PBEC: Overview

PACIFIC BASIN ECONOMIC COUNCIL
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The Pacific Basin: A Dynamic Region

"For nearly three decades the Pacific Basin Economic Council has stood on the cutting edge of trade and investment opportunity."
—The Honorable William Clinton, President of the United States of America

The Pacific Basin region contains the world's largest economies, including China, Japan, and the United States. This dynamic region has the world's greatest pool of savings, its most advanced technologies, its fastest-growing and largest potential markets, and its greatest centers of production for key transnational industries. Who can doubt that the Pacific Basin region will continue to set the pace of global economic and technological development into the next century?
PBEC: A Dynamic Force
The Pacific Basin Economic Council is an association of senior business leaders from throughout the Pacific Basin Region dedicated to expanding trade and investment through fostering open markets. Founded in 1967, PBEC serves as the key organization through which regional executives create business relationships, encourage increased trade and investment, support open markets to lower trade barriers, and address emerging issues likely to shape the Pacific and global economies.
[ Ramos ]
"PBEC led the way in the historic drive toward market liberalization. And it can take a fair share of the credit for the economic transformation that has made our region the fastest-growing and most exciting in the world today. "
—H.E. Fidel Ramos, President of the Republic of the Philippines

PBEC's Mission
PBEC's mission is to achieve a business environment in the region that ensures open trade and investment and encourages competitiveness based on the capabilities of individual companies; provide information, networking fora, and services to members that increase their business opportunities; and support cooperative business efforts to address the economic well-being of citizens in the Pacific region.
Objectives
The Pacific Basin Economic Council will have an impact on the following key business issues in the region (in no particular order), which will promote an improved business climate in the region for all PBEC members:

advising governments in order to improve their business environment;
generating foreign investment flows to support economic development objectives;
reducing administrative barriers to international trade in the region;
stimulating the development and accelerating the implementation of new technologies; and
balancing economic development with the need for a clean environment.

[ Mohamad ]
"The Pacific Basin Economic Council is in the best position to advise government about what is on the minds of the region's business leaders regarding trade, investment, and other important business issues."
—H.E. Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia

The Voice of Business
To carry out its mission and serve its members' interests, PBEC provides advice and counsel to governments on emerging issues affecting the Pacific region's development. Through meetings with key officials, PBEC provides members with a mechanism for high-level contact with Pacific Basin governments. PBEC provides advice and counsel to governments on major issues effecting the development of the Pacific region. Private sessions between PBEC executives and government ministers and officials are held regularly.
PBEC also cooperates with international organizations to ensure that business sector viewpoints are actively considered in government decision-making. PBEC also cooperates with international organizations such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank, and the United Nations to ensure that business sector viewpoints are represented.
PBEC meetings and publications help members to stay informed about cutting-edge trends and developments affecting the Pacific region. These activities and its International General Meeting make PBEC the preeminent voice of business in the Pacific Basin region.
PBEC Member Committees
Each Member Committee sets its own agenda and conducts a range of programs, including conferences, seminars, and regular sessions with senior government officials. PBEC's nineteen committees also contribute significantly to the international activities of the organization.
PBEC Working Committees
PBEC acts multilaterally through Working Committees to develop PBEC policy on emerging business issues such as administrative barriers, environment, food products and agriculture, foreign direct investment, services, and technology.
Services
The International General Meeting (IGM)
PBEC hosts the premier business conference in the region each year, the IGM, which brings together more than 700 business leaders, government ministers, and heads of state from more than twenty-five economies around the Pacific, to discuss emerging business opportunities and trade issues facing the region.
Business Symposiums
PBEC holds Business Symposiums focusing on improving the business climate in the region, effectively working with the business community toward the common goals of trade and investment liberalization, and increasing economic growth and prosperity. These symposiums are the ideal setting for governments and APEC to receive input from the business sector and conduct a mutually beneficial dialogue among the companies and governments in the region.
Business Missions
Beginning in 1993, PBEC initiated a program of business missions. The first was to the Russian Far East, visiting the cities of Khabarovsk, Nakhodka, and Vladivostok. The 1994 tour visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The business missions are hosted by top business and government officials, who showcase their economy and the business opportunities available to PBEC members.
PBEC Vitals
The Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) is an association of senior business leaders representing more than 1,100 major corporations in 20 economies around the Pacific.
PBEC member corporations account for more than US$4 trillion in global sales and employ more than 10 million people.
The unprecedented scope and heft of PBEC’s membership constitutes a broad and balanced reservoir of international business knowledge, unmatched in credibility and expertise.
PBEC celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1997.
As the Asia-Pacific's oldest regional business organization, PBEC serves as a forum through which business leaders can create new business relationships, exchange views with government officials, and produce recommendations on key business issues.
PBEC policy positions are often used as a reference by APEC.