The Rt Hon Helen Clark and the Hon Bill Blair, High Commissioner of Canada to the United Kingdom, join the Commonwealth Secretariat as guests for a Marlborough House Conversation in the lead up to CHOGM 2026 in Antigua and Barbuda
Small states must be given the space to help build a fairer, revitalised international system, the Rt Hon Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand , said today at a Marlborough House Conversation hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat on the question: ‘What space is there for Commonwealth small states in a multipolar world where middle powers are also increasingly assertive?’
The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Hon Shirley Botchwey , opened the event, welcoming Ms Clark back to the Commonwealth family and setting out her determination that the Commonwealth will be an instrument for the transformation of its small states.
Speaking at the event, Secretary-General Botchwey said:
“We must change the narrative around small states. We cannot speak only of vulnerability. 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.”
Rt Hon Clark, Chair of the Global Leadership Foundation and former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) , was joined as a guest of the Secretariat by the Hon Bill Blair, High Commissioner of Canada to the United Kingdom. The Conversation was moderated by HE Karen-Mae Hill OBE, High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Kingdom , the country that will host the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and assume the role of Commonwealth Chair-in-Office.
Small states are a vital part of the Commonwealth, accounting for 33 of its 56 member countries. During today’s panel, the speakers noted that while the current multilateral system has served the world for decades, it is under growing strain. Institutions designed for a different age are struggling, cooperation is in retreat, climate impacts fall heaviest on those least responsible, and many countries feel that decisions affecting their futures are taken elsewhere. Yet the contribution of small states to multilateral engagement is often disproportionately high relative to their size, particularly on climate, ocean and environmental action.
The discussion explored how the Commonwealth’s model of consensus-based decision-making among 56 diverse nations, each with an equal voice, can inform a revitalised, values-based global order underpinned by international law, in which small and vulnerable states are participants and shapers rather than bystanders.
Rt Hon Helen Clark said:
“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. 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.”
Hon Bill Blair said:
“Canada believes that a rules-based international order only works if it works for everyone. 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.”
HE Karen-Mae Hill said:
“As Antigua and Barbuda prepares to welcome Commonwealth leaders to CHOGM 2026, this conversation could not be more timely. 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.”
The Marlborough House Conversation forms part of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s programme of dialogue in the lead up to CHOGM 2026, hosted by Antigua and Barbuda in November under the theme ‘Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth’, bringing together leaders from across the Commonwealth to deliver shared prosperity for its 2.7 billion
This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: "Small states must help shape a fairer multilateral order", says former New Zealand Prime Minister the Rt Hon Helen Clark.