Griffith University’s Honours College student Alexander Choy will be part of a group of young Australians attending the World Trade Organization Public Forum to be held in Switzerland during late September.
The Global Voices WTO Australian Youth Delegation was selected from hundreds of applicants to be a part of this opportunity.
Alexander Choy, 21, is a fourth-year double degree student at Griffith University, where he is studying a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of International Business.
He recently returned from The Prague International Youth Leadership Conference and led Griffith’s founding delegation to the Sun Yet-Sen University Young Leaders Dialogue in Guangzhou, China.
The WTO Public Forum has firmly established itself as a major event at which governments, non-governmental organisations, academics, businesses and students come together to discuss the issues of the day concerning multilateral trading system.
Alongside the Director-General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, past speakers include the Presidents of Costa Rica and Niger, the Director General of the World Wildlife Fund and the Executive Director of The Economist.
“Attending this forum will significantly enhance my understanding of the complexities surrounding international trade and provide me with the foundations necessary to make inroads into the current multilateral impasse,” Alexander says.
Alexander’s Global Voices experience has also taken him to Canberra where he met with former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd; Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott; Foreign Minister, Senator Bob Carr; Trade Minister, Craig Emerson; Shadow Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop; and the Ambassador of Switzerland, Marcel Stutz.
Alexander is completing a Research Fellowship with Global Voices as part of his experience. This will include a paper on an aspect related to multilateral trade to be published by Global Voices.
Hubert Wu from Global Voices, said: “This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for Alexander”.
Established in 2011, Global Voices seeks to promote an understanding of and participation in international diplomacy by young Australians through regular events and research and development opportunities. It also coordinates youth delegations to important diplomatic forums abroad.