Rey Abraham, a student of International Relations President University batch 2018 has won first place in the International Relations Fest Competition organized by Universitas Kristen Indonesia. The theme of the competition was “the Existence of Circular Economy in the Era of Global Competition”.
Rey gave a speech via a video about the importance of youth’s contribution in maintaining a sustainable future through the concept of a circular economy, and the competition committee announced him as the first winner on 8 May 2020.
In his speech, he highlighted that youth have the power to make changes in the future. Youth have the capacity to create creative things such as policy making, entrepreneurial activities, or other activities that can have a great impact on society. For this reason, he argued, youth can also create a concept of implementing an adaptive and up-to-date circular economy, one of which is through the innovation from a number of creative and unique young entrepreneurs.
In addition, the participation of youth in various social campaigns on social media or in writing various scientific publications can also increase public knowledge about the importance of a sustainable future through a circular economy concept.
Rey also mentioned that collaboration between government, the private sector, and individuals on implementing the concept of a circular economy is very important. Both the government in policymaking, the public sector that re-uses their waste, and individuals who implement 5R (reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, and recovery). He believes through collaboration, greater good will be experienced by everyone.