Track 1/Track 2 symbiosis in Asia-Pacific regionalism

Regional Governance in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific

“…One of ABAC's contributions was the development of the APEC Business Travel Card Scheme, which makes it easier for business people to travel between member countries by providing faster immigration processing. However, other than this example, there has not been much evidence to suggest that ABAC has had a substantial impact on APEC's policy ( [44], p. 557). Moreover, some observers pointed to APEC's difficulty in its attempt to hold the interest of private sector actors in APEC activities [60].…”

“…Thus, PECC became an importance source of information and research expertise for APEC. However, many participants and observers of PECC suggest that although PECC had a significant contribution to the formation of APEC, this very success has called into question PECC's raison d'etre and its future role ( [32], p. 30; [44], p. 557). As Andrew Elek comments, it has become difficult "to keep APEC senior officials and high-level business leaders involved in PECC dialogues" ( [27], p. xvi).…”

“…In 1979, PBEC's International President Noboru Gotoh introduced to its members the concept of a "Pacific Economic Community," which induced members' interest in public policy ( [15], p. 5). Yet it was not until the creation of APEC in 1989 that PBEC members became increasingly interested in influencing policy-makers directly ( [44], p. 555).…”

“…The PAFTAD group continues to hold regular academic meetings. However, PAFTAD's influence on public policy has been mostly "indirect, mediated through the individual standing of its own members and through the filtering of information, analysis and ideas into other networks with a more direct access to governments" ( [44], p. 555).…”

“…The number of participants in the PBEC meetings has declined, while some of its member committees have become inactive ( [66], p. 40). The main reasons for the declining influence of PBEC are its difficulty in securing funding, an increasing number of business conferences, and the redundancy stemming from the coexistence of PBEC and ABAC ( [44], p. 556).…”