Page 15 - FerMUN 2020 - Futurecasters Global Young Visionaries Summit, 8th-10th January 2020

Opening Speech by Gessienne GREY, Secretray General of the Futurecasters Global Young
Visionaries Summit and 10th edition of FerMUN

Honourable guests, dear participants,

Welcome to FerMUN 2020, the 10th edition of this conference.

A huge amount of energy and enthusiasm has gone into bringing us all together today. So
what’s the objective?

On the surface, Model UN looks just like role-play. It’s undeniably a great learning experience;
but as an imitation of a real institution, it can feel lacking in tangible impact.

A few months ago, in a United Nations meeting room just like this one, a teenage girl turned to
an audience of international representatives in business suits and ties, and asked a provocative

question: How dare you?

Greta Thunberg threw this question out as a challenge to an audience of politicians and career
diplomats, to denounce their empty words, their inaction. She was on the outside, challenging
those on the inside.

That is not what is happening here. We’ve turned the whole situation inside out.
Over the next few days, in committees or in our two new Youth Assemblies, it will be up to us,

young people, to propose solutions, reach consensus, and make decisions about our common
future. We are no longer on the outside, looking in; instead, we are at the core.

The theme of this year’s debates is far from simple: “Technology for Development”. The power
of technology is as scary as it is promising. It could help us solve massive issues. Or it could

create new problems on unprecedented scales that we are far from ready to face. How can
we use it efficiently, without letting it escape our control?

Usually, these debates are reserved for professionals. But for the next three days, it will be up to
us. And the professionals will listen.

That is what makes this conference special. This is the first ever ITU Futurecasters Global Young
Visionaries Summit. Through this summit, ITU is engaging with youth on the digital future we want.

What’s more, this year, to mark their 75th anniversary, the United Nations are inviting the world
to participate in the largest ever conversation on global cooperation, under the slogan: Join

the Conversation. Be the Change.
For all of us at FerMUN 2020, the conversation starts today. To launch UN75 in Geneva, we are

invited to enter a dialogue with Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, Director General of UNOG; Ms. Doreen
Bogdan-Martin, BDT Director at ITU; and Mr. Fabrizio Hochschild, UN Under-Secretary-General.

One thing is clear: this conversation is wide open to young voices. A week ago, on New Year’s
Day, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres held up today's youth as the greatest source of

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