Interview with Political Chair Maria Cotofan and Political Committee Co-chair Madalina Darabana

IASIMUN Observer: What were your expectations in your first MUN Conference?
Madalina Darabana: Well I had a lot of expectations, because my first MUN experience was at St. Petersburg and there were about 600  students all around the world starting  from China to the USA…

And it was a big committee, I can still remember now, about 120 people and I was so sure, that I wanted to be a main submitter or a co-submitter,  I gathered people around me I expected to have a resolution, and in the end it turned out not to be like this because, well I didn’t have enough experience to do this, but indeed I had great expectations and some of them were fulfilled, other not.

Maria Cotofan: This being my first MUN I must say that the delegates in this conference quite exceeded my expectations, because I didn’t expected that so many people in one committee, are so committed and it’s amazing their willingness to be main submitter, and even if they’re not main submitter, as I’ve seen today they still want to cooperate, communicate and express their point of view, so I’m really excited about it.

Observer: What stroke you at your first MUN Conference?
Cotofan: Conceptually speaking I think it is amazing that all these young people actually get a chance to speak their own point of view, and their personal opinion and say it out loud and I think it’s really empowering for them to be able to say this in front of many other youth, and that they have a lot of things to learn from each other, and maybe they can change their view on the  world that they live in.

Observer: What makes MUN different from other events of the same type, in your opinion?
Darabana: Well, first of all it gives the young people an opportunity to discuss adult problems, this empowers them a lot and gives them responsibility and it educates them in such a manner that they become responsible citizens, first of all. Secondly I think that dealing with such an event all the research that they had to do before, also makes them responsible and makes them in a way realize that not everything is for granted, and that they have to work in order to obtain something.

Observer: Why does the ECOSOC/ Human Rights/ Political/ Environment appeal to you?
Darabana: My first experience in an MUN conference was in the political committee, and that’s why I continued choosing the same committee, but I chose it in the first place because the problems that this committee tackles are more close to me.
Cotofan: I also like this committee because the topics that are debated are of very high and I’m not saying that the other topics in the other committees are not as important as this one, it’s just that I am more attracted to this one and maybe have more knowledge in it, and I’m very interested in the topics of the debate

Observer: What do you hope to achieve in IASIMUN?
Cotofan: Well personally I hope to have much more experience and to gain more experience and to gain all the necessary experience, so that in the future I can participate in more MUN conferences and as a general overview I hope that the delegates enjoy this conference as much as I do, and speak up everything they have in mind and that the debates will continue to be as fruitful as today.

Observer: How do you intend to use the experience achieved in MUN in your future career?
Darabana: I have to say that my experience in MUN has opened some gates for me, and some possibilities, because I have never thought of going political or anything like that before. Well I’m sure that besides  having some general knowledge from the research and the topics we had discussed, I will consider probably continuing a career in law or political, but I’m not sure yet.
Cotofan: I don’t know If I would like to consider in politics but I must say that I would like to have a future job in working with people, and empowering, especially young people, doing more personal development training and also I would like to use this knowledge for further MUN conferences, and maybe one day organize MUN conferences

Interview by: Mihai Salavastru