14.2.2007: Lobbying starts on St.Valentine?s Day
Wednesday morning the delegates had free time to visit the embassies of the countries they were representing. Some of the organizing committee on the other hand got some desperately needed extra hours of sleep in the morning, don?t we just love Wednesdays! At noon a seminar on Africa and Somalia took place at the faculty of social sciences. First Markus R?is?nen, who works as a system tester at Ericsson, told us his insights on how the bridging of the digital divide can help Africa. An audience comprised of future diplomats wanting to make the world a better place can be a challenging audience for a person working in the business sector. Mr. R?is?nen lived up to the challenge as he managed to head up the debate towards the end of the presentation as the delegates were debating on whether Africa needs mobile phones or food. The rest of the seminar dealt exclusively with Somalia. The speakers list was impressive, we heart from Mr. Abdirashi Ismail, Mr. Mahdi Abdile, Mrs Batulo Essak and Mrs Sirpa M?enp??, who are all experts in their fields on Somalia. The delegates were eager to ask question as the escalation of the crisis in Somalia was just a few hours away...
In the evening the honourable delegates were hosted by the city of Helsinki as a reception took place at the beautiful Old Court House. The delegates were really looking forward to go to the reception, not only because of the great reception table (which was excellent by the way), but also because the scenario for the simulation was announced at the Old Court House. A note from the secretary general informed the delegates about the alarming situation in Somalia, the international community needs to act now! Finally the fun was about to begin! Later on in the evening the atmosphere of finmun 2007 conference had changed; the lobbying started for real as the now diplomats were chancing their views over the reception goodies. After some more refreshments, the diplomats got in to a right Valentine's Day mood, as the whole group moved to a fancy nightclub Lux. All that needs to be said about the evening is that there is that special someone for everyone.
