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Abstract
Most of the world's countries are small. The definition of 'smallness' is of course not quite exact. Small states, even small developing countries differ in many respects. Still, in the case of the small, developing island states - which total 33, making up about 17 per cent of the total membership of the UN - there are many structural similarities. They are, to a large extent, dependent on foreign trade due to their limited and often very poor resource endowment. Some of them are very seriously affected by the long distances not only from the main centres of world output, but also to their neighbouring countries.