Even though small state administrations lack the resources of their larger counterparts, their informality, flexibility, and the autonomy of their diplomats can prove advantageous in negotiations and within institutional settings.

[4][5] FOSS now comprises 108 countries across all geographical regions and at various levels of development and members meet several times a year to discuss issues of concern to small states.

[6]Following discussions, the core group that was convened by Singapore to form FOSS were: [6][7] Small states face structural and capacity barriers to their participation in diplomacy and policymaking at the UN because their foreign ministries and missions are smaller than their larger counterparts, the relative costs of engagement are higher for small states and they often face capacity problems in filtering and processing the vast quantities of information they do receive.

In 2012, at the 20th anniversary of the formation of FOSS, then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted some of the reasons the group was formed: Small developing States face special challenges.

Landlocked developing countries find themselves marginalized from the world economy, cut-off from global flows of knowledge, technology, capital and innovations, and unable to benefit substantially from external trade.

For small states, recovery and reconstruction bills, including the cost of restoring people’s livelihoods, can total more than 100 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.

[9]But small states also have certain advantages, as noted by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong: We can respond more nimbly and adapt more easily to changing circumstances.

With our options more constrained, our collective minds are more readily focussed, and we are less hampered by regional interests and differences, or multiple levels of government, that bigger countries have to grapple with.

[11] In January 2024, PassBlue, a New York City-based nonprofit that observes and independently reports on activities at and involving the UN, launched a series on multi-lateralism and small states.