Welcome from the Secretariat

Dear Delegates,

As the Secretary General and Under-Secretary General of the Simon Fraser University Model United Nations 2011, we would like to welcome you to our fourth annual Model United Nations. It is a great honour to serve at this year’s conference where the organising team has done everything in its power to give you an unforgettable experience.

In 2011, 66 years after the foundation of the UN, the world still faces many global problems. Most of them have changed over the past six decades, but some have disappointingly enough remained unsolved. Two of these issues will be addressed in the Historical Committee allowing delegates to gain a better understanding of why the international world today looks the way it does. A wide range of other matters will be dealt with by the four contemporary committees at the conference. Consensus must be found in order to find widely acceptable and thus long-lasting solutions to the problems at hand. This is of course easier said than done and is exactly the challenge that you as a delegate are here to face.

As Delegates to the SFU Model United Nations, you must dispel all your biases in order to be open, to listen and to understand the opinions of other delegates’. It goes without saying that you, as a diplomat, must act cautiously and seek cooperation and solutions to problems within the scope of responsibility of the international community. The United Nations is not a venue for member states to advocate what is in their own national interest, but for all nations to decide what is best for humanity as a whole and thereafter act accordingly.

The SFUMUN 2011 staff and us would like to wish you an enjoyable and fruitful conference. We look forward to your debates and hope that this conference can stimulate your interest in the international world, so that you as an individual will dare to take action and work towards what you believe is best for the world. But remember not to do so before you have heard and acknowledged others’ opinions.

Sincerely,

Aske Bonde

Secretary General

Basak Kalkavan
Under-Secretary General