After five sessions of intense and strategic debate, delegates of ECOFIN were finally ready to begin their next topic. As delegates eagerly sat down, they were already mentally preparing to discuss a new topic: the economic implications of armed conflict.
The session started out strong with the delegate of Mongolia starting out the secondary speakers list with suggestions of private-public partnerships and reconstruction of both infrastructure and the economy. ” Not just rebuild… but grow,” Mongolia exclaimed, suggesting that ECOFIN go beyond and make war-torn regions better than ever before. ” Let’s make ECOFIN known for fixing [all of] these countries!”
Unfortunately, no members of the European Union spoke during the secondary speakers list, with the list being full of mainly Asian countries. However, Saudi Arabia effectively described how regional conflicts lead to economic challenges, using the Strait of Hormuz as a perfect example. Because Saudi Arabia’s economy heavily relies on oil income, extracted from the Strait of Hormuz, the war for control of the region impacted the nation’s economy terribly. When the strait was a warzone, Saudi lost access to its valuable resources, causing Saudi’s economy to plummet.
Along with that clever speech, the delegate of China was able to amuse the room of eighty-six delegates, with a catchy speech introduction. ” What’s more important than Instagram posts?” she asked, amusing the entire room. ” Post-war reconstruction.” Now that China had caught everyone’s attentions, she dived into a speech explaining the importance of funds and debt-release. ” Let’s focus on reconstruction, not destruction, communication, not destruction, and negotiation, not destruction.”
After China finished speaking, delegates scrambled to quickly send notes over. Because ECOFIN is so early into its next topic, no bloc positions have been made. However if one thing is certain, the delegation of China sure knows how to capture the attention of eighty high-schoolers!