My name is Vittoria Valeri, I’m seventeen years old and this year I am honoured to serve as Secretary General of the 20th annual session of Genoa Model United Nations.

My first MUN experience dates back to GeminiMUN 2019, where I was speaking on behalf of New Zealand in the Disarmament and International Security Committee. Never could I have imagined then what a significant role GeMUN would, to this day, play in my high school career. After challenging myself as a delegate of Mexico in the same committee, and of Morocco in the Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Committee, I had the opportunity to serve as officer, specifically as a chair of the Economic and Social Council in 2021 and President of the 2022 GeMUN Security Council. Last year I also had the pleasure of serving as Masterof Ceremony, working alongside the secretariat and learning all about what it takes to make an international conference like GeMUN come together.

Genoa Model United Nations is a great opportunity for students to truly get a grasp of the world of diplomacy in a way that encourages constructive dialogue and to explore alternative perspectives from both cultural and social points of view. We are therefore very privileged to be organising the 20th edition of this conference.

Over time, the event has grown not just in the number and variety of participants that GeMUN brings together, but also in the collaboration and involvement of the city of Genoa, not least because the debates are now held in some of the city’s beautiful and historic palaces.

What unites these twenty years is that each generation of delegates has shown a passion and interest for the key events that are going on in the world today, with their likely ramifications into the future. Their commitment has led to the realisation that diplomacyis in fact the platformto finding solutions.

This is exactly what the focus of GeMUN 2023 will be: “Echoes of our times.” With our economies and society being so interconnected, never before in our lifetime have we witnessed such a series of causes and effects echoing through time and space in the medium and long term. In such challenging and uncharted waters, that influence and impact so many people, diplomacy has a key role to help define new patterns and alternatives. At a time of conflict such as this, GeMUN wants its participants to ponder on how the events of today, like echoes that cannot be halted, will impact the future.

It is important to think about how to resolve conflicts, just as much as it is to understand the likely consequences to minimize their negative impacts. This is why I cannot wait to see all of us working together, debating and exchanging points of view. I am thrilled to finally bringthe echoes of our different perspectives together and show that we can create harmony out of them.

I look forward to seeing and meeting you all in February and, most importantly, I hope you will enjoy this year’s session and carry out fruitful debates!

Yours faithfully,
Vittoria Valeri
Secretary General

Education through sports in Yemen.

Sport as a tool to help children in conflict zones

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