By: Ashley Lauren Wasik, Student Reporter*

The General Assembly Second Committee focuses on the economic development and stability and growth of international finance and trade networks of its Member States. It also deals with State-to-State assistance but not the social issues that affect development or the budget of the United Nations.

The first topic that will be focused on is ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. This is important because in order for an economy to grow it needs electricity to do simple tasks. Most Member States still lack electricity and rely on traditional biomasses like wood fuels, animal dung and agricultural byproducts for cooking and heating. These methods create harmful pollution. The committee is currently working on using solar and wind to help produce electricity, in compliance with existing agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol.

The second topic is external debt sustainability and development. This is important because if a government has too much debt to external institutions such as the World Bank or International Monetary Fund, it will not have enough money for its own infrastructure and social services. Most nations that use loaned funds tend to be developing and fairly poor. This means that it is already harder for them to pay it back if they cannot evolve their economy. The committee will look at this with regards to various other institutions established to help limit a country’s external debt.

When asked about desired outcomes of the committee, Representative Brent Smith of New Zealand said “New Zealand is one of the most developed small island nations and we want to utilize natural resources and help other small island nations, who are less developed, with our knowledge, to utilize their resources.” Representative Myles Jefferson of the Marshall Islands said, “We are currently meeting with other island countries to get a resolution passed that advocates for western investment in agriculture and non-nuclear energy.” As of the first full day, most States in this committee have started to caucus together to address these issues.

_{The views and opinions expressed in this article were part of simulation of the United Nations held from 18 to 21 November 2023 and do not reflect the views and opinions of the American Model United Nations Conference, American Model United Nations International, LLC., *Northern Illinois University or the governing bodies of the states mentioned in the article.}