Dubai, UAE: The global Model United Nations (MUN) conference, EXPOMUN, first at a world expo, concluded its flagship event after a month of youth diplomacy activities held in March around Dubai Expo2020 and the tally is in. Although Guinness doesn’t award world records for being “first”, EXPOMUN made that historic record none-the-less as well as most diverse.

On par with the nature of the Dubai expatriate landscape, EXPOMUN saw the largest number of national delegates per capita of any MUN conference globally. Unlike Harvard Model UN which boasts an estimated 85 nationalities across thousands of delegates, roughly 5% unique nationalities for its annual conference, EXPOMUN attained 19% diversity, albeit a much smaller conference, nearly 1 in 5 delegates hailed from a unique nation, for example students from Tajikistan, Macedonia, and Papua New Guinea.

Three distinct MUN proceedings took place in March --two produced March 3-6 under partner MoUs, one physical and one virtual and the namesake EXPOMUN produced March 25-27 taking place inside Dubai Expo2020 delivering crisis scenario inspired themes that supported delegate flexibility and resiliency. American University of Sharjah MUN (AUSMUN) served as the Secretariat body coordinating and overseeing the conference committees.

First up and making its Dubai debut was a popular Model UN conference globally -- Future We Want MUN (FWWMUN), an annual conference held in New York City. Dignitaries from a host of nations at Dubai Expo2020 provided delegates with diplomatic insights. Dr. Dena Assaf, U.N. Resident Coordinator in UAE opened the conference and delivered the keynote.

Simultaneously the virtual MUN produced by renowned India Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi (IITBHUMUN) was organized in collaboration with the UN Information Centre for India and Bhutan, under the patronage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Indian diplomats such as H.E. Shri Akhilesh Mishra, Indian Ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Shri Manoj Kumar Mohapatra, Indian Ambassador to Guatemala, and H.E. Shri Abhay Kumar, the Indian Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros graced the IITBHUMUN events with keynote speeches.

Together the three MUNs convened just under 100 nationalities of young future leaders across nearly 700 Model U.N. student delegates.

Leading global advisory firm PwC was the Exclusive Knowledge Partner for the three-day namesake EXPOMUN conference.

According to Lisa La Bonte, CEO of EXPOMUN developer Arab Youth Venture Foundation (AYVF), “Leading MUN conferences such as FWWMUN and IITBHUMUN partnered with EXPOMUN facilitate the vital mission of expanding the worldviews of young adults globally and our alliance raises that bar substantially.”