Ambassador Mamabolo stresses the Importance of the UN as a Forum for State Representatives to Work Together to Change our Situation Globally during the Closing Ceremony of NYDRMUN 2015

The Dominican Republic Model United Nations Conference Closes at the United Nations General Assembly Hall before 300 delegates

The Dominican Republic Model United Nations Conference (NYDRMUN) 2015, a conference organized by the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic (UNA-DR) with support from Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE)
came to a close today on Wednesday April 1. The Closing Ceremony took place, before more than 300 model UN delegates from middle schools across the Dominican Republic, in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations (UN).

The four day conference, which started on Sunday March 29, provided the participating youth with an opportunity to take part in simulations of the work of the United Nations and to discuss diverse and pressing international issues. The sessions
enabled the participants to research, negotiate and vote on draft project resolutions on behalf of the official representatives of the 193 Member States of the United Nations. In parallel to this, GFDD/Funglode hosted a program for the 60 Dominicans teachers accompanying the young students during the conference. Topics such as Education and the Closing of the Digital Divide; the Power of the STEM Education Model; How to Identify the Learning Needs of the Students; and Promoting Reading in
the Classroom, were addressed during the sessions.

The ceremony was presided over by a table of honor made up of Emil Chireno, Executive Director of the UN Association of the Dominican Republic (ANU-RD by its Spanish acronym), Armando Manzueta, Secretary General of NYDRMUN 2015 and Emmanuel Castillo, Under Secretary General of Conference Management for ANU-RD. The
table of honor warmly welcomed all the guests before inviting the heads of regional delegations for Africa, Asia Pacific, the European Union and the Latin American and Caribbean region to provide their interventions on the main policy issues covered by each organ during the conference. The delegates delivered passionate statements recounting the importance of progressing policy issues at the United Nations for the benefit of the Post 2015 Development Agenda, and in particular on issues of
migration, sustainable development and education.

Following these introductory statements and before a quorum of 36 delegations of UN Member States, Emil Chireno invited delegates to vote on the key resolutions of the General Assembly. The resolutions, which focused on topics such as migration in the Post 2015 Agenda, were adopted by a large majority of votes from delegates.

H.E. Ambassador Jeremiah N. Mamabolo, Permanent Representative of South Africa
to the United Nations gave the keynote remarks in his capacity as chair of G77 and China. Ambassador Mamabolo commended delegates for their interventions and work throughout the conference.  Thanking Funglode and ANU-RD for organizing the conference he stressed the importance of students to get involved in the work of the UN at an early age and “gain an understanding of what [delegates] do, so as to prepare themselves for the future”. Summarizing the work of the 134
Member States that make up G77, Ambassador  explained that “the overall difficulties in developing countries require us to not slow down our efforts” and emphasized that we need to “work together to change our situation globally”, despite the fact that “our socio economic outlook may not always be the same”. He concluded, reflecting on this year’s 70th anniversary of the United Nations, that “despite its
weaknesses the UN has one advantage which is to bring the world together”.

Following his key note statement, Ambassador Mamabolo received a special award in recognition for his work at the United Nations. The award was handed to him by Emil Chireno, Mourad Amia as Executive Secretary of G77 and China and Yamile Eusebio, as Director of the New York office of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD).

Lenni Montiel, Assistant
Secretary General for Sustainable Development at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs also gave some main remarks stressing the importance of furthering the key policy issues being discussed at the United Nations this year including on the topic of Financing for Development and the Post 2015 Development Agenda. Following his remarks, Lenni Montiel was also recognized for his work by Emile Chireno and Yamile Eusebio.

Armando Manzueta, in his capacity as
Secretary General of NYDRMUN 2015 next addressed the audience to reflect on the work accomplished during this conference. He commented that the students had demonstrated they are non-conformists as they desire to contribute to the well-being of humanity.

A series of prizes were distributed to the leading delegates from each commission of the conference, who were recognized for their oratory skills and for assisting each commission of work in reaching their policy
objectives. In turn, the schools participating in NYDRMUN 2015 were also recognized for their contributions to the conference.

Emil Chireno finally took to the podium to impart some concluding words stressing that the delegates were the key components of the conference, driving the policy discussions. Thanking the supporting organizations that made the conference possible, Chireno made a point of thanking the volunteers who oversaw the negotiations and ensured a
successful completion of the agenda before handing over the floor to Armando Manzueta who confirmed the closure of NYDRMUN 2015 in his capacity as Secretary General.

For more information about NYDRMUN 2015, please click here.

Related links:
www.globalfoundationdd.org
www.unadr.org.do