Thai Home Furnishings Delegation Seeks Partners in Atlanta

A committee meets to discuss the upcoming trade mission.  Left to right: Thanavee Rithichaipaibul, international trade officer, Thai Trade Center-Miami; Mark Towery, managing director, Geo Strategy Partners; Pensri Jutidharabongse, director, Thai Trade Center-Miami, Varinee Sangmalee, president, Thai American Chamber of Commerce and Tom Bell, vice president, sales and business development, Bonded Service Warehouse Inc. Photo by Phil Bolton.

A delegation composed mostly of home furnishing companies, investors and government officials from Thailand will visit Atlanta July 13-17 to explore business opportunities.

The group’s itinerary includes exhibitions at the AmericasMart, seminars with trade and logistics experts as well as company visits.

Tom Bell, vice president and sales representative for Bonded Service Warehouse Inc., and Mark Towery, managing director of consulting firm Geo Strategy Partners LLC, will make a presentation on the use of third-party logistics companies in Atlanta.

The delegation will also visit a furniture importer at the Global Mall in Gwinnett County, where a reception will be held. 

The Thai American Chamber of Commerce is helping host the delegation in conjunction with the Thai Trade Center Miami, which moved to the Florida city from Atlanta about a decade ago, said Varinee Sangmalee, the chamber’s president.

Ms. Sangmalee, who leads a variety of Thai and Asian organizations, said she started the chamber last February to help fill the void the trade office left.

For more information, contact Ms. Sangmalee at (770) 998-8375 or by e-mail at varinees@yahoo.com.

Kennesaw State Signs Athletic Partnership with Egyptian Government Agency

Daniel Papp (right) exchanges gifts with Faten Abd El-Latif while Essam El-Helaly looks on.

The federation, an Egyptian government agency, organizes all sports activities for public and private universities in the country.

Kennesaw State President Daniel Papp, and Essam El-Helaly, the federation’s general secretary, signed the agreement June 23 at the Georgia university.

Mr. Papp called the agreement, the first exchange program established between a U.S. university and the Egyptian federation, “another milestone as Kennesaw State steps forward as an international university.”

Mr. El-Helaly said the federation is working to establish an international university athletic championship by 2010, and the agreement with Kennesaw will provide opportunities to learn about sports management and education from one another.

Kennesaw is to host 20 disabled Egyptian youths this fall in partnership with BlazeSports America, an Atlanta-based organization to provide athletic training and competitions for people with disabilities that grew out of the Georgia capital hosting the 1996 Olympic games.

The university has built its Egyptian ties through Ben Johnson, associate dean for community partnerships and global initiatives at Kennesaw’s WellStar College of Health and Human Services.

Mr. Johnson is involved with the State Department’s International Sport Programming Initiative, a public diplomacy effort launched after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to encourage understanding between the U.S. and other nations through athletics.

State Department grants and contributions have garnered $1.5 million for Kennesaw State and BlazeSports, according to a statement from the university.

The recent agreement expands existing pacts with Egyptian universities, as Kennesaw signed similar accords with Alexandria University and Cairo’s Helwan University in May.

Faten Abd El-Latif, Alexandria University’s dean of the kindergarten education faculty, was present at the signing ceremony.

For more information visit www.kennesaw.edu.