Three Strathclyde Business School students joined student leaders from around the world at the G20 Youth Forum in Munich, Germany, with one receiving the G20 Youth Forum Recognition Award for her involvement in an environmental protest.
The G20 Youth Forum is the largest international event organised for young leaders in 2014 and about 1200 young leaders, parliamentarians, students and academics, representatives of the business world, governments and international organisations, participated.
MBM students Yanjie Yang and Divij Bahl attended alongside Economics undergraduate Andrew Tarnasiewicz.
Yanjie, who was one of just seven main speakers at the Grand Opening, was delighted to receive recognition for her environmental protest success in China, receiving the G20 Youth Forum Recognition Award, named the Silver Angel Award.
“I received the award at the official opening gala dinner. I was selected from over 50 countries’ delegates and given the Silver Angel Award for considerable contribution and impact of my environmental work.
“I never expected any award for my involvement in the protest. When I organised it, I only wanted to protect my hometown. I hope I can always be proud of the blue sky and beautiful landscapes there but this honour only encourages me to protect our precious environment from further action.
She added, “Applying to the G20 was one of the best choices of my life. It was an amazing trip to meet so many awesome people around the world and I heard many great stories and learned a lot from these inspiring young people.”
Those students accepted for the G20 Youth Forum are designated roles as heads of state and ministers for youth delegations. The forum’s overall goals are to involve young leaders in resolving current, pressing economic and social problems, establish an intercultural dialogue and build business partnerships and friendships.
The G20 Youth Forum 2014 has three main platforms which ran in tandem with each other:
Representatives at the three-day event produce a final communique that is shared with the G20 Heads of States and leading international organisations including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and European Commission.
The summit is an international non-governmental not-for-profit civil society project, independent from any government of the G8 or G20. Its aim is to represent independent views and opinions of a new generation of young leaders.
Yanjie took the role of UK Minister of Education. She said, “I also chaired the Committee on Entrepreneurial Climate for Youth for the summit platform which involved facilitating the discussion, driving the dialogues and enforcing the time limits of each meeting. I really enjoyed working and communicating with my peers and I hope the forum will provide opportunities to make ideas come true.”
Economics student Andrew Tarnasiewicz added, “I applied for the UK Head of State and for the Tax System and Living Conditions for Youth summit and was successful in both my applications. This was a very interesting experience for me as in the future I want to go into politics. Moreover, it was a chance for me to expand my knowledge and be part of finding the right and correct solution for improving the international tax system mostly in favour for the Less Economically Developing countries. It was a great opportunity to share my ideas and debate about such a controversial and difficult topic.
“The most interesting part is that our collective conclusions will actually be taken into consideration by the real future G20.”
Divij Bahl, who also studies MBM, said, “I applied to the G20 in the committee Family and Youth career opportunities, and was shortlisted after writing motivational and cover letters, biography, and position papers, for which I had to read more than 30 articles and keep myself up to date with current affairs. This was a big challenge as I had my semester exams at the same time.
“I represented the Ministry of Economy at the event. Being an engineer and pursuing a business degree now, I have a strong desire to achieve in the field of economics and analytics. I gained valuable experience in the field of analytics, communication and learnt different persuasion techniques. G20 was a great platform for me to put my skills to test.
“I applied for Lead to Success as well which is a Youth Mentorship programme of G20.
This involved a presentation about my business idea in front of the G20 observers, participants and judges in this stage of competition. And I also participated in a joint session on ‘Global Migration Issues - A cultural dimension’.
“Being an International student, I was able to contribute from what I have learnt from my own experience, and suggest some steps that the government should take to prevent certain problems, so that people can develop a sense of understanding of different cultures in this cosmopolitan world and live together happily.
“Overall, it was an awesome combination of work in such a short span of time. Connecting with the people all around the globe was the most important part for me and I’m sure will play a crucial role in each of the participants’ lives in the future.”