The seventh annual Thimun Qatar conference opened yesterday at the Qatar National Convention Centre. The three-day event, involving more than 1,300 Model United Nation (MUN) local, regional, and international students, was officially launched with a colourful flag procession.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Gender Equality and Empowerment for Women and Girls’, inspired by United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5. In line with the theme, the keynote speech was delivered by Trisha Shetty, founder and CEO of SheSays India, a youth-led NGO with a focus on youth and civil society engagement to promote gender equality. 
A number of embassy representatives also attended the opening ceremony, including Roberto Abdalla, ambassador of Brazil; Eric Chevallier, ambassador of France; and Dr Bahia Tahzib-Lie, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who also addressed the audience.
During the conference, participants will engage in a simulation of the United Nations, taking on roles as diplomats to discuss and debate international issues in order to develop solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing the global community. Thimun Qatar’s regional office was created as a joint project between Qatar Foundation’s Qatar Academy schools and the Thimun Foundation, an affiliation programme designed to develop high quality MUN conferences around the world.