessmen of current exhibit successes and of opportunities to display their products in future fairs, the Office of Interational Trade Fairs has a far-reaching industry relations program. This includes a newsletter called Fair Facts and other printed matter as well as two short color films entitled "Uncle Sam Goes to the Trade Fairs" and "Showcase for Freedom." These are loaned through the Department of Commerce field offices for showing to businesses, service clubs, and various trade organizations. Since 1954, the United States has exhibited in 70 fairs in 27 countries. These have been viewed by more than 50 million people. This achievement within 5 years has been made possible largely through the cooperation of American businessmen, and most of these are in the small business category. They come from every State of the Union and have furnished us-by loan and by gift-with millions of dollars worth of exhibit materials. I am safe in saying, Mr. Chairman, that without the contribution of business, the trade fair program just could not exist. The contribution of the Government is matched many times over by the contribution of business in making these exhibits realistic. Most small businessmen cannot afford permanent representation aboard. Participation in a U.S. exhibit overseas gives them an opportunity to whet and test the appetite of foreign buyers for their wares, to set up the means of marketing these wares in that country and, importantly, even to sell the items which have been loaned us for display. A case in point is the small industries exhibit for India, which was shown with great success earlier this year in Calcutta and New Delhi, and which is soon to go to Madras. This exhibit stresses the fact that small business plays a basic part in our economic and social progress and is often an essential factor in the later development and operation of large industries. That the exhibit has been and will continue to be successful is indicated by the wide and favorable publicity which it has received in the Indian press. A further indication of its success lies in the assurance we have received from our U.S. Ambassador that all the items exhibited have been sold and will remain in |