The attached 152 profıles describing sources of information on importers have been prepared by the Trade Information Section of the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO with the purpose of providing exporters in developing countries with assistance in locatinq potential importers in worldwide markets. According to various surveys of exporters' business information needs (see reports on Business Information Reviews conducted by ITC in 12 countries), information on potential importers ranks very high in their priorities, often at the same level as price information. Traders require specifıc and up-to-date information. AII sources have been selected on the basis of a careful review carried out during the fırst six months of the year 2002. However, the present publication does not offer any guarantee as to the real quality of the contents of the concerned sources of information. It would be difficult to test the validity of the individual importers' contacts provided in each database or directory. The aim is rather to provide leads to publicly available sources. Traders are in a berter position than ITC to check the value of the trade contacts identifıed. The level of detail available for each company within the directory is briefly described at the bottom of the one-page profile. The best sources are when individual products imported are listed, when a standard product classifıcation, such as the Harmonized System is used, when names of managers are indicated, ete. The format retained to describe each source is applicable to a wide range of publication media, from printed directories to websites, including printed listings, CD-ROMs and online databases. In many cases, the same information is available through various media, and more and more sources are available on the Internet. "Online hosts" mentioned are information wholesalers that distribute large collections of databases, usually fora fee (Dialog; DataStar; l.exls-Nexis, ete.) The collection of sources highlighted in the Guide is incomplete in various ways. Please read the Section on "Looking for potential buyers" to extend the scope of your own search for trade contacts.