is also important to emphasise that this activity is continually expand ing. At the time of writing, new regional ventures and institutions were in the planning stage. The range of regional activity and its rate of expansion is particularly significant when viewed in the context of the limitations imposed by lack of resources and the relatively short time period in which it has occurred.
Whilst the survey indicates that the Pacific states have attempted to co-operate on a wide range of matters, it also demonstrates that there has been considerable variation in the level of integration achieved in different functional areas. A relatively high level of integration has been achieved, for example, in relation to some inter national issues, on university education, on some aspects of health, in some specialty training areas, and on some areas of research, such as tropical agriculture and fisheries resources. Medium-level integration has been achieved in such areas as shipping, where a pooling scheme approach has not precluded the development of national lines;
This survey has not made mention of regional approaches to such areas as the environment and energy, preservation of cultures, sport, aid co-ordination and processing, and disaster relief. For a description of these and other activities pursued through the two major regional networks see SPEC, Director's Annual Report, and SPC, Annual Report of tine South Racific Commission.
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The regional institutions making up this network are listed at Appendix 8. The numerous regular and ad hoc regional conferences also
form an important part of this structural network. Regional conferences held in 1977 are listed at Appendix 9.
telecommunications training, where there is only one institution in the region but where it is managed by only one country; and trade promotion, where there is a joint approach to gaining preferential access to markets outside the region and a commitment to ad hoc trade promotion within the region. Low-level integration has been achieved in areas such as civil aviation, where there is an attempt at co-operation among national air lines but where the one regional carrier concept is effectively dead; and tourism, industrial development and industrial relations, where a pooling of information and other limited co-operative attempts have been made.
The promotion of low-level integration in a particular area may indicate an early stage in regional co-operation and that higher-level integration will later be attempted, as is likely in the case of tourism. A low-level integration venture might also indicate that this level of
co-operation is thought to be the highest which can practically be expected, as is the case with bulk purchasing where studies have shown
that it is only feasible in relation to medical supplies. A third possi bility is that lower-level integration is a 'fall-back' position from a failed higher integration attempt such as is the case with civil aviation.
Functional co-operation has been pursued through a variety of regional structures - ad hoc and regular conferences, ministerial councils, nationally-managed regional institutions, special-purpose regionally-managed institutions and multi-functional regional organis ations. The type of structure employed usually indicates the level of integration that is being attempted. Conferences, for example, tend to be associated with lower-level integration; ministerial councils and nationally-managed regional institutions with medium-level integration; and regionally managed institutions with higher-level integration.
This is not, however, an infallible guide as in some circumstances it may be that a greater degree of co-operation is achieved through a
regional conference than through a permanent institution. In general, however, the use of a permanent regional institution has tended to indicate that a higher level of integration is being attempted, if not achieved.
There is a further qualification that should be noted. In some functional areas, such as international bargaining, a permanent regional structure may not be appropriate. Most of the examples of high-level integration given above are in fact pursued through multi-functional regional organisations. Although highly integrated areas of co
operation, the programmes being pursued are generally of such low scale that they do not warrant a special regional institution to administer them. The regional university is the major exception. In some
functional areas co-operation has been pursued through several different types of regional structure as the commitment to integration grows
stronger over time. In the field of shipping, for example, co-operation was first approached through regional conferences, then through a
Ministerial Council, and finally through a permanent regional organis ation, the Pacific Forum Line.
Although regional proposals involving a high degree of integration have often been contemplated, and sometimes attempted, there has generali been a shying away from such options in favour of options involving a lesser degree of integration. For example, high-level integration optior in the functional areas of trade, civil aviation, development finance, shipping, and industrial development, would be a free trade area, a regional airline, a regional development bank, a regional shipping cor poration which owned its own vessels, and regional rationalisation of
serious consideration/ they have each been rejected in favour of lower- level integration options.
The free trade area option was passed over in favour of ad hoc regional trade promotion and the negotiation of preferential access to the Australian, New Zealand, and EEC markets. In the case of the regional airline, the Pacific states have opted for co-operation among national airlines after a troubled experience with a regional carrier. The
regional development bank proposal, which had been given serious consider ation over many years, was finally passed over in favour of a joint
approach to gain access to Asian Development Bank funds. Whereas early proposals for a regional shipping line involved a corporation which would acquire its own vessels, the proposal which ultimately won acceptance advocated a 'pooling' concept. It was also noted that the regional rationalisation of industrial development has not been attempted though there is provision for SPEC to examine this if the Forum becomes committed to the idea. Once again a lower level form of integration has been
adopted.
The evidence suggests that those ventures requiring considerable
commitment of national resources and a surrendering of national sovereignty have been generally rejected at the proposal stage, have failed after
establishment or have struggled on beset by difficulties. It has proved very difficult to achieve high-level integration in such areas. Examples of this type of venture include the regional airline, the shipping line, the Telecommunications Training Centre, the free trade area concept, the University, and the proposed Fisheries Agency. As the implications for national interests of such ventures are significant their establishment and operation have been of substantial concern to the Pacific leaders. It is in relation to such co-operative ventures that political divisions, tensions and obstacles have been most evident.
On the other hand, ventures requiring a low-level commitment of resources and which involve only a very small part of total policies within a given functional area have not been politically contentious.
Such programmes are usually pursued through the multi-functional organisations. They include such areas as positions on some inter national issues, and specialised areas of training, research and practical programmes in aspects of health, community development and
rural development. Because these are very small segments of policies in a given functional area such as health they do not threaten national sovereignty and because they are low scale they do not require very much commitment of national resources. It has been possible, therefore, to achieve relatively high levels of integration in these restricted areas.
The regional ventures which have involved division and tensions within the Pacific community have nearly all been associated with the South Pacific Forum. The regional programmes pursued through the SPC have not generally been politically contentious. In view of their respective memberships this means that the hard issues of regionalism have tended to involve only the independent Pacific countries. There is, however, some slight variation in independent country membership of the main special-purpose regional institutions."^
Although the various co-operative ventures examined in this chapter are controlled by the Pacific states it is evident that their operation is heavily dependent on financial and technical assistance provided by
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