NETWORKING FOR IMPACT
OVERALL BEST DELEGATE AWARD FOR MATTHIAS VAN ONGEVALLE AT MODEL WTO 2021
Matthias Van Ongevalle, who studies Business Economics at our faculty, is already looking forward to the World Trade Conference at the end of this year. As winner of the Best Delegate Award and head delegate of a top team at this year’s Model WTO for students, he is curious to see which outcomes of the simulation event may get picked up at the actual conference. Since making an impact is an important driver for young talents, they are not afraid to look at the broader picture and to present something new – and that is exactly what this year’s head delegates did.
The Model WTO is a week-long simulation of the World Trade Organization negotiations organised by students from the University of St. Gallen with the support of the WTO. Since 1997, this conference gives students from around the world a unique opportunity to experience the technicalities of the multilateral trading system. Normally, about 70 selected students are invited to Switzerland to debate international trade topics. Due to the pandemic, the 24th edition was held online from 10th to 15th of April 2021 with only about 50 students and a focus on trade and health. Out of several thousands of global applications, bachelor student Business Economics Matthias Van Ongevalle, was selected as the only student of KU Leuven: “As part of the selection procedure, you need to submit a two-page essay on that year’s topic throughout January, which is right in the middle of the Belgian exam season. Considering the limited number of participants that would be selected from the thousands of applicants from renowned universities, I was very happy to learn by the end of February that I had been accepted. After all, I already applied and was accepted as part of the New Zealand delegation last year. Unfortunately, the Model WTO 2020 conference was cancelled at the last moment. Since worldwide covid-measures were implemented only a couple of weeks before the conference, there was not enough time to completely transform it into an online conference before the start date.”
In addition, Matthias got the position of head delegate for the 2021 edition: “As head of a delegation you have to ensure a clear joint strategy for the team, so all delegates are on the same line and consistent in your country policy throughout all committees. You also attend daily head delegate meetings where alliances can be created, strengthened or (not-so-)subtle digs can be given towards other countries. In our case, these resulted in a new cooperation and initiative.”
INTENSIVE PREPARATIONS About 10 days before the conference, participants receive an email containing their designated country, their co-delegates and the specific committee in which they will be partaking. Matthias: “From that point on, you have 7 days to hit up your team, get acquainted, strategize and prepare a position paper for each delegate’s particular committee. Our team represented Singapore and consisted of Ramiro Lopez from Nicaragua (who studied in Washington DC at the time) for the Institutional Matters committee, Sara Scognamiglio from Italy for the Research and Development Subsidies committee, Yanrong Zhu from China for the TRIPS 1 and TRIPS 2 committee and myself for the Technical Barriers to Trade committee. Evidently, we had to take into account a total time difference of 12 hours when scheduling our calls and meetings.” “At the start we received information through magnificent chair-papers for each committee, with academic findings on their topic and suggestions for further reading. We also got some country-specific data and of course did our own research. You need to understand the committees’ different topics and define your country’s position both internally and as a member of the WTO. Through Zoom and WhatsApp we prepared a solid and coherent overall structure, representing our country’s actual policy and tradition as adequately as possible International Business Finance.
We peer-reviewed each other’s work several times and once we were satisfied with the quality, we submitted our position papers together.”
STEERING DEBATES THROUGH INITIATIVE During the six-day conference, there are daily committee debates and head delegate debates, alternated with meetings with ambassadors of your country’s actual current WTO mission in Geneva, academic masterclasses and expert insights. “Although my team members did not have previous experience with simulation events, they learned impressively quickly and soon contributed new ideas to the discussion. They really showed initiative and applied the right tactics to steer the debates in their committees – which is what this experience is all about. I believe we have demonstrated that small countries like Singapore can take a leading position and I am very proud of our team’s splendid results”, says Matthias. In the evening, social events such as online games stimulated students to mix with the participants outside their team.
Matthias: “At live events, this is evidently much easier. Nevertheless, such networking opportunities are one of my two main reasons for participating. I do like to debate and negotiate, but am not particularly interested in international policy or international politics. However, I love to connect with international people who have a certain drive or passion and typically attend such events. I am glad that my team members were perfect examples.” To make the most of online networking, Matthias contributed to the fun part with a sub-channel on Discord and an initiative to promote staying in touch after the conference. “Overall, I was very focussed from the start on suitable platforms. I had taken away some great tips from a former Model United Nations experience and advised the organisers about platforms that could make the experience more enjoyable for everybody. That may have contributed to me winning a prize, on top of our team’s overall accomplishments”, Matthias thinks.
THE EXTRA MILE: FRESH IDEAS At the end of the conference, every committee produces an outcome document containing the results of their debates. Together, all head delegates also created and agreed upon an overarching outcome document that presented an innovative and actually feasible initiative. “We got started on this during one of the social events. We were talking about doing something more, something useful. As head delegates, we noticed quite some overlap between the different committees and we wanted to bring it all together. In the end, we presented a new initiative that we believe can have an actual impact. And that is another reason to participate: it offers opportunities to influence things. I believe this clearly illustrates one cannot underestimate the importance of social events, especially for students. We need to have some fun as well – and we may come up with a great idea.” Now it is wait and see which and how much of these documents from the committees and of the country-specific solutions and propositions will be used during the actual annual WTO conference, which takes place from 30th November to 3rd December this year in Geneva, Switzerland.