Global Sources Hosts Buyer Forums at Fourth Annual China Import and Export Enterprises Conference Featuring Large Retailers QVC and Brookstone

BEIJING, Jan. 18, 2006 – Global Sources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GSOL) hosted two forums at the China Import and Export Enterprises Conference (IEEC) in Beijing on Jan. 14-15, 2006. Both events focused on the future of China’s sourcing and export market.

Global Sources chairman and chief executive officer, Merle A. Hinrichs, said during his keynote address at the conference’s plenary session: “I believe successful China suppliers will increasingly find ways to exit from today’s price war competition, by concentrating instead on creating higher quality products and added-value services.”

Hinrichs continued: “China’s future is not only to be the low-cost assembly and production base for the world, but to provide innovation and added-value for the world’s consumers.”

Global Sources chief operating officer, Craig Pepples, moderator of the IEEC’s International Sourcing and Export Marketing Summit Forum, said: “Buyers are demanding higher quality, more innovative products. Suppliers who can meet their requirements will reap the rewards of dealing with buyers for whom cost is a secondary factor.”

Sourcing experts from large retailers Brookstone and QVC also spoke to mainland China manufacturers at the forum. They discussed buyers’ sourcing habits and their increasing focus on quality.

The IEEC is organized by the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC), a research and advisory institution for social sciences under the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) of the People's Republic of China.

Global Sources management magazine, Chief Executive China, and its online companion Chief Executive China Online (www.ceconline.com), are the official media partners of the IEEC.

For more information about Global Sources, please visit www.corporate.globalsources.com. The official website of China Import and Export Enterprises Conference is www.ec.com.cn .

About Global Sources
Global Sources is a leading business-to-business (B2B) media company and a primary facilitator of two-way trade with Greater China. It provides sourcing information to volume buyers and integrated marketing services to suppliers.

The company helps its community of more than 463,000 active buyers to source more profitably from complex, overseas supply markets. With the goal of providing as many effective ways as possible to advertise, market and sell, Global Sources enables suppliers to sell to hard-to-reach buyers in 230 countries.

The company offers the most extensive range of media and export marketing services in the industries it serves. Suppliers using its four primary channels – online marketplaces, magazines, trade shows and direct online sales – are supported by its advertising creative, education programs and online content management applications.

Global Sources delivers information on 1.4 million products and more than 130,000 suppliers annually through 10 leading online marketplaces and monthly magazines, more than 90 sourcing research reports, and 14 China Sourcing Fairs and other trade shows. Buyers send 5 million inquiries annually to suppliers through Global Sources Online (www.globalsources.com) alone. Global Sources Direct is the company's new initiative that helps suppliers sell online.

In mainland China, Global Sources has a 24-year track record and more than 1,300 team members in 44 locations. Its services are backed by 35 years experience as a trade magazine publisher, 14 years as an organizer of trade shows, and 10 years as an online marketplace operator.