RSIS held a report launch seminar for “Small States and the Multilateral System: Creating a More Inclusive and Equitable World for All” on 1 November 2024. The event featured Ms Ng Boon Yian, Director-General for International Organisation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and also saw remarks from Dr Mely Caballero-Anthony, RSIS Associate Dean (International Engagement). There was also a panel discussion featuring the report’s authors including Dr Adam Lupel, IPI’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Dr Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, Head of the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS); and Dr Joel Ng, Deputy Head of CMS,.
Dr Mely commenced the launch seminar by welcoming panelists and esteemed guests. She credited the report’s success to the close collaboration between RSIS and the International Peace Institute (IPI), before highlighting its relevance in today’s geopolitically-fragmented environment, where small states are not mere bystanders but crucial shapers of the multilateral system. She reiterated that the report serves as a call to action for collective engagement in shaping a shared future.
Ms Ng also recognised the report’s relevance, emphasising that small states, including Singapore, possess agency and must continue to collaborate in upholding the United Nations Charter and advocating for a rules-based international order. She compared small states to ants and bees in the multilateral ecosystem, highlighting their capacity to overcome challenges through collective effort and the formation of symbiotic relationships.
In sharing the rationale and process behind the report, Dr Lupel accentuated that the report serves as a tool for small states to navigate the widening geopolitical tensions and to facilitate constructive inputs ahead of the UN Summit of the Future. He recalled the report was a culmination of discussions, interviews, and roundtables with numerous small states. Dr Kaewkamol subsequently summarised respective sections of the report, emphasissing that small states have become important players in pushing for multilateral action in a more intertwined world. She presented the tools that small states can leverage to advance their collective agency in shaping the multilateral system, before pointing to the seven recommendations on how small states can further increase their agency. Dr Ng then presented Singapore’s approach to multilateralism, stressing that the country has consistently been at the forefront of multilateral cooperation. He explained that rules-based frameworks are essential for regional stability and predictability, noting the inherent nature of small states enables them to foster cooperation.
The ensuing Q&A segment entailed relevant topics, including the necessity for small states to collaborate across regional forums, and areas where small states have greater space to act, especially in frontier issues where they will likely enjoy the first-mover advantage in, or when technical expertise is required such as in AI governance. The panelists also underscored the importance of adopting a bottom-up approach to global governance to achieve a more equitable international system. The Q&A concluded with a discussion on potentially expanding the report’s scope to incorporate additional examples of small states exercising their agency.
