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thailand.com/Meet World Trade, a joint-venture partnership between thailand.com and Meet World Trade, to establish the first comprehensive import-export e-Marketplace in Thailand
April 4, 2001

BANGKOK, April 4, 2001 - Nation Multimedia Group Plc subsidiary thailand.com, Thailand's leading Internet site, and U.S.-based Meet World Trade Inc, Asia's leading global trade network and parent company of MeetChina.com, formalized a joint venture here today that will create Thailand's first comprehensive online trade e-Marketplace.

The new partnership between thailand.com and Meet World Trade will enable thousands of Thai businesses to conduct cross-border trade online, bringing Thailand's export sector into a new era of global trade. Thai exports are expected to reach US$70 billion in 2001.

Mr. Thanachai Theerapatvong, Chairman and CEO of Nation Multimedia Group Plc. and thailand.com, said the new joint venture between thailand.com and Meet World Trade will be the e-Marketplace leader for cross-border trade in Thailand.

"Businesses will be able to conduct business on-line from discovery through settlement. Buyers and sellers will be able to negotiate online. After they agree on the deal, they can efficiently and cost effectively use all trade fulfillment services available on the portal, including logistics, insurance, inspection, payment, trade finance, customs clearance and other key features necessary to the global trade," Mr. Thanachai emphasized.

"This new venture demonstrates our clear commitment for thailand.com to be the best export platform for Thai exporters," added Mr. Sermsin Samalapa, President and COO of thailand.com "This is in line with an announcement from Thailand's Department of Export Promotion that it has selected thailand.com as one of a few online trade marketplaces designated to represent thousands of Thai exporters."

One of the important benefits to Thailand that the thailand.com/Meet World Trade joint venture brings small and medium-sized exporters Internet tools to expand their markets through the global network of Meet World Trade.

"A key to the success of a venture such as this is the ability of our partner to build high quality, verified and e-Commerce enabled catalogue content and this is what attracted us to thailand.com as a partner", said Len Cordiner, CEO of Meet World Trade.

"thailand.com has excellent reach to Thai suppliers both through its Internet presence as well as other media avenues available via the Nation Group, and has shown its ability to build high quality content. The new joint venture moves the whole Internet opportunity to a new levels for Thai exporters, migrating companies from using the Internet for simple display advertising to a fully functional e-Commerce environment."

thailand.com/Meet World Trade will be part of Meet World Trade's global network of businesses, with affiliate operations in China, South Korea, Vietnam, India, and Indonesia. The services to suppliers will include:

• Web-hosting services for electronic catalogues and storefronts
  (Supplier e-catalogues, which can be mapped to various marketplaces)
• Negotiation platform
• E-commerce transaction platform including trade fulfillment services
  such as logistics, insurance, inspection, payment, trade finance, customs
  clearance, etc.
• Trading information such as trade news and events
• Customized vertical marketplaces for specific industries

As part of the Meet World Trade global network, the new company will provide access to world class trade service groups such as SGS for quality inspection, AIG for marine insurance, Citibank and First Union Bank for cross-border payment facilitation, as well as a number of leading freight forwarders to provide an integrated platform for cross-border trade, putting the entire trade process online.

thailand.com/Meet World Trade will be staffed by a team of local and international professionals led by Chief Operating Officer Mr. Torboon Puangmaha, formerly Vice President for Business Development, thailand.com. The company will be based in the Nation Tower in Bangkok.

About Meet World Trade
Meet World Trade is a leading global e-commerce company focused on cross-border merchandise trade with emerging economies. Founded as MeetChina.com in 1998, the company is headquartered in San Francisco and operates a wholly owned subsidiary in China with some 450 staff and 14 offices. Additionally, Meet World Trade has operations in India (with the Satyam Infoways), in Korea (with the Korean International Trade Association), in Indonesia (with the Indosat group), in Thailand (with the Nation Group), and in Vietnam (with FPT and the IFC - International Finance Corporation). The Asian regional head office is located in Hong Kong.
www.meetworldtrade.com

About thailand.com
thailand.com, established in 1999, operates five content channels. Aside from hosting and listing thousands of Thai exporters and their product information, it provides information on travel, shopping, news, and business & finance. The website has positioned itself as the cyber gateway to Southeast Asia.
www.thailand.com

thailand.com/Meet World Trade is run by Meet World Trade (Thailand) Co., Ltd. with the registered capital of USD 1 million or approximately THB 43 million, based on a foreign exchange rate of THB 43 to USD 1. thailand.com, will hold 65% of the shares while Meet World Trade will hold 35%.
www.thailand.com/meetworldtrade

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