GFDD Attends Opening Ceremony of CILA 2014 on October 29, 2014

On Wednesday October 29, the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) was present to witness and support the opening ceremony of the Americas International Conference (Conferencia Internacional Las Américas, CILA, for its Spanish acronym). The conference, hosted by the Association of the United Nations in the Dominican Republic (UNA-DR) at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from October 29 – November 2,
2014 greeted more than 1500 young representatives from all around the world.

Marking the 10th Edition of this international conference organized jointly by GFDD’s sister organization in the Dominican Republic, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (Funglode) and the UNA-DR, the event was opened with a traditional flag parade of heads of delegation and the Chief Judges of the simulated International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Keynotes addresses were given by Emil Chireno, executive director of ANU-RD; Victor Villanueva, Academic Vice Chancellor of Global Institute of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (iGlobal); Mourad Ahmia, Director of the Group of 77; Juan Miguel Diez, director of the Information Center of the United Nations (UNCC) for Colombia,
Ecuador and Venezuela; Sonia Vasquez, Assistant Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); Arlene Trinidad, General Manager Projects UNA-DR, and Angel Gonzalez, Secretary-General of CILA 2014.

The introductory words were given by Angel Gonzalez, who emphasized the importance of this tenth edition of CILA 2014, which was being celebrated with the addition of new commissions, from the Constituent Assembly of the Dominican Republic to a commission on the
20th Conference of the Parties (COP 20) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) due to take place in Lima, Peru in December 2014, and which GFDD staff will support during negotiations in its capacity as Expert representative.

Juan Miguel Diez and Sonia Vasquez thanked the organizers of the conference for this invitation to the meeting and wishing the youth delegates the best success. Mr. Diez’s speech was followed by a reading by
some of the delegates of the UN General Assembly’s 1st committee on Disarmament and International Security. Victor Villanueva expressed words of encouragement to the participants and referred the participants to the social engagement initiative for youth entitled iGlobal.

The event next showcased an audiovisual segment entitled: “A Decade of the International Conference of the Americas (CILA)”, which recounted the achievements of CILA from
its first session to date. A video message from Mr. Ahmed Alhendawi, from the Special Secretary-General of the United Nations youth envoy was also played, during which he celebrated CILA 2014,on behalf of the Secretary-General for the achievements and success to date of this conference.

Mr. Emil Chireno, Director of UNA DR next took to the podium to thank the local and international authorities for their cooperation with the event, in addition to the educational
institutions in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Argentina and Puerto Rico for making this edition of CILA the largest academic event of the region. He concluded his intervention by granting special recognitions to attendees including to Mr. Villanueva, Mr. Juan Miguel Diez and Ms. Vasquez.

The ceremony was concluded with a presentation by Ms. Arlene Trinidad, who explained the functions of the General Committee of the General Assembly and gave the final approval of the
thematic agenda of CILA 2014.

The activity ended with the opening of the work of the tenth Annual CILA 2014 by fall of the mallet given by Mr. Angel Gonzalez at 10.10pm.

The United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic (UNA-DR) is a non-profit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the work of the United Nations. The UNA-DR contributes to the
strengthening of the UN mission by coordinating educational and cultural activities, which seek to raise public awareness and motivate citizen participation.

For more information on CILA 2014 visit: http://cila2014.com