ABSTRACT
The Asian and world financial crisis of the late 1990s has shown the limits of governments as the sole or even primary contributors to policy debates regarding the development of commercial law and economic development. Non-governmental scholarly and professional groups, such as the Asia Pacific Economic Law Forum (APELF), have an important contribution to make, especially in the current policy vacuum. The Asian financial crisis presents opportunities for further collaborative endeavour. These possibilities are beginning to be recognized in governmental bodies such as APEC and the Asian Development Bank.
