The “Blue Pacific” identity was endorsed by Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in 2017 as the core driver for collective action for advancing the Leaders’ Vision under the Framework for Pacific Regionalism. At a time of increasing attention from both new and old development partners, the concept is seen by some as a collective determination by Pacific people to decide their own development agenda. Meanwhile, the Pacific Islands region is becoming more complex as competition for influence grows. On the one hand, the growing interest over recent years from a range of new governments, development partners and civil society organisations has brought greater opportunities for partnerships and access to financing. On the other, this increased attention calls for some caution. In the words of the Pacific Island Forum Leaders at their summit in Nauru in 2018, “leaders acknowledged the dynamic geopolitical environment that has led to an increasingly crowded and contested region and reaffirmed the need to strengthen collective and cohesive action to effectively manage the regional security environment in a proactive manner”. Vanuatu has a strong interest in a secure, stable and prosperous Pacific Islands region. Overall, the region has enjoyed an image of peace and stability, although this has tended to obscure the many challenges the region faces, a number of which are becoming more acute. 18 Part 1. National Security in a complex world A permanent challenge is the vast expanse of the region and huge EEZs, sparsely populated by mostly small island states remote from each other. It is characterised by small formal economies, great distance from major markets, high costs and heavy reliance on development assistance.Other challenges include rising inequality, expanding and restive youth populations, gender-based violence, resource constraints and depletion of natural resources, illegal fishing, weak borders and increasingly sophisticated trans-national crime. Added to that is the constant threat of natural disasters, now compounded by climate change. External aggression in the Pacific Island region is unlikely, as is the return of the type of conflict and instability seen in past decades in Bougainville, New Caledonia and Solomon Islands. New pressures however mean low-level instability, with the potential to impact on neighbouring countries, cannot be ruled out. Vanuatu shares many of the challenges of its Pacific Islands neighbours, the most acute being natural disasters and climate