The Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Region, covering eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces located around the lakes and waterways that have given this region its name, is what economic developers call a ‘macro region’. It is an area of intensive economic interaction through trade and value chain linkages. And it shares many similarities in terms of economic development, competitiveness issues, and institutional structure, culture, and history. These two factors make the Region an important arena for policy action, both in areas with strong cross-border implications and for those where challenges are similar but action will ultimately be local.
