Youngest Conservative MEP urges World Trade Organisation to engage young people

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) heard today from the youngest Conservative Member of the European Parliament, Emma McClarkin MEP, as she used the opportunity of addressing the WTO to urge them to engage more with young people and to advocate the many benefits of free trade.

Miss McClarkin started by outlining how the world of trade has changed in the 20 years since the WTO was founded. She highlighted some of the ways in which global trade has expanded, especially over the internet, where she told them that these days it is possible for young people to “sit in their bedroom and order virtually anything, from virtually anywhere in the world and have it delivered to their front door in a matter of days. They can also sell anything they want, to a global audience from the comfort of their home.”

The East Midlands MEP also made the case that despite this, and despite a recent poll showing that 15-24yr olds are more positive about free trade than any other age group, “in the past few years we have seen an increasingly vociferous opposition to free trade, we have seen trade made out to be the scapegoat on which all manner of ills can be blamed.”

At the end of her speech, Miss McClarkin took the WTO to task, saying that “The WTO needs to be more confident and ambitious in how it portrays itself. It could employ more Youth and Trade Ambassadors, possibly using well known global figures and successful young entrepreneurs who have themselves benefitted from the liberalisation of trade rules over the past 20 years.

“It also should take more advantage of modern social media platforms to express the virtues of trade through mediums that appeal to young people.

“Trade aids the realisation of young peoples’ aspirations, be they to innovate, educate, help developing countries eradicate poverty, tackle climate change or the security of a livelihood as well as the tools to become entrepreneurs, break down cultural barriers and to become truly global. This is our challenge. Let’s go out there and do it.”