Welcome!

Welcome to the "Help send Kyle to the G20" blog. Recently, I was selected as one of 7 Canadian youth to represent the country at the G20 Youth Summit in Mexico this may. As a result, I was tasked with raising $3500 in order to attend and because of your kindness, I was successful in doing so! Keep posted for live updates from the Y20-G20 summit here!

Monday, May 28, 2012

My first published article in Mexican newspaper - Excelsior

Visit the link below to see an article I wrote about youth and the G20 process. This article ran in one of Mexico's most prominent newspapers, Excelsior.

Check it out!

http://www.excelsior.com.mx/index.php?m=nota&seccion=portada&cat=28&id_nota=832457

Official Y20 document!

For an idea behind what was discussed at the G20 youth summit and which conclusions were reached, visit the link below!

http://www.g20.org/images/stories/docs/y20/y20puebla.pdf

Key take-aways regarding international trade at the G20


The international trade deliberation was one that was met with a lot of opposition from all countries involved. The perceived inefficiencies of the World Trade Organization in its ability to conclude the existing Doha Round negotiations was a very pervasive topic throughout the two days. Given the complexities of International trade, it was very difficult to develop any sort of policy or recommendations that could eventually provide positive outcomes for all parties involved.

For example, developing nations such as Argentina and Mexico were adamant that developed economies were at fault for the ineffectiveness of the Doha round as they refuse to stop providing agricultural subsidies to farmers (in turn making foreign agricultural goods uncompetitive). In contrast, however, developed nations such as the United States, Germany and Italy were quite vocal in their belief that China and India’s ability to evaluate their own currency due to their “developing economy” status was unfair as they are able to control the value of their currency and make their goods cheaper to the global market.

All in all, I believe youth were able to come together and develop viable solutions to certain key issues within the international trade context. Despite significant differences of opinions on various topics, the following sums up youth sentiment on the topic perfectly -

“Prior to embarking on the development of international trade solutions that are all encompassing of every nation, we the youth believe that decision makers today need to understand that future generations will be even further inter-twined and connected than we are today. As a result, it is important that we begin thinking in the overall well-being of the human race and less about the interests of our individual nations. Self-reliance is not necessarily a benefit, it is understood that being further integrated will afford extreme benefits and welfare to the global population. We encourage the global community to provide support and cooperation to developing and less developed countries in order to help them reach developed status.”

Monday, May 7, 2012

Is International Trade Only For The Wealthy?

Today is a very exciting day as I will begin training with the Canadian government in order to go and represent Canada on Wednesday at the Y20-G20. As there are 7 themes to be tackled at the summit, each Canadian has taken responsibility of on area and my baby will be that of International Trade. I am extremely excited about this opportunity because it fits very well with my past work experience and also with what I studied in undergrad. Also, given Canada's dynamic economy, there will be a great deal to learn and impart on other youth delegations. 


Prior to the summit, youth have been asked to collaborate in online forums and discuss certain issues relating to problems in international trade and challenges each respective nation is facing. Through initial analysis, the main concern is a lack of access to proper trade financing mechanisms. Moreover, questions surrounding how can nations participate in the international trade process if banks remain conservative in their lending practices? Are banks too risk averse? What other options are available? Why is engaging in International Trade so expensive? Can only the wealthy truly benefit from trade?


Having worked in the area, I think it will be interesting to hear what other youth think about the area of trade and whether or not they are as open to it as Canadians are. As the event progresses, I will continue to bring up issues and then post-summit, will share key take-aways.


So what do you think? How can trade become more accessible?