ABSTRACT
The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) began as a political association of three South Pacific countries, namely the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. This chapter aims to introduce the MSG by looking at its potential economic and commercial impacts on regional trade, in the context of both the Forum and World Trade Organisation trading arrangements. The MSG was instituted by its pioneering founders at a time of profound political, economic and social change in the region. Regional political developments arising from developments in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and trade imbalances and low foreign reserves affecting most island countries will force a transformation in the future structure and effectiveness of the MSG. These developments will likely be complicated by the emergence of Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement and Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Cooperation, not necessarily at the theoretical but at the practical level.
