Grigory Leskov

Exeter student is UK minister at the G20 Youth Forum

Grigory Leskov, a first year student in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences has been chosen to portray the UK Minister of Finance at the upcoming G20 Youth Forum to be held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, from 7 to 11 May 2014.

The G20 Youth Forum is the largest international civil society event organized for young leaders in 2014, and more than 1200 young leaders, students and academics, representatives of the business world and governments are participating.

This year, there will be three main events which will run in tandem with each other; the G20 Youth Summit; the Conference; and the International Young Parliamentarians’ Debate.

Grigory, who is studying a four year MSc programme in Mathematics with Business and Finance, was initially looking for activities to build his CV when he came across the Forum. He explains: “When I found that I could participate in a G20 Summit I was amazed, because it is such a great opportunity for a young person. For example, I have a keen interest in Finance and Politics and G20 Youth Summit is an excellent chance for me to combine both and, of course, to improve my CV significantly. I am really looking forward to working with so many other young people and participate in discussions about the world's most pressing economic, financial and social problems.

“I have been preparing hard for the summit. For example, my committee position is called "Entrepreneurial Climate for Youth' and I had to read approximately 60-70 articles from various journals, that relates to the present topic, so I can be prepared to have an open discussion with peers. Moreover, I have just read a lot of material from several sources such as The Economist, Financial Times and United Nations about present political, economic and financial situation in different regions, so I could be aware.”

He concludes: “Now I feel that I have an idea of the basic issues and can’t wait for the summit to start.”

Date: 24 April 2014