HEAD-HARSHUL ASHISH AMIN

Good morning esteemed chief guest Mr Muralee Thummarukudy, teachers

and distinguished delegates present. Welcome to the Economic and

Financial Affairs Committee (ECOFIN) of Good Shepherd Internationals

Model United Nations 2020. On the international level the head of ECOFIN

is Cheikh Niang and one of the main agenda discussed in ECOFIN is

‘Measures to address the economic crisis in the Bolivian Republic of

Venezuela’. The nation of Venezuela remains today in the midst of an

almost decade long economic crisis due to which the public and

government have suffered a lot in terms of financial management and

grow the struggling economy. This year I am going to co-chair ECOFIN and

I look forward to working with all of you over the next two days and to

make this MUN an enjoyable and intellectually stimulating event. I have

the privilege of serving as your co-chair of this conference along with my

friend and colleague Harshul Amin. This year our committee has 22

delegates who have different countries allotted for them. As my first

chairing experience, I look forward to debating and deliberating on

several key proposals for resolutions.

Our committee is going to discuss two key issues. The first topic on our

agenda will be the measures to be adopted by the global community to

avoid a global financial crisis. Even as I speak, we are facing an

unprecedented economic and health crisis with a global pandemic

crippling the world’s economy and fears of a recession looming large on

the horizon. Further, the spread of COVID-19 may require the imposition

of stringent containment measures—actions that may lead to a further

strain on the fragile global economy. Therefore any discussion on the

measures to be adopted to avoid a global financial crisis, at this juncture,

is very crucial as the global community seeks to avoid a repeat of “The

Great Depression of 1932” or “The International Debt Crisis”. Needless to

say ECOFIN has had and will continue to have a huge role in improving the

economic well-being of every member state as well as the world as a

whole. ECOFIN has helped many developing countries with financial

assistance through times of crisis and development in order to spur

growth and prosperity.

The second topic for discussion pertains to reducing unemployment due

to territorial disputes between Israel and Palestine. This topic ties in well

with the first. The impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to hit

the Palestinian economy hard. The first quarter of 2020 saw another rise

in Gaza’s unemployment rate, which reached 45.5%, compared to 42.7%

in the last quarter of 2019, and 45.1% in 2019 overall. The unemployment

rate in the West Bank rose as well. The occupation of Palestinian territory

by Israel continues to deepen the economic and social hardship for

Palestinians and unless urgent measures are taken to resolve the dispute,

the economic hardships faced by the Palestinian are likely to increase.

Finally may I congratulate you for your acceptance into the conference

and indeed our committee, and may I further promise to do my very best

from my part to make it your most constructive and joyful MUN

experience. Harshul and I look forward to sharing this experience with

you as chair of the ECOFIN committee as we deliberate on the above

mentioned issues. We hope you will enjoy our sessions.

THANK YOU