Australia
China
Japan
Russia
Thailand
United Arab Emirates

AUSTRALIA

For the business traveler, the best time to visit Australia is between March and November, since the summer season spans from December to February. January is also a month of school holidays, and many offices are operating on ‘skeleton staff’. Christmas and New Year fall in the middle of summer in Australia, and this is a high holiday season for the whole month of January, so avoid scheduling visits then, as well as around Easter.

Etiquette/body language: when speaking to an Australian, keep an arm's length distance from the person. Maintaining personal space is important in this culture. In most situations, direct, moderate speech is most appropriate. Australians are not comfortable with silence and will feel they have to say something.
Keep your hands to your sides and avoid emphasizing the spoken word with gestures. Touching, patting or hugging other men in public are considered socially unacceptable.
In Australia, many business deals are made in a social environment, and it is not unusual to conduct a meeting over breakfast, lunch, dinner and, with the cafe culture on the rise, even in coffee shops.

Women: men will not surrender a seat for a woman of the approximate same age.
Although it is customary in this culture for men to sit in the front with the taxi driver, this is not the case for women. A woman traveling alone should sit in the back left passenger seat of the car; the driver will be on the right.

Special public holidays: 26 January (Australia Day), 25 April (Anzac Day), 1st Tuesday of November (Melbourne Cup Day).

CHINA

Business appointments: being late for an appointment is considered a serious insult in Chinese business culture.
The best times for scheduling appointments are April to June and September to October.
Most Chinese workers take a break between 12:00 p.m.- 2:00 p.m. Practically everything "shuts down" during this period, including elevator and phone services.

Women: women should wear conservative suits or dresses; a blouse or other kind of top should have a high neckline. Stick with subdued, neutral, colours such as beige and brown.
Because of the emphasis on conservative, modest, dress in Chinese business culture, flat shoes or very low heels are the main footwear options for women. This is true especially if you are relatively much taller than your hosts. High heels are acceptable only at a formal reception hosted by a foreign diplomat.

Gifts: lavish gift giving was an important part of Chinese culture in the past. Today, official policy in Chinese business culture forbids giving gifts; this gesture is considered bribery, an illegal act in this country. Consequently, your gift may be declined.
In many organizations, however, attitudes surrounding gifts are beginning to relax. In any case, you will have to approach giving gifts with discretion, as outlined in the following points.
If you wish to give a gift to an individual, you must do it privately, in the context of friendship, not business.
The Chinese will decline a gift three times before finally accepting, so as not to appear greedy. You will have to continue to insist. Once the gift is accepted, express gratitude. You will be expected to go through the same routine if you are offered a gift. Do not wrap a gift before arriving in China, as it may be unwrapped in Customs.
If possible, have your gifts wrapped in red paper, which is considered a lucky colour. Plain red paper is one of the few “safe” choices since a variety of meanings, many of which are negative, are attributed to colours in Chinese culture.
Pink and gold and silver are also acceptable colours for gift wrap.

Etiquette/body language: to summon attention, turn your palm down, waving your fingers toward yourself.
Use your whole hand rather than your index finger to point.
The Chinese, especially those who are older and in positions of authority, dislike being touched by strangers.
Acknowledge the most senior person in a group first.

JAPAN

Business appointments: certainly, when meeting somebody the first time, I would still recommend wearing nothing that stands out too much. Many foreigners tend to sport a showy tie - once you get to know the partner/customer better, perhaps that will be fine, but not for initial discussions.

For women making visits to Japan, it would be wise to stick with a formal outfit in order to try to win over respect. Don't wear too much jewelry or makeup. Dressing too casually might catch the other partys' eye, but it won't have him respecting you, which is a challenge in itself in the Japanese culture. You want your Japanese counterpart to take you seriously, so dress as you would at a board meeting.

Etiquette/body language: present your business card Japanese-language side up, with the writing facing the recipient, holding it in both hands. Treat all business cards you receive with repect (ie. do not deface or rip it, or place it in a back trouser pocket). Avoid crossing your legs if possible. Sit up and be attentive in the meetings. Your leg coming up above the table suggests you are too relaxed and actually not showing respect.

RUSSIA

Business appointments: when making appointments, be sure to schedule them far in advance. It will also be in your best interests to confirm any appointment several times, as the scheduled date approaches.
Don't attempt to schedule your trip to Russia near the end of July or during the month of August, because this is the time of year many people take their vacations.
Always be punctual, but do not be surprised if your Russian contacts are not. It is not unusual for a Russian to be one or two hours late for an appointment. Generally, the more important the meeting is for your Russian counterparts, the more punctual they will be. In case you are kept waiting, it's a good idea to bring work or another diversion to fill the time. In other circles, however, being five minutes late is frowned upon. In any case, it will be in your best interests to arrive on time.
Allow plenty of time for each appointment. Not only may appointments start late, they may last far longer than originally planned.

Etiquette/names: it is perfectly appropriate, when meeting someone, to simply state your family name without any additional greeting.
Ensure that you learn the titles of everyone you plan to encounter, as these distinctions are extremely important in this culture.
Usually, Russians have three names. The first name is a given name, while the last name is the father's family name. The middle name is a version of the father's first name, known as a patronymic with a male suffix added; for a woman, the patronymic is also the father's first name but with a female-type suffix added. When you become well acquainted with a person, you may be invited to refer to him or her by the first name and patronymic.
The handshake is common. The Russian version is a firm grip with several quick shakes between two men. This is a daily procedure and saying 'hello' isn't enough, even if you know somebody really well. Between men and women or two women, however, the handshake is much softer. Men should wait until a woman extends her hand before reaching for it. Between women, the older woman extends her hand first.
Eye contact during the introduction is very important, and must be maintained as long as the individual is addressing you.

THAILAND

Business appointments: appointments in Thailand are always best made a few days in advance, and then confirmed again on the day. Being late for a meeting is sometimes unavoidable due to the horrendous traffic [or simply getting lost!] but is best avoided by careful planning. Nevertheless, a quick call to explain you are stuck in traffic is appreciated.
It is best to try and avoid business trips to Bangkok during early April, as many staff will be on leave.

Dress code: given the heat, a lot of people wear a singlet underneath their business shirt to protect their shirts from the sweat stains and to guard against the freezing air conditioning found in most office buildings.
For women, skirts are generally always better than pants, and in some establishments [mainly some government offices and schools] are all that is accepted. Generally, skirts are below the knee. If wearing a skirt, most Thais will also wear a matching jacket to keep warm in offices where the air-conditioning is commonly set to a low temperature. Thailand is still very conservative and wearing sleeveless tops is not recommended unless a jacket is worn over the top.
Thai culture can, despite what you may first think when walking around Bangkok, be very conservative. It is always best to wear long sleeved shirts and trousers, and shoes rather than sandals if you are unsure.
For females in particular, it is better to wear clothes that cover your shoulders and upper legs, especially if going to a social function where work colleagues will be present.

Etiquette: be careful not to step over anything, especially food or someone's work, or touch anything with your feet. Be careful not to point your feet at someone or something.
Be aware that it is not appropriate to touch people on the head, or pass things over the head. An example of this kind of mistake is to pass a microphone cord over someone's head.
Pointing is considered rude--instead use your whole hand to gesture carefully in the general direction of the thing you want to point out.
The "Wai": to wai, bring your palms together and your elbows in to your waist, and then raise your palms to be at the same height as your chin. It is also good to bow your head slightly at the same time, and when waiing older people, to remember to lower your head more than usual.
If you are visiting a company with Thai colleagues they will wai the host of the meeting who will return the wai. As a foreigner, be prepared to either wai or shake hands, especially if you are dealing with someone who is working at an international company or has travelled abroad before. The best way to deal with this is to follow the lead of the host--the large majority will shake your hand after waiing the Thais in the room. It is very rare to both wai and then shake hands with the same person.
If your host does wai you then you should definitely wai that person in return.
Do not wai children, waiters, taxi drivers, maids, or other service staff.
Don't panic if senior staff do not wai in return, as it is unusual for older people to wai younger people in return. The most common response would be a simple nod of acknowledgement.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Business appointments: the importance attached to courtesy and hospitality can cause delays that prevent keeping to a strict schedule. It is therefore customary to make appointments for times of day rather than precise hours.
Although prayer times vary around the year, current ones are always printed in the daily newspapers and the visitor should keep abreast of them when making appointments. Exact prayer times vary with the season, but the five daily prayers are as follows: Fajr [between dawn and sunrise], Dhuhr [about half an hour after mid-day], Asr [mid-afternoon], Maghrib [immediately after sunset] and Isha' [from an hour and a half after sunset].
Whilst not legally enforced, the dawn to dusk fast in Ramadhan should be respected in public as a gesture of common courtesy. As the Hijri calendar is lunar, Ramadhan [as well as all other months] advances an average eleven days per year against the Gregorian calendar.

Appointments: it is often better not to book an appointment but merely turn up on the off chance. If you already know the person, you would be expected to pay an impromptu social call whenever in the area anyway. Of course, this works both ways, so that one must be prepared to tolerate others popping in on one's own business as well. Within reason, the higher the level, the better this works.
A minister's diary is likely to be full well ahead, but by going around and being prepared to wait, there is a good chance of exploiting an unanticipated gap between appointments. It is always a good idea, however, to take along a letter that you can leave with the man's secretary should you not see him.
Unlike in the west, secretaries do not normally have authority to make appointments for their bosses.

Dress: appropriate business dress for men is shirt and trousers during the day with collar and tie in the evening. Bush suits are also popular and suitable for the climate. Ladies need not dress quite so modestly as elsewhere in Arabia but should still be careful not to offend by wearing anything too revealing.

Etiquette: Generally, one should always shake hands with every man present but not with women.
As the UAE is so cosmopolitan and has such a small native population, the likelihood is that one will find oneself dealing with other nationalities [except for government business]. Conversational manners should, therefore, adapt to the nationality of the host, which could be anything except Israeli!