From left: Luis Tello, Fireking Int'l; Bob Douglas and Beatriz
Bringel, BET Reproductive Labs; Paolo Rezende, Alltech Inc.

Professor Nnoromele (far left) and her students gather with
Former Governor Martha Layne Collins, KWTC Chair (far right).

Last week, The Kentucky World Trade Center hosted a group from the Governor's Scholars program at Centre College. The International Relations class of nineteen students was led by Dr. Salome Nnoromele, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University. During the visit, the scholar's heard from speakers who discussed how the U.S. is affected by globalization, as well as ways in which Kentucky can promote its image to the world.

Click here to read more about GSP at Centre

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KWTC prepares for trade mission to Australia

The Kentucky World Trade Center is ready for its coal and mining trade mission to Australia, scheduled for July 21-31. The delegation will meet with government officials and major coal mine management teams in Brisbane and Sydney, as well as tour some of the largest coal mines in Moranbah and Hunter Valley. The group will also attend the Australia Queensland Mining & Engineering Exhibition in Mackay.  The trade show is one of the world's largest exhibitions of products and services for the mining and mining-related engineering industries. Australia is acknowledged as a world leader in providing innovative products and technical solutions to both the domestic and international minerals industries.
Led by Ying Juan Rogers, KWTC Vice President, the delegation consists of coal operators and equipment manufacturers from eastern and western Kentucky, as well as a member from Phoenix, AZ: Kay Sever with OptimiZ Consulting LLC.

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International Trade News :

China bubble fueling record oil prices
What is behind the ever-increasing price of crude oil? Most economists and energy experts argue that even the current sky-high price is justified by fundamentals, namely the high growth in demand by emerging markets, in short “China”. The one important fact usually adduced to support this position is that supply and demand seem finely balanced as inventories are not increasing. But this argument is wrong. The observation that inventories are not increasing is irrelevant since there is a very convenient way to store oil that is not measured by inventories data: just leave it in the ground! More...

Latin America's free trade market struggles
If U.S. trade negotiators had their wish, the Western Hemisphere would be organized into a single, massive trading bloc, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). But for years, the FTAA dream has been checked by the “Market of the South,” known in Spanish as Mercosur. On paper, Mercosur is South America’s response to both NAFTA and the European Union. Like those groups, it is a common market, comprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela, with five other continental neighbors as associate members. More...

Economists say rising fuel prices already
prompting sourcing changes
A recent report by two economists asserts that soaring fuel prices are already beginning to spur changes in global sourcing decisions. Leading off with the warning that “globalization is reversible,” Jeff Rubin and Benjamin Tal wrote in the May 27 issue of CIBC World Markets Inc.’s StrategEcon that the cost of moving goods is now the largest barrier to global trade and in tariff-equivalent terms has effectively offset all the trade liberalization efforts of the last three decades. This development suggests not only a major slowdown in the growth of world trade, they said, but also a fundamental realignment in trade patterns. More...

U.S. looking abroad to ensure import safety
Import safety is becoming a proxy war for two opposing philosophies of world trade, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt told the Import Safety Summit Wednesday morning. Leavitt said the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies have embraced the idea that the United States is part of a global trading system, and are expanding their operations beyond the borders to partner with foreign governments and the private sector to develop and maintain standards for products destined for the U.S. market. More...

New report cites Japan-U.S. regulatory reforms
Japan has made some progress in improving efficiency in its customs processing, according to an annual report to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and President George W. Bush, which was released over the weekend. The report details regulatory reform and other measures taken in the past year in key sectors such as telecommunications, intellectual property rights, financial services, and distribution. More...

Legislative update: Trade measures play musical chairs ahead of elections
There are a number of trade-related measures still pending in Congress, but only some of them are likely to see action in a legislative year shortened by the presidential and congressional election campaigns. Few if any major votes are anticipated ahead of the August recess, but behind-the-scenes work on many of the bills continues in hopes of advancing them later this summer. More...

• Healthcare Expo: January 28-31, 2009
• Innovative Technologies in Manufacturing Expo: March 5-7, 2009
• Maritime & Logistics Expo: April 9-10, 2009

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