How Small Countries Stood Up to the G20
Imagine 20 countries making big economic decisions for the entire planet. And nobody asked the other 170+ countries what they thought. That’s basically what happened after the 2008 financial crisis.
This is part of my retelling of “50 Years of Singapore and the United Nations” (Tommy Koh, Li Lin Chang, Joanna Koh, 2015, ISBN: 978-9814713030).
This chapter is written by Vanu Gopala Menon, who was Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York at the time. He was right in the middle of all this.
The G20 Gets a Promotion
Here’s the backstory. In 2008, the world economy was falling apart. President George W. Bush decided the major economies needed to get together and do something about it. So he revived the G20, which had been a finance ministers’ club since the late 1990s, and upgraded it to a leaders-level summit. Heads of state, not just finance ministers.
It worked, honestly. The G20 took some bold steps and probably prevented a full-blown global depression in 2009.
Then at the Pittsburgh Summit in September 2009, the G20 declared itself the “premier forum for international economic cooperation.” Just like that. Twenty countries decided they were in charge of the global economy.
The Problem Nobody Wanted to Talk About
Sure, the G20 was better than the old G7/G8. At least it included big emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil. But it still left out most of the world.
And here’s the part that really got under people’s skin. At the April 2009 London Summit, the G20 adopted an OECD report listing countries that hadn’t followed international tax standards. Singapore ended up on a “grey list” and was threatened with sanctions.
Meanwhile, all the G20 countries were listed as good guys who followed the rules. But everybody knew some of them had territories that were basically tax havens. The Economist ran an article called “Haven Hypocrisy” pointing out that Nevada, Delaware, and Wyoming were among the worst offenders globally. That’s right - states inside the United States.
Even China stepped in to protect its own. President Hu Jintao refused to let Hong Kong and Macau get listed, so they added a footnote to quietly exempt them. Nice deal if you’re big enough to demand one.
The double standard was impossible to ignore. The G20 was punishing smaller countries for things its own members were doing.
Singapore Says “Enough”
Singapore’s reaction was simple: we’re not going to let this slide. Menon, who was based at the UN in New York, was asked to pull together a group of small and medium-sized countries that felt the same way.
About 21 to 23 countries showed up to those first meetings at the Singapore Mission. They didn’t even have a name yet. That came later, when Liechtenstein’s Foreign Minister Aurelia Frick suggested “Global Governance Group.” Someone noticed the abbreviation worked out to 3G. The name stuck.
Here’s what’s clever about how the 3G approached things. They didn’t start a fight. They didn’t go anti-G20. Most of the members actually agreed that major economies should take the lead on big global problems. The G20 was doing useful work.
But - and this is a big but - the G20 needed to earn legitimacy. If it was going to make decisions for the whole world, it couldn’t just ignore the rest of the world.
So the 3G’s goal became: build a bridge between the G20 and the 170+ other UN member states. Make the process more open. Give smaller countries a seat at the table, or at least a microphone.
Building the Bridge
The 3G started holding meetings. They invited the UN Secretary-General’s office. They reached out to Canada and South Korea, who were hosting the next G20 summits in 2010.
It wasn’t smooth. Some G20 members didn’t take the 3G seriously at first. Why would they? It was a bunch of small countries asking to be heard.
But then something interesting happened. When the G20 tried to get the wider UN membership to acknowledge its summit decisions, it hit a wall. Many countries at the UN were hostile to the G20 process. They saw it as an exclusive club making decisions behind closed doors.
The G20 suddenly realized the 3G could help. The 3G had credibility with both sides. It could serve as a go-between.
On the other side, some countries that hated the G20 were also suspicious of the 3G. They worried that engaging with the 3G would give the G20 more legitimacy. The 3G had to walk a tightrope.
Four Big Ideas
The 3G put together a set of proposals. They’re practical, not radical:
1. Talk to people before you make decisions. The G20 should consult with non-G20 countries before its summits, not just announce results afterward. Smaller countries, which make up most of the UN, should be able to raise concerns.
2. Give the UN Secretary-General a real role. The UNSG should participate in all parts of the G20 process in a meaningful way. Not just show up for a photo. The UNSG couldn’t represent every country’s exact position, but could convey the general mood of the broader membership.
3. Invite regional groups. The African Union, ASEAN, and similar bodies should have a regular seat at G20 meetings. This eventually happened. The G20 now regularly invites the chairs of ASEAN, the AU, and NEPAD to its summits.
4. Open up on specialized issues. Sometimes a small country has deep expertise on a specific topic. Let them join G20 discussions on those topics. The 3G called this “variable geometry” - different participants depending on the subject.
These ideas got written up in a formal paper called “Strengthening the Framework for G20 Engagement of Non-members.” That was Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey’s suggestion. She thought the 3G needed some guiding principles on paper. It was circulated as an official UN document.
Where It Ended Up
By the time this chapter was written, the 3G had grown from about 23 countries to 30. The full list: Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Botswana, Brunei, Chile, Costa Rica, Finland, Guatemala, Jamaica, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, San Marino, Senegal, Singapore, Slovenia, Switzerland, UAE, Uruguay, and Vietnam.
That’s a pretty diverse group. Southeast Asia, Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, Caribbean. All represented.
The 3G started meeting at both ministerial and ambassador levels, in New York and Geneva. It engaged directly with the UN Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, and whoever was hosting the next G20 summit.
And it started making real contributions. The 3G submitted inputs to the G20 Working Group on Development. Some of those suggestions ended up in the Seoul Action Plan on Development. They sent papers on global governance, food security, labor issues, and more.
Here’s a concrete win: since the Seoul Summit in 2010, at least one 3G member has always been represented at G20 summits. Singapore attended as the 3G convenor in Seoul (2010), Cannes (2011), St. Petersburg (2013), and Brisbane (2014). Chile went to Los Cabos (2012). New Zealand went to Brisbane (2014).
Small countries got a seat at the table. Not a permanent one, but a seat nonetheless.
What This Really Means
The 3G didn’t change the world overnight. The G20 is still the G20. Big countries still have more power.
But the 3G did something important. It showed that small countries don’t have to just accept whatever big countries decide. You can organize, propose ideas, build credibility, and actually influence the process.
Menon puts it this way: the 3G served as a “check” on the G20, keeping it honest. It also gave small and medium-sized economies a way to get their concerns heard at the highest level.
The fact that it grew from 23 to 30 members tells you it was working. Countries wouldn’t join if it was pointless.
And for Singapore specifically, leading the 3G showed that a tiny country could play an outsized role in shaping how the world governs itself. That’s been Singapore’s strategy from day one at the UN. Be small. Be smart. Build coalitions. Make yourself useful.
It’s a playbook that works.
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