Asia has seen a number of businesses make a presence for themselves starting from just having a website in the virtual world. As more and more of Asia obtains broadband, 3G and even WiMax access, the online market increases and more and more people recognise the internet’s potential as a cheap and wide reaching entry point for business.

Perform an extensive search in the Asian market you selected for your investment plans. Always remember that you should be very familiar with your chosen country’s rules and regulations regarding foreign investment. This is because these rules can play a very important role in the development of the investment plan you are going to execute in the investment market you selected. If you don’t give enough attention to these rules you could suffer huge losses. Each Asian country has got contrasting set of rules and regulations, but almost all are aimed at making the investors feel very comfortable. So you don’t have to express deep concerns about these restrictions.

Have an introduction before you go from upper management or a credible third party. This can be done by a fax, a phone call, email or at the first meeting if necessary face to face through a formal introduction. The introduction should highlight your credentials and show that your company is endorsing you to do business on their behalf. If you are an entrepreneur send a fax and literature on your company in advance of your first meeting. Include your bio if you have a strong background (education, titles, honors etc.). One woman entrepreneur sent a video tape of herself at work with her employees in additional to company literature to illustrate this size and credibility of her firm.

In Delhi, I walked through the old market of Chandni Chowk, which I had read so much about. Once it was a destination for camel trains from Kashgar, traders carrying jasper and sardonyx, cinnamon logs from Madagascar and much more. Today, it’s still a busy market, lined with shops where you can buy just about anything.

The baht closed Tuesday at 33.48 to the dollar, just off an early high of 33.47, its highest level since September 1997. The baht had closed at 33.78 Monday.

Tarisa said the baht’s recent strength has been due mostly to portfolio investments, but its rise Tuesday was due to misunderstandings about new rules allowing certain nonresidents to tap onshore baht liquidity.

“The baht today was pressured by exporters’ panic selling (of dollars) which caused an abnormal move in the baht. Exporters should not panic,” Tarisa said at a briefing for reporters.

The Bank of Thailand said Monday it would create a one-month window starting July 16 for foreign businesses and banks to borrow baht within the country to roll over hedged offshore positions.

The baht trades at a higher level outside Thailand because some foreign investors want to avoid a 30 percent withholding requirement imposed in December on many types of inflows. The central bank imposed those capital controls to stem the baht’s appreciation.

So far this year, the baht has risen 7 percent against the dollar, compared with appreciation by regional peers between around 1 percent and 10 percent, Tarisa said.

Upward pressure on the baht is likely to ease because portfolio inflows can’t go on forever, and dollar buying by importers is expected to rise in the coming months, Tarisa said earlier Tuesday in a live interview on a local business news radio program.

“At a certain point where stock prices have risen enough, such flows will surely slow down,” she said.

Thailand’s stock market has risen to its highest in more than 10 years.