Toward a New Pacific Regionalism

Abstract

This report grew out of the efforts of a joint ADB–Commonwealth project team. It surveys the challenges and opportunities facing the Forum membership. It looks to economic theory to highlight lessons for regionalism in the Pacific. It demonstrates that benefits can be secured by the Forum membership from closer cooperation and integration, and proposes ways in which the inevitable costs can be offset. It provides insights from other regions, while showing that the experiences of other regions, however successful they may be, cannot also be introduced in the Pacific region without careful consideration of its own unique history, diversity, and geography.