Griffith Law School student, Will Barker, is preparing to lend his voice to the G20 Youth Summit in Washington in June 2012.
The summit will provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to interact with youth delegates from other G20 nations, including the United States, China and the United
Kingdom. It is expected they will also hear from influential leaders such as US Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner.
Hundreds of young Australians applied to be part of the Global Voices G20 Australian Youth Delegation. Just six were chosen, and Will intends to make every minute of
this opportunity count.
“Attending this summit will allow me to put my study and knowledge of the world economy into practice”, says Will Barker.
Will is no stranger to meeting with high level government figures. Following his selection for the youth delegation, Will was recently invited to Canberra to meet with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Shadow Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Diplomatic Officer Nancy Chen from the United States Embassy.
Established in 2011, Global Voices seeks to promote an understanding of and participation in international diplomacy by young Australians. This is achieved through research and development opportunities at home, as well as the coordination of youth delegations to important diplomatic forums abroad.
Will Barker will complete a Research Fellowship with Global Voices as part of his experience. This will include writing a paper on one aspect of the G20 summit and how it might impact on Australia.
Will is already looking to the future, well beyond the G20 summit. He has recently accepted a graduate position with a leading international law firm to begin in 2013.