1.   Here in Laredo, which has been a trade hub with Mexico for centuries, the benefits and burdens are evident.

2.   Many observers agree that other trade hubs in the region are looming as competitors in the shipping business.

3.   The Philippines wants Subic Bay, now an export and tourism zone, to also become a regional trade hub such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

4.   Over the centuries, cloth and book dealers, East Europeans and overseas businessmen built up the trade hub.

5.   A flight between two trade hubs, central Cebu city and the southern port city of Davao, is being considered.

6.   German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel on Thursday visited Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic that is trying to become a business and trade hub for Central Asia.

7.   Once a bustling Central Asian trade hub, Kabul has no formal industry and only the scant remnants of infrastructure.

8.   The region has become a trade hub, thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement and a growing demand for consumer goods south of the border.

9.   The United Nations hopes to developed the area as a new Northeast Asian trade hub.

10.   To establish Darwin as a trade hub, it says shipping services between the city and East Asia needed to be improved and the airport significantly expanded.