Georgetown University: School of Foreign Service in Qatar

Doha, Qatar – The School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Qatar) launched its Fourth Annual Model United Nations Conference (MUN) with an opening ceremony at the Doha Marriott Hotel.

The opening ceremony brought together more than 400 high school students from around the world who are participating in the weekend conference. The event was also attended by members of the local diplomatic corps.

Students were welcomed by James Reardon-Anderson, the dean of Georgetown’s Qatar campus, as well as Lubna Kayyali (SFS ’09), who greeted the international delegates on behalf of the Georgetown students.

During the ceremony, Katrina Quirolgico (SFS ’09) read out the names of the 58 participating schools from 36 countries. Delegations were in attendance from a variety of countries, including Afghanistan, Mexico and Mongolia. In addition to the international high schools, 22 schools from Qatar are in attendance.

The four-day conference is designed to provide high school students an opportunity to practice diplomacy and hone their leadership skills. In eight committees modeled after international organizations like the African Union and the Arab League, high school students will discuss a variety of topics confronting world leaders today. Each committee is moderated by International Relations students from Georgetown’s Qatar campus.

Students also had the opportunity to hear from Joseph LeBaron, the U.S. Ambassador to Qatar. LeBaron, whose diplomatic career started in Qatar, gave the students advice on how to succeed in their diplomatic simulations. He asked them to consider more than just the research on policy decisions associated with the issues they are discussing.

He urged the students to embrace the social, geographical, religious, and linguistic differences they represent. “Structure your policy approaches on your understanding of those differences,” he said.

LeBaron concluded his speech with an address in Arabic where he expressed his admiration for the role Qatar is playing in promoting education and diversity in the Arab and Islamic region. He considers Education City very similar in its diversity to the United Nations in New York. “The only difference is that here you have the opportunity to get to know and defend a country that is not the necessarily the one you belong to or know much about,” he said.


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Note for the editors
Press is invited to visit sessions in action on the following dates:
- Committee Sessions on Saturday, 31 January 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- Committee Sessions on Sunday, 1 February 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
- Diplomatic Lunch and Closing Ceremony on Sunday, 1 February 12:00 noon - 2:00 p.m.

Please visit SFS-Qatar MUN site for more information.