What a better time to master the art of crisis management than an unprecedented global pandemic that turned the world upside down? Forty-six undergraduate students from Bulgaria and abroad participated in the first online edition of AUBG Model United Nations (MUN) and experienced the dynamic world of diplomacy and conflict resolution.
The simulation was held online via Zoom from February 19 to February 21, 2021. The event began with a speech of Miladin Bogetic (’03), an AUBG alumnus who works as a public information officer at the United Nations Office at Geneva. Miladin spoke about his experience in the field of foreign affairs and shared his take on the critical 2020. “Crises offer an opportunity to do some things differently,” Miladin said as he advised the participants to take the most of every crisis and always strive to “recover better.”
The agenda of AUBG MUN 2021 was dedicated to three matters of critical importance: the disarmament of nuclear weapons, the militarization of the Arctic Sea and the full-scale humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. Each participant was assigned a delegation to represent and a committee to join. Over the course of the simulation, the delegates were split into breakout rooms where they debated on the corresponding topics and voted upon draft resolutions. The main task of every participant was to state the position of his/her delegation and contribute to the process of consensus-building.
Even if Zoom and diplomacy don’t seem as the perfect combination, this year’s edition of AUBG MUN proved the opposite. Thanks to the online mode of the event, an increased number of international students attended the conference. Participants from Tunisia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan joined the simulation for the very first time and collaborated with the local students in resolving the selected crises.
The successful end of the simulation was celebrated with an online award ceremony. AUBG students, Sviatoslav Hryhorenko, and, Gabriela Qypi, were awarded best delegates in recognition of their exemplary mediation skills and outstanding participation. The final session was closed with an acknowledgment speech, given by AUBG Professor of Political Science, Robert Philips.
