Students from Buenos Aires City take part in a new Model G20 exercise

Model G20 encourages students from local state schools to recreate major G20 debates. Argentina’s Minister of Education, Alejandro Finocchiaro, attended the exercise.

Today, teachers and students from High School No. 5 “María de los Remedios Escalada de San Martín”, in the city of Buenos Aires, took part in a new Model G20 exercise to experience first-hand the dynamics of the G20.
Organized by the Argentine G20 presidency, Argentina’s Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Youth (INJUVE), and run by civil association MINU, the exercise was attended by Argentine Minister of Education, Alejandro Finocchiaro, and Argentine Secretary of Innovation and Quality in Education, Mercedes Miguel, among other senior officials.
“There are jobs that have not been created yet. The world changes all the time. Today they will learn skills for the rest of their lives. They will learn to negotiate, which means to stand in somebody else’s shoes,” said Finocchiaro at High School No. 17 “Brigadier Gral. Don Cornelio de Saavedra” in Floresta, where the exercise was carried out.
“Diversity implies understanding that we are different, that we have the same rights, even though we may think in a different way. When we are able to understand others, we become more and more integrated. That’s why dialogue is so important,” he added.
“It is great and rewarding to see how students get involved and interested in the learning process,” said Miguel. “The G20 brings all of us together towards achieving the goal of sustainable development.”
Designed to bring the G20 to classrooms across the country, Model G20 encourages students to simulate major G20 debates, and prepares them for making decisions and building consensus.
Model G20 requires students to study the dynamics of the G20  and work on their interventions for several weeks. On the day of the exercise, the students – acting as sherpas, finance ministers or leaders – discuss about one of the priorities of the G20 this year: the future of work. They study the stance of the country or organization they represent, and agree upon the path to be followed.
Senior officials attend Model G20
Apart from Finocchiaro and Miguel, other public officials took part in the sixth Model G20 exercise so far this year including Pedro Robledo, director of the National Institute for Youth; Francisco Miguens, National Director for International Cooperation at Argentina’s Education Ministry; Tielman Furter, Counsellor at the South African Embassy in Argentina; and Soledad Acuña, Education Minister of the city of Buenos Aires. In the afternoon, participants also included Pedro Villagra Delgado, Argentine G20 sherpa; Diego Capelli, Argentine sous-sherpa; and Estefanía Campaniello, from the G20 Team of Argentina’s Ministry of the Treasury.
Agenda
The upcoming Model G20 exercises are scheduled on Friday 10 August at High School No. 1 “Teodoro Sánchez de Bustamante” in San Salvador de Jujuy and on Tuesday 14 August at High School “Estados Unidos del Brasil” in Posadas, Misiones.
About the G20
The G20 started out in 1999 as a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors. In 2008, amidst the global financial crisis, it evolved into what it is today: a major forum for dialogue and decision-making attended by world leaders from vital economies. Together, the G20 members represent 85% of global GDP, two-thirds of the world’s population, and 75% of international trade.

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