A press conference was held at NTU on March 12th. We have received blessings from NTU, the Taipei City Government, the Harvard Alumni Association of ROC, and our many sponsors.

Press Conference Remarks 
by Secretary-General, Ami Nash & President of Host Team, Jason Hou

Ami: Thanks to everyone for being here; we're extremely excited to be starting World Model United Nations' 19th annual conference here in Taipei in just a couple of  days, with the tremendous team of students from NTU as our hosts.


Jason: First of all, on behalf of the entire WorldMUN Team, we deliver our thanks to National Taiwan University, WorldMUN's generous sponsors and supporters, and hundreds of staffs and volunteers from the NTU Host Team & Harvard Team, along with the press representatives here with us today.

So how exactly does WorldMUN work? WorldMUN is a simulation or "model" of the United Nations and many international organizations in which college and university students step into the roles of foreign diplomats to debate and form new solutions on the world's most pressing issues. This year we have 22 committees led by Harvard, NTU students, and students from all over Taiwan.

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The Harvard Secretariats arrived at the Tao Yuan International Airport late at night on March 10th. After months of skype conference calls and gtalks, gmails and word minutes,
the two team meet at last we become unitedly the ONE WorldMUN 2010 Team :)

From left to right: 
Ken (Director of Business, Harvard); Amy (Deputy Director of Logistics Accommodation & Health, NTU); Kelly (Director-General, Harvard); Lauren (Deputy Secretary-General -GA, Harvard); Jason Jr. (Director of Logistics Accommodation & Health); Prathama (Deputy Secretary-General - ECOSOC, Harvard); Robert (Deputy Secretary-General Strategy, Harvard); Ami (Secretary-General, Harvard); Katheleen (Director of Administration, Harvard); Reihan (Deputy Secretary-General - SA, Harvard); Iris (Director of Design; NTU); Egbert (Mentor, NTU)


First thing in Taipei: walk through our conference and event venues together.

Inside Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC)	Opening and Closing Ceremonies: National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Ken, front view of National  Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall	Honor Guards at Chiang Kai-shek  Memorial Hall (Venue for Lunar New Year)
Look up and you'll see Taipei 101 - the lofty landmark of Taipei.	Hi guys! We're on NTU main campus,  Here's its famous Coconut Grove Boulevard!

(Friendly transcript from: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/03/13/2003467881 )

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 13, 2010, Page 2

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A World Model UN (WorldMUN) meeting co-hosted by National Taiwan University (NTU) and Harvard University will begin in Taipei tomorrow, marking the first time the meeting would be held in Taiwan.

At a press conference in Taipei, Ami Nash, head of the Harvard host team of the event, said a total of 1,800 delegates from more than 200 universities and 50 countries were expected to participate in the simulated UN committee sessions and workshops through Thursday.

“WorldMUN is often called the Olympics of Model United Nations as it brings together the brightest students interested in international affairs from around the globe,” Nash said.

Jason Hou (侯宗成), president of the NTU host team, said participants in this international event would be able to step into the role of foreign diplomats to debate the world’s most urgent issues, including climate change, refugees, the Aboriginal rights, fair trade and government corruption. Each of the 22 simulated UN committees will negotiate and draft a resolution on a relevant agenda through dialogue, Hou said.

“Today’s international affairs headlines are often based on conflicts and we are extremely excited to offer a counterpoint,” Nash said.

The World Model UN was founded by Harvard in 1992 for university students to simulate UN negotiation sessions, although the world’s oldest continuous college model UN conference was founded in 1955.

The meeting is held in a different city each year.

NTU won the bid to co-host the event with Harvard after beating eight other universities around the world last year.

NTU had filed five applications to compete for the right to host the international student event in Taipei since 2000.

Mr. Tseng Hou-Ren
Director-General,
Department of North American Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan)


WorldMUN 2010 Host Team Division of Public Relations is honored to share with its delegates and friends worldwide this exclusive interview with Mr. Tseng Hou-Re:


1. Why did you pursue a diplomatic career?

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Tseng: To be honest, I didn't have any big epiphany. I graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures from National Taiwan University and of course I wanted to find a job after I graduated. At the time, I knew language would be one of my tools so I wanted a job that was relevant to languages. Before I looked for a job, that is to say, when I was still a student, I took the foreign service exam. Out of all the civil servant jobs, I found that the one having most to do with languages, is Foreign Service. So when I took the exam, I passed and I decided to go down this path. [laugh] So there's no special reason. Of course, the 1979 Kaoshiung Incident happened while I was studying at NTU during my junior year. Now that I look back, I was still confused about life, so maybe it was these events that influenced my later decision. But if I put it this way, it sounds like I'm trying to boast about it. But it was just that I had a language advantage and I found a job that had to do with language.


2. How do you want students to view Model United Nations?

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Click web shot below to access pages on City Transporation, Day-to-Day Info on how to get from venues to venues, and specially selected Taipei attractions: