Distances and other differences may separate them, but an electrical contractor in Norway still has much in common with an electrical contractor in the U. S., or one in Singapore: Every day, they face many of the same problems at work.

Three major industry organizations joined to seek solutions to common challenges under the auspices of the new International Forum of Electrical Contractors (IFEC). In 1996, the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), the International Association of Electrical Contractors (AIE) and the Federation of Asian and Pacific Electrical Contractors Associations (FAPECA) established IFEC as "an important first step toward improving international cooperation in the electrical contracting industry," IFEC represents a new and closer bond between the three parent organizations and their members. In IFEC, electrical contractors around the world have a new forum for sharing information that could help individual companies, thus benefiting the industry as a whole.

IFEC's objectives include:

• the worldwide promotion of the general interests of electrical contracting and related industries;
• an organized exchange of ideas, information and proposals among the member associations;
• the encouragement of improved personal contacts between national or regional member associations, and between individual companies