NBTA had "asked ACTE officials to craft a proposal on how the groups might cooperate to leverage their relative strengths," NBTA said

Before the Association of Corporate Travel Executives' board on Monday voted it down, . The National Business Travel Association and ACTE "have recently been in talks about possible opportunities to work together to maximize the value each association delivers to the business travel industry ... in light of economic pressures currently facing the business--particularly supplier companies that invest in both organizations," according to an NBTA statement confirming talks first reported last week by The Beat.