Does the Pacific Plan Really Offer an Avenue for Stronger and Deeper Regional Cooperation

Abstract

The Pacific Plan for Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Integration has been alluded to as an agreement by Forum Island Countries that will need stronger and deeper cooperation to emerge in order to mitigate and address the multiple complex challenges that the region faces. The Pacific Plan encapsulates the four broad strategic goals of the Pacific Forum related to economic growth, sustainable development, governance and security. The whole emphasis of the Plan is to enhance living standards, provide a platform for Pacific people to develop and grow and ensure that the process is sustainable and viable. The Pacific Plan was adopted by Forum Island Leaders in Port Moresby in 2005 as the basis for regional cooperation and integration that will hopefully bring about stronger and deeper cooperation as a pathway for managing our common externalities whether positive or negative by initiating harmonized domestic policies that align to the broader objectives as set out in the Pacific Plan. This essay will look at the origins and the evolution of the Pacific Plan; what are the criticisms that have been leveled at the plan itself and the process of formulating the plan; and the impact that it has had on regionalism with a specific focus on whether the plan will bring about the stronger and deeper cooperation that has been forwarded as the impetus needed for the Forum Island Countries to be able to remain a viable part of the international trend of organizing into regional blocs in order to influence the global agenda.