Putting Heads (and Tails) Together

Trade and investment can be regarded as two extremely broad terminologies when it comes to discussions on economic principles. Since the committee also proceeded in a direction where this fact was considered valid, the Delegate representing Mr. Bill Gates raised the topic in the committee wherein the “Individual Perceptions on trade and investment” was deemed to be the ground stone on which the foundation for debate can be laid on.

Commencing the speech, Mr. Bill Gates aptly started by suggesting how there is a significant difference in the perceptions that most economic forums and individuals hold when it comes to talking about trade balances. The Delegate went on to explain how its only mythical and factually incorrect for such economic bodies to regard ‘trade deficits’ as bad and ‘trade surpluses’ as good. Having clarified the same, the Delegate also stated that the borrowing and lending of money amongst nations to make up for deficits and surplus amounts more or less makes up for the same. So, it is safe to proclaim that there is no straightforward relationship between the nation’s trade balance and its current economic situation. Second, the Delegate also cleared the air on which type of trade could be deemed better: a barter economy or a monetary economy.

Next, the United Nations High Commission of Refugees highlighted how international trade opens up new avenues for the refugees. It helps them to take up jobs and gives them opportunities to become self-employed individuals. Not just an economic benefit, this also champions the humanitarian cause as a diversified chapter opens up to the international trade market. Furthering the cause of this unorthodox thinking from the perspective of companies also is a major positive that can be taken from this type of venture. Yet another unique perspective on trade was added to the debate by the Delegate representing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The Delegate talked about the importance of introducing an ‘agile infrastructure financing mechanism’. In this, Multilateral Development Banks come to the aid in the way that they help nations in construction and improvement of infrastructure in Asian nations by taking the advantage of the funding provided by the private sector banks and taking their help in establishing an estimate of risk allocation factor.

The delegate representing the President of Federative Republic of Brazil then proceeded to inform the committee of a rather interesting viewpoint, wherein the Delegate talked about the country being a ‘closed economy’ due to the ‘unrealistic “Make in Brazil” dream’. The Delegate went further to express his desire as the President of Brazil to establish a free trade partnership in the world community. The Delegate then went on to partially blame the leading world nations for harboring a ‘protectionist international environment’, which should be relaxed to allow free trade to flow. This way, many ‘middle-income countries’ such as Brazil will be able to rise in the economic aspect.

Then, in conclusion, a very impactful speech was given by the delegate representing Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank. In the speech, the Delegate urged the committee members to steer clear of any politics which would cause questions to be raised on the integrity of important forums such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), as the ‘growing skepticism in the effectiveness’ of such organizations can be detrimental to world economy.