Some of the world's smallest nations have asked Australia to put their needs on the G20 summit agenda.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott will host and set the agenda of the global summit in Brisbane in 2014, formally taking over G20 chairmanship on December 1.
Speaking at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas said Australia was in an influential position being both chair of the G20 and a Commonwealth country.
As such, it should put on the table "specific measures to address growth and resilience-building", Dr Denzil said on behalf of the Commonwealth's small states.
He said small states were locked out of financing from bodies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and needed to tackle issues of debt, development and "shocks to the economy" such as natural disasters.
The "vulnerability" of a nation should be a criterion for accessing funds, he said.
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi pleaded for G20 nations to take climate change seriously.
"We all know the cause, we all know the solution, we all know the consequences," he said.
"All that is left is the political courage of the powerful nations to stop climate change."
The Commonwealth defines small states as countries with a population of 1.5 million people or fewer.
Thirty-two of the world's 44 small states are in the Commonwealth.
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