Dear Delegates,

Welcome to the Dhirubhai Ambani International Model United Nations 2006-07.  The MUN this year will be an enriching experience for each and every person involved, including myself and every single other student officer. It is my sincere hope that each and every one of you learns as much and has as much fun as each and every one of your secretariat members has had putting the conference up for you. For many of us, this is the first time we are chairing a committee and the fact that committee procedure along with style and level of debate will be so different from any other MUN will make it far more challenging.

This year at DAIMUN we will follow an extremely interesting, yet authentic style of Model UN. The procedure and happenings that you and me are used to is known as the World MUN format and is practiced mainly around North America. The other format, also known as the European format is the style propagated and popularized by The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN – the largest high school MUN in the world) which is much closer to actual United Nations format. According to this format, delegates are expected to arrive at the conference with pre-written resolutions. They lobby, merge, discuss and ultimately pass one such resolution.

            This is a close imitation of the actual United Nations where ambassadors come to the UN headquarters in New York with resolutions that they write before they come suited and booted to solve world crises. This close imitation expects a high caliber of debate from every single delegate, irrespective of his country or committee. I have been a delegate at Harvard Model United Nations and The Hague International Model United Nations, two MUNs that are considered the best of their format in the world. It is my honest belief that due to its format, THIMUN brings out the very best in every single delegate. It expects extraordinary paper-work abilities along with a profound knowledge of every single facet of the topic at hand.

            For the first ever time an entire conference in India is going to be run according to THIMUN format, which is as close a “Model” of the United Nations as anything else. Aspects like the lobbying; GA plenary (which has only ever been attempted once in India); special approval panels to monitor every single resolution introduced at DAIMUN; discussing four topic areas in every council and topics being referred from one council to anther are only a few of the innovative ways in which DAIMUN differs from any other MUN you have been for. In this effort to bring this fantastic format to life, delegates must be deeply involved and I call upon each and every one of you to put your best foot forward in this endeavor to make DAIMUN 2006 a stupendous success.

                                                                                                Yours Truly
Saahil Karpe
President – General Assembly
Dhirubhai Ambani International Model United Nations 2006