Smaller economies and island states are increasingly turning to flexible, issue-based cooperation frameworks to safeguard trade and economic interests, as traditional global institutions face mounting pressure and slower decision-making.
According to the 2026 Global Cooperation Barometer, co-authored by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company, this shift towards “minilateralism” reflects growing strain within established multilateral systems such as the World Trade Organization. Rather than relying solely on large, consensus-driven forums, smaller and trade-dependent economies are increasingly forming targeted partnerships built around shared interests and practical outcomes.
One example highlighted in the report is the Future of Investment and Trade (FIT) Partnership, launched in September 2025. Co-convened by Singapore and New Zealand, alongside the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland, the initiative brings together 14 small and medium-sized economies to pilot forms of trade cooperation that protect the gains of economic integration at a time of global uncertainty.
The report also points to regional cooperation models focused on access to essential goods. In the Caribbean, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States has scaled a collective procurement approach that reduced the price of insulin across member states. By coordinating trade priorities at a bloc level, participating countries were able to strengthen bargaining power and stabilise access to critical medicines.
Minilateral arrangements are also being used to support energy security and infrastructure needs. Singapore’s participation in cross-border power trading through the Laos PDR–Thailand–Malaysia–Singapore Power Integration Project is cited as an example of how smaller states can secure cleaner energy supply while reducing exposure to domestic constraints. Similar approaches are emerging around critical minerals and frontier technologies, where small groups of countries pool influence to secure supply chains.
Environmental and maritime cooperation feature prominently in the report’s assessment. The expansion of marine protected areas by French Polynesia is cited as part of a wider trend in natural capital cooperation, while the United Nations High Seas Treaty, expected to enter into force in 2026, introduces a legally binding framework to protect oceans beyond national jurisdictions, a development of particular relevance to island and maritime states.
For the Maldives, the report’s findings raise questions about how foreign policy and economic engagement are structured in an increasingly fragmented global environment. As a small, trade-dependent island state with heavy reliance on external supply chains, the Maldives faces many of the same vulnerabilities highlighted in the analysis, from access to essential goods to exposure to geopolitical shifts in trade and energy flows.
While the Maldives continues to engage actively in multilateral forums, the experience of other small states suggests there may be scope to complement this approach through more targeted, interest-based partnerships. The report indicates that minilateral groupings allow countries to match the format of cooperation to specific challenges, whether related to trade, health, energy, or environmental protection, rather than relying on broad, slow-moving global mechanisms alone.
The Global Cooperation Barometer notes that data on small island states is often aggregated within broader categories, masking distinct vulnerabilities and policy needs. Against this backdrop, the growing use of minilateralism by peer economies highlights an emerging pathway that could inform how the Maldives re-examines its foreign policy toolkit in response to shifting global dynamics, without abandoning multilateral engagement altogether.
