Former New Zealand Prime Minister the Rt Hon Helen Clark has called for small states to be given meaningful space in building a fairer international system, speaking at a high-level forum hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. According to Antigua News Room, the event — a Marlborough House Conversation — centred on the question of what space Commonwealth small states have in a multipolar world where middle powers are growing increasingly assertive.
The conversation was moderated by HE Karen-Mae Hill OBE, High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Kingdom. Antigua and Barbuda will host the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and assume the role of Commonwealth Chair-in-Office. The Marlborough House event forms part of the Commonwealth Secretariat's programme of dialogue in the lead-up to that summit.
Commonwealth Secretary-General the Hon Shirley Botchwey opened the event, welcoming Clark back to the Commonwealth family and reaffirming her commitment to small states. "We must change the narrative around small states. We cannot speak only of vulnerability," Botchwey said. "Commonwealth small states are often the clearest voices in global affairs: they understand interdependence because they live it. In the Commonwealth, 56 nations, large and small, developed and developing, island and continental, speak with an equal voice. That is not a procedural detail; it is a political principle. Our task now is to turn that principle into influence, and I am determined that the Commonwealth will be an instrument for the transformation of its small states."
Clark, who also chairs the Global Leadership Foundation and previously served as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was joined by the Hon Bill Blair, High Commissioner of Canada to the United Kingdom. Small states make up 33 of the Commonwealth's 56 member countries.
Speakers at the forum noted that while the existing multilateral system has served the world for decades, it is under growing strain. Institutions designed for an earlier era are struggling, international cooperation is retreating, and the effects of climate change fall heaviest on the countries least responsible. Panellists also highlighted that small states often contribute disproportionately to multilateral engagement — particularly on climate, ocean, and environmental action — relative to their size.
Clark used her address to warn against a reformed international order that merely expands the circle of powerful players. "The multilateral system was built on the promise that every nation, whatever its size, has a stake and a say in our shared future. That promise is fraying," she said. "As power shifts and middle powers rightly seek a greater role, we must ensure the answer is not simply a slightly larger club of the powerful. Small states bring moral clarity, hard-won experience and outsized leadership on climate, on oceans and on peace. A revitalised multilateralism must make room for them, not as an act of charity, but because the system will be stronger and more legitimate for it."
Blair echoed that position, arguing that middle powers carry a responsibility to act as genuine partners to smaller nations. "Canada believes that a rules-based international order only works if it works for everyone," he said. "Middle powers have a responsibility not to replicate the patterns of dominance we seek to change, but to open doors and build coalitions with small states as genuine partners. The Commonwealth shows what that partnership can look like in practice."
Hill, speaking in her capacity as moderator and as High Commissioner for the incoming CHOGM host nation, underscored the significance of the timing. "As Antigua and Barbuda prepares to welcome Commonwealth leaders to CHOGM 2026, this conversation could not be more timely," she said. "Small states are not asking for a seat at the margins of a new world order; we are asserting our place at its heart. I look forward to a time when the contribution of small states to multilateralism is fully recognised and supported, building on the Commonwealth's decades of championing the voices of small states."
CHOGM 2026 will be held in Antigua and Barbuda in November under the theme 'Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth', bringing together leaders from across the bloc's 56 nations to advance shared prosperity for its 2.7 billion people.
