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Students’ Model UN Meeting Brainstorms on Globalisation
DUBAI — Someone said the Earth is not something you inherit from your parents, it’s something you borrow from your coming generations. So, while the world leaders put their heads together to solve global issues, today’s youngsters too have decided to have a say in which way their world is being shaped, at the 2nd Annual Model United Nations conference of Dubai International Academy (DIAMUN 2010).
The conference, where student delegates will debate real issues facing the international community, was inaugurated on Thursday by the Guest of Honour Najla Al Awadhi, a member of the Federal National Council and the CEO of Dubai Media Incorporated.
This time round, the theme is ‘The Impact of Globalisation’. Student delegates from 12 schools in the UAE and those from India and Egypt are participating in the event.
DIAMUN 2010 aims to give students an opportunity to showcase their oratorial and analytical skills that will transform the conference into a mini-United Nations. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Najla Al Awadhi called on students to approach challenges with an innovative approach, and underscored the fact that innovative and progressive leadership was critical for a globalised world.
“When I look around this hall, I see young people who have great potential. Young people who can go out into the world with unwavering determination with innovative minds and with a great sense of compassion to help face the challenges of the 21st century. And I have no, doubt, you can,” said Al Awadhi, who herself once led a Model United Nations delegation in New York in her student days.
Al Awadhi pointed to the innovative leadership of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and also that of his late father, Shaikh Rashid that helped Dubai and the UAE rise from being just a desert land to a global player today.
“There are different types of leaders. But, an innovative leader is one who is able to see the world differently, is able to see a different reality, the kind of reality that when many people hear about they will say you must be crazy to believe that is possible,” said Ms. Al Awadhi.
She said that globalisation has brought many benefits for the UAE, including making the country’s economy become a part of the global economy, making it a regional hub for many industries, helping it attract substantial foreign investment, offering access to world class education, access to a choice of media channels and networks, introduced technology, primarily in the shape of the Internet, and helped bring talent to the UAE that has contributed to the country’s development.
She said that along with the opportunities, globalisation brought with it challenges that made the UAE vulnerable to external economic forces, such as the global financial crisis that has affected a majority of open markets.
“Of course, being a part of the global community has also allowed the UAE, which has a very neutral foreign policy, to play a central diplomatic role in regional and global issues,” she said.
Kito de Boer, Director, McKinsey & Company, said that due to the major changes expected to take place in global demographics over the next 40 years, the globalisation of citizenship would become one of the most powerful forces to shape future generations.
Citing figures and forecast reports over a 100-year period between 1950 and 2050, Mr. de Boer said that Europe and North America will account for less than 20 per cent of economic growth compared to the developing world which will account for the balance 80 per cent of growth. This is a striking feature because statistics show that in 1950, Europe and North America accounted for 70 per cent of global economic production.
He said that the planet’s population in 2050 will be about 9.5 billion people from a population of below 3 billion in 1950. Europe and North America, which used to be a third of the population in 1950 will account for just 10 per cent of the world’s population in 2050. “Between now and 2050 there will be at least one billion more middle class people from the developing world. This new middle class will be bigger than the entire population of Europe, North America and Japan combined. In your lifetime there will be a massive economic shift away from the developed world to the emerging markets. And that’s an economic shift which the global economic crisis, which has just happened, will accelerate” he said. “The trillion dollar question is where will the East start? I am very confident and we believe that the good side of history will start in Dubai.”
Other guests who were present at the inauguration ceremony included Hamdi Osman, Founding Board Member of Dubai International Academy and Regional Vice President of FedEx, Linda Dubock, Chairperson of The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) — the foundation that works towards the creation of MUN conferences in schools around the world, Mr. Karl Mythen, THIMUN Board Member, International School of The Hague and Ms. Irene Crepin, Managing Director of THIMUN Foundation.
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