A Hawke's Bay teenager was part of an international group who recently presented an economic declaration on reducing poverty to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Havelock North High School graduate and former Hastings Youth Council member Sarah Fagan, 19, was one of three New Zealanders who attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Youth Summit held in Vladivostok, Russia this month.
The week-long event involved a model APEC that discussed trade, supply chains, food security and sustainable economic growth.
Sarah said the experience highlighted the interconnectedness of local and global issues, especially providing people with 21st century competencies and skills through education.
"Problems with development in food security were highlighted, such as volatile prices, environmental degradation and the unequal access to food people in the region have," she said. "There are 900 million people in the Asia-Pacific region who live in extreme poverty."
The tools existed to solve these problems, she said.
"Multilateral trade in the APEC region is well positioned to enhance food security and work to alleviate this poverty. It needs to continuously be in focus, especially as world population is predicted to rise to 9.3 billion people by 2050.
"If so, we will have to find and manage sustainable access to 30 per cent more water, 40 per cent more energy, and 50 per cent more food by 2030. Action needs to be taken now in order to achieve such goals."
Throughout the event, Sarah enjoyed interacting with the others in the region, making friends with youths from Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, Hawaii and Russia.
At the conclusion of the week's events, the youth came up with a declaration that was presented to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
After the Youth Summit, delegates had the opportunity to stay in Vladivostok and attend the CEO summit, sit in and listen to sessions and speeches by APEC leaders.
Sarah was sponsored by the Voices of the Future New Zealand Trust to attend the conferences.