Honorable guests have the floor

What an inspiring opening ceremony! International careers, gender roles, youth commitment, passion, education, diseases due to food shortage, life experiences in developing countries: many topics were discussed yesterday during the first day of the biggest international model UN conference in Italy.

All these issues were the subjects of the guests’ speeches.

The first one has been Fernanda Guerrieri, FAO representative, guest and host of this event. She said to the cameras that it was “such a multicultural and international event”, and that she was extremely proud to welcome all the delegations in her institution.

Similarly, Filippo la Rosa, diplomatic counselor of the major of Rome Alemanno, showed his enthusiasm for Rome MUN 2013 by recalling the weeks he spent in New York and Brussels while he was getting familiar with official diplomacy through simulations like this.

This excitement was shared by Roberto Costantini, currently director of the International Relations Department of Luiss University in Rome. He defined Rome MUN 2013 as a fascinating educational tool, a valuable way to put into practice what has been learnt from the books.

Staffan Domingo de Mistura

Maybe the most appreciated and moving intervention was the one made by Staffan Domingo De Mistura, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He charmed the audience with jokes as well as personal souvenirs. However - especially during the Q&A session - he reported his own working experiences in conflict zones, such as Croatia, Ethiopia, Somalia and Russia.

Referring to his speech, CNN International has asked him if the fact that the young generation has more “tools” (University courses, MUNs, etc.) to get to know about international cooperation will lead to a larger number of people involved in this field.

According to him, if more people have easy access to information they will be surely more sensitive to problems international organizations deal with.

As Dr. De Mistura said, a high level of enthusiasm and commitment has already been shown by all delegations yesterday. Will that last throughout the next days too? 

THIS POST IS WRITTEN BY THE ROMEMUN JOURNALISTS' TEAM