Originall appeared in the April 16th issue of the StarPhoenix
Written by : Jeremy Warren 

For 21-year-old Meahgan Sweet, the international stage is the only stage that matters in political theatre.

The University of Saskatchewan student will represent Western Canada's interests at the G20 youth summit in Mexico next month. Sweet is one of only seven Canadian students selected to attend the Y20 in Puebla, Mexico, from May 8 to 12, when students from all 20 countries will converge and discuss the G20 issues before making recommendations for global leaders.

"Everything, all of our markets, is converging," Sweet said in an interview. "Everything is on a global scale."

The Canadian non-profit organization Global Vision, which has trained more than 25,000 young Canadians for leadership roles since 1991, selected the seven university students based on submitted proposals and resumes to attend the summit. Sweet is the only student from west of Ontario, which means she will focus on issues such as mining, agriculture and forestry.

She's taking a tour of the Cory potash mine this week to prepare, but her farming background has already given her experience with agricultural and food security issues.

"The whole attempt to go organic isn't really feasible with the volume we need to produce to meet the world's need," she said. "I've always been hinting at my parents about switching to organic farming, but you can't meet the yield that's needed."

Sweet is studying in the U of S Edwards school of business and sees herself doing graduate work in international business. Her ideal job now would be working in Canadian embassies to promote trade and assist Canadian companies overseas.

The Canadian Y20 team is working together to establish opinions on the issues G20 leaders will be discussing, such as financial regulation and security. The team's work will be presented as recommendations to leaders at the G20 summit in June.

"Basically, they don't want to see another European meltdown and we'll be discussing issues around that," Sweet said.

Sweet won't have a lot of down time in Mexico as a tourist, but the trip is exciting enough without the travel distractions, she said.

"For me, it's the starting point for an international career," she said. "I'm excited just to meet the delegates from the other countries."

jjwarren@thestarphoenix.com

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