Introduction to Chairs.

 
 
● Head Chair 
Hello everyone, my name is Shureen Baskaran and will be pleased to serve you as the chair 
of the Economic and Social Council of Monash Model United Nations 2019 alongside 
Gan. I am currently reading the Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) 
programme at Kuala Lumpur.  
 
To briefly share about my MUN journey, I am blessed to be voyaging in the Malaysian 
MUN scene for over 3 years and have progressed by leaps and bounds from then to now. I 
started back in 2016 as an admin in MCKLMUN and up to date I have been a part of a 
total of 28 MUN conferences. Hence, MONMUNC 2019 will mark my 29th conference 
experience and my 12th time as a chair.  
 
I urge all of you, especially the first-timers to speak up confidently. Do not worry about 
making mistakes, but instead focus on learning and exchanging ideas. Remember to read 
through this research report but please be reminded that this research report is only a basic 
guideline. Carry out your own research as it helps you to develop a better understanding to 
the topics as a whole. Remember, delegates, RESEARCH is key!  
 
Should you require my help, do not hesitate to contact me through: 
Facebook: Shureen Baskaran 
Email: s​hureenbaskaran@ymail.com 
Hope to see all of you in MONMUNC 2019. Good luck! 
 
● Co-chair 
My name is Gan Chia Yong and I will be serving alongside Shureen as your co-chair of 
ECOSOC this MONMUNC19. I am pursuing a degree at a UK based university in a 
course I hold interest in. As I am relatively inexperienced, I apologise for any slip ups on 
my part. There are two things that I wish to address. 
 
 Foremostly, there are those who believe that MUNs don’t matter, we dress up and we 
argue, draft a fake resolution and go home. However I disagree. I believe that through a 
MUN if you can change the way one person thinks about one thing and give someone a 
fresh perspective, you will have succeeded. You will have changed the world. 
 
Secondly, the belief that committees are subject to the whims of the more experienced is 
outdated. If you are willing, you will rise above and succeed. To those that are new, I urge 
you to try and fail over and over again. To those that are experienced, don't get 
comfortable. 
 
Welcome to MONMUNC19. My name is Gan. Do not worry. Do not fret. If you need 
anything, anything at all and wish to contact me, i’d rather you didn’t. 
 
I jest of course, f​ eel free. 
 
Introduction to Committee. 
Making ECOSOC a truly meaningful organ that has the capacity to make a difference calls for new 
approach. This is so especially now, during times of hardened economic uncertainty that ECOSOC`s 
role and relevance is ever- increasing. ​H.E. Mr. Miloš Koterec President, ECOSOC 2012 
 
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was formed under the United Nations Charter as 
the principal organ to serve its role in coordinating economic, social, and related work of the 
fourteen UN specialized agencies, functional commissions and five regional commissions. The 
Council also receives reports from eleven UN funds and programmes. ECOSOC provides the 
central platform for the discussions of international economic and social issues, and for the 
formulation of policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations 
system. It is responsible for: 
 
● promoting higher living standards, full employment, and economic and social progress; 
● resolving international economic, social and health problems;  
● assisting international cultural and educational cooperation; and  
 ● upholding universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. 
 
It holds the power to conduct studies and reports on the aforementioned issues. It also assists the 
preparations and organization of major international conferences in the economic and social and 
related fields and to facilitate a coordinated follow up to these conferences. With an immensely 
vast mandate, the council's purview extends to over seventy percent of the human and financial 
resources of the entire UN system. The Council meets every two years at UN Headquarters or at 
the UN Office in Geneva. 
 

ECOSOC at MONMUNC 2019 & Position Paper Guidelines. 

Although this research report may seem comprehensive, delegates are reminded that this is not the 
only source of information in regards to the topics. This research report merely serves as the 
approach taken by the dias/chairs in order to address the topic. The dias expect that the research 
reports will provide a sense of direction to kickstart delegates’ research, hence it will be compulsory 
for every delegate to read through the research report entirely.  
 
ECOSOC at MONMUNC 2019 will be modelled after the Harvard Model United Nations 
(HMUN) Rules of Procedure (RoP), hence a ​Position Paper (PP)​entailing both topics at 
discussion is m
​ andatory​to be submitted by each and every delegate of ECOSOC. ​ Failure to 
submit a PP will result in consequences that are not limited to: deduction of scores and automatic 
disqualification from awards. 
 
Please format your position papers according to these standards (​Adopted from Mr Calvin Tang​) : 
1. Arial, Font size 12, 
2. Justified alignment with 1.15 spacing, 
3. You are allowed to bold, underline, and use italics, 
4. Maximum 3 pages for content, 
5. Please include the page numbering at the bottom right corner, 
6. Please cite your position paper ( APA 6th Edition , no need for in-text 
citation), 
 7. Please include a Bibliography for your position paper, which is an additional 
page after your 3 page content, 
8. Your PP ​should not​exceed a total of 4 pages with the content and 
Bibliography, 
9. Should your Bibliography exceed 1 page, then your PP should NOT exceed a 
total of 5 pages with the content and Bibliography, 
10. Please send it as a PDF file and ​not​as a Google Document or Word 
Document, and send it to both Chairpersons, 
11. Please d
​ o not​include your personal name, a country flag, a country’s 
emblem or equivalent, and personal information, 
12. Please include the name of your country and your council name (follow this 
example: “ITALY - ECOSOC”) in the Header section of the document, 
13. When sending the PDF version of your PP, please name the PDF document 
accordingly (follow this example: “ITALY_ECOSOC_PP”), 
14. Please write the PP in English and no other language should be used in the 
writing of your position paper, 
15. Please ensure that your PP is emailed to the Dias on the 20th of April 
2019 by 11.59 pm Malaysian time, late submissions ​will not​be entertained unless a valid 
reason is given. [ Please write a proper email! ] 
If ​any​of the above standards are ​not​followed, it will result in a ​deduction​of marks from your 
PP. Additionally, if your PP is not in PDF format, it will be rejected. 
 
Key points that a position paper should encompass are as follows​: 
● Brief background of the topic in pertinence to your country’s past and/or present events. 
● Your country’s policies/ stances on the issue of the topic. 
● Your country’s efforts to address the issue. 
● Your country’s plans in the future to resolve the issue on a global stage. 
● Your country’s expectation from the council or the other member states. 
 
The best way to acquire such information is via your country’s applicable websites and everything 
with regards to policies will be available to you there. If your country is the main player of the 
topic, focus more on your perspective and get the relevant links to support your country’s policies. 
Each delegate is required to write a position paper for b
​ oth​the topics in a ​single​document file. 
 
If you are uncertain on the topic, email your chairs and we will guide you. If you need a ​sample​, 
please e​ mail​the Chairs for sample position 
papers. Please write a proper email or it will not be entertained . 

 
Topic A: Addressing Concerns for Economic Inequality within Nations. 
1.1​Background/ History  
International income inequality (measured through the weighted Gini) increased quite sharply 
between 1980 and 2000. A number of factors played a role in this, especially drop of incomes in 
Latin America during the ‘lost decade’ of the 1980s and the prolonged economic implosion of 
countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the economic collapse of former soviets economies in 
the late 1980s and 1990s. However, since about 2000, the decline in international inequality has 
been observable even without the effect of the Chinese economy. Stronger economic growth in all 
three major developing regions (Asia, Africa and Latin America) has contributed to this trend. 
 
Despite this recent improvement, international inequality remains very high – in fact, excluding 
China, the Gini coefficients of international inequality were higher in 2010 than they had been in 
1980.  
 
Only in OECD countries, the gap between rich and poor is at its highest level in the last 30 years. 
Today, the richest1 10% of the population in the OECD area earn 9.5 times more than the poorest 
10%. By contrast, in the 1980s the ratio stood at 7:1. This long term trend increase in income 
inequality has contributed to curb economic growth significantly. 
 
The global financial and economic crisis and its aftermath have added urgency to the need to 
address inequalities and their consequences. Draconian fiscal austerity programmes still dominate 
attempts to reduce sovereign debt in many developed countries, and a growing number of 

1
​http://www.oecd.org/social/inequality.htm
developing countries are cutting public expenditure. Popular discontent has grown and trust in 
governments is dwindling, even in countries with consolidated democracies.  
 
As member states of ECOSOC, you are required to exchange insights on policies and internal 
mechanisms among yourselves and look for a common ground that could potentially establish a 
common framework that is agreeable by council members in tackling the issue of economic 
inequality. 

 
Figure 1: Ratio of the average income of the richest 10% to the poorest 10% 
 
  
Figure 2: Richest 10% share of total household net wealth 
 
1.2 ​Definition of Key Terms 

Income Inequality  Income inequality is one of the three main types of economic 
inequality, besides inequality for pay and wealth. Income refers 
to the household disposable income in a certain year and is 
adjusted to reflect the different needs for households of varying 
sizes. Income inequality refers to how much income is 
distributed unevenly in a group of people or society. It is used as 
a relative term, not to be confused with poverty, which can be an 
absolute term. 

Gini index  The Gini index or Gini coefficient is the most commonly used 
measure of economic inequality compared to other methods like 
ratio measures and the Palma Ratio. It measures inequality 
across the entire society instead of merely comparing different 
income groups. Theoretically, if all the income were to go to 
only one person and everyone else received none, the index 
would be 1, at perfect inequality. The closer the Gini value is to 
0, the more equally income is distributed. 
Organisation for  The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 
Economic Co-operation  (OECD) is a forum formed in 1961, where 34 democratic 
and Development (OECD)  governments with market economies cooperated with 70 
non-member economies. They can utilise this setting to compare 
and coordinate domestic and international policies, promote 
economic growth, sustainable development, and prosperity. 

Gross Domestic Product  The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) refers to the measure of the 
(GDP)  monetary value of goods and services, minus imports, a country 
produced in a period of time. There are two types of GDP: 
nominal, which is the raw amount not adjusted to inflation, and 
real, which is usually lower than nominal as it takes inflation into 
account. Even though GDP is the best way to measure a nation’s 
economy, especially GDP per capita, it is not an accurate 
measure of the society’s well-being but a limited measure of the 
people’s standard of living. 

Progressive taxes  A progressive tax is one where the lower income entities or 
individuals pay a lower proportion of their income in taxes than 
the higher income entities or individuals do. Under this system, 
marginal tax rates are often higher than the average rate and taxes 
assessed on income and business profits are based on a 
“progressive" or increasing tax rate schedule. An example would 
be estate taxes as the tax burden is meant to be imposed on the 
wealthy or people who owned more land.  

Proportional taxes  A proportional tax is also known as a flat tax, is one where 
everyone, pays the same proportion of income in taxes no matter 
the amount of income. Under this system, marginal tax rates are 
equal to the average rate and entities or individuals pay a set 
fraction of their income regardless of the total income earned. 
 An example would be sales taxes as the tax burden is meant to be 
imposed on all buyers or consumers of the product.  

Regressive taxes  A regressive tax, the opposite of a progressive tax, is where the 
lower income entities or individuals pay a higher proportion of 
their income in taxes than the lower income entities or 
individuals do. Under this system, marginal tax rates are less than 
the average rate as the government assesses tax based on the 
amount of asset the taxpayer purchases or owns instead of the 
entities or individuals ability to pay. An example would be poll 
taxes as it is imposed uniformly on the entire population. 

 
 
 
 
1.3 Current Situation 
Rising levels of inequality has become a key political issue in recent years; "the defining issue of our 
time," as Barack Obama described it back in 2013. It was at the heart of the Occupy movement 
protests, and has received a huge amount of attention in the media and in policy circles. But much 
of this discussion has focussed on what's been happening in rich countries, in particular upon 
trends seen in the US. We tend to hear less about inequality in the rest of the world. 
  
How has income inequality within countries been changing around the world more generally? 
To answer this question, a comparison of estimates of income inequality for two points in time has 
been created: today and a generation ago in 1990. Metric of income inequality is the Gini index – 
explained h
​ ere​ – which is higher in a country with higher inequality. 

The chart below compares levels of inequality today with those one generation ago. If you've not 
seen this sort of chart before, it may take a moment to understand what's going on. How ​high​ a 
country is in the chart shows you the level of inequality in 2015. How ​far to the right​ shows you 
the level of inequality in 1990. In addition, a 45 degree line is plotted. Countries below this line saw 
a fall in the Gini index between the two dates; countries above saw an increase. 

Figure 3: Comparison between countries in income inequality using Gini index. 

Key Issues 

Technology  

Income inequality is created when the rapidly advancing technology reduces the number of 
medium-skilled workers in comparison to the higher and lower skilled workers. Demand for these 
medium skilled workers decreases as their jobs can be completed by modern computers and other 
machinery while the jobs of higher and lower skilled workers are not as easily replaced. Moreover, 
highly skilled workers are presented with more benefits than the medium and lower classes like 
getting more job opportunities in the market and receiving more rewards in business as the 
economy shifts towards secondary and tertiary sectors which favour skilled labour.  

Globalisation  

As competition increases, firms are also forced to innovate and excel above others. The result is 
offshoring, a type of outsourcing, of businesses, which means that companies are moving certain 
processes, like manufacturing or other operations, from one country into another country. Specific 
jobs are relocated from rich to poor countries thanks to the availability of lower costs of 
production and labour, especially if they do not require much skill. Hence, globalisation has been 
viewed as a negative force by majority of westerners. 

Unemployment 

Studies have shown that unemployment has also been one of the main reason of economic 
inequality around the world and the worst affected group would be the less skilled labourers. 
Unemployment contributes to the misery of these jobless “workers" as unemployment benefits 
only support them for a limited amount of time. Once their insurance expires, they resort to 
loaning more money and end up further buried by debt, even the generations after them get 
negatively impacted. This eventually widens the income gap between the employed and 
unemployed populations in society.  

Education  

Another major contributing factor to inequality is access to education. Education, especially in a 

region where there is a high demand for workers, naturally create high wages for those who receive 
this education. On the other hand, those who do not receive education, whether they are unable to 
afford it or choose not to pursue it, receive relatively lower wages. Education is a positive 
foundation in society as it helps to increase one’s ability to earn income and promotes economic 
growth as a whole. For example, a student who is supported by low income will be forced to take 
on loans to fund the tuition costs. Hence, it is more likely that he/she will not finish his/her 
education or continue to stay in the cycle of being poor as he/she has to pay back the money 
instead of going out to work and eventually moving up the social ladder.  

Tax evasion or tax avoidance  

Individuals and firms can take various actions to reduce their tax burdens. Tax avoidance are legal 
means such as income splitting, tax postponement and tax arbitrage across income that faces 
different tax treatment. On the other hand, tax evasion are illegal means such as underreporting 
income, overstating deductions, exemptions, or credits, failing to file tax returns, engaging in 
barter. When individuals or firms cheat on their tax obligations, it changes the real effects of 
taxation, especially on income distribution. If the rich or anyone who feels that no one has a right 
to tax their earnings and evade the taxes, it will throw the system off balance.  
1.4 Major Bloc 
 
Mexico 
Mexico is an example as one of the countries with the worst income inequality. Its top 10% make 
over 30 times more than the poorest 10%, despite averaging more working hours per day compared 
to China or the US. Mexico faces multiple difficulties such as drug cartels which has always been 
an uncontrollable problem for its government. Currently, they will focus more on tackling poverty 
in hopes of narrowing the income gap. 
 
Chile 
Chile is also a nation with one of the most unequal wealth distributions, thanks to various factors 
such as lack of higher education and corruption. Even though more Chileans are receiving college 
degrees, many of the poor attend cheaper colleges in hopes of getting the same opportunities as 
other students in richer schools but only to graduate with more debt. This combined with wealthy 
universities lobbying against bills to improve the system and the wealthy simply covering up their 
income to lack of restrictions on credit card interest rates. 
 
United States of America 
Despite being one of the most economically developed countries in the world, the United States of 
America also ranks as one of the most unequal in terms of income distribution. An overwhelming 
majority of its population is unemployed which results in its major wage gap. Today, the top 1% 
own 38% of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 40 % less than 1%. The government has made 
several proposals to stimulate economic growth by investing more in research, infrastructure, 
research and education. They have implemented a progressive tax system which basically 
redistributes wealth from the rich to the poor and are focusing on more exports and fewer imports. 
With more exports and fewer imports, it means that more people, whether within or outside the 
country, are consuming the country’s product, which increases demand for its goods and services 
and keeps it in business. The USA has also enacted a hike in its minimum wage in hopes to solve 
the problem. 
  
Figure 4: The effect of US federal taxes and transfers 
 
United Kingdom 
According to statistics, the average income of the richest 10% is almost 10 times as large as for the 
poorest 10% in the United Kingdom. From 2005 to 2011, the average income of the poorest 10% 
fell a further 2%. Despite so, the level of income inequality among the entire population has been 
above the OECD average in the past thirty years as taxes and benefits have successfully reduce 
income inequality by a quarter. Other policy changes have also reduced the income of higher 
earning families thanks to the withdrawal of child benefits and higher social contributions. 
 
China 
Income inequality was between people of the primary economic sector (like fishing and farming) 
and people of the secondary or tertiary economic sector (like manufacturing or service). This is 
evident in the rural regions of China as China focused heavily on their industrial growth in the 
cities. Investments in the agriculture sector were neglected while monetary and fiscal policies were 
implemented for the benefit of the urban population. These benefits include low cost capital for 
enterprises, unemployment benefits, housing and minimum wages for the people living and 
working in the urban regions. However, China have tried to balance their policies between the two 
regions by enacting a nationwide minimum wage as well as applying technological attention to its 
agriculture. 

 
Figure 5: Disposable income growth in China  
 
Denmark 
Denmark is an example as one of the countries with the least income inequality as the top 20% of 
Danes earn on average four times as much as the bottom 20%. The Danes enjoy an expansive social 
safety net including free college, health care and subsidised child care. However, all these benefits 
do not com without a price. The Danes are also more heavily taxed compared to others. For 
instance, total tax revenue is 49% of the size of the economy compared to 25.4% in the US; Danes 
pay a top tax rate of 56% unlike the 39.6% in the US. 
 
Brookings Institution 
Brookings Institution is a non-profit public policy organization created to "conduct high-quality, 
independent research and provide innovative, practical recommendations that will help democratic 
America". They believe that income inequality will be a permanent economic threat in the US 
which will reduce social mobility. They proposed solutions such as reform of the tax system and 
moving beyond the current set of tax instruments to increase the revenues through methods like a 
carbon tax. 
 
International Monetary Fund (IMF) 
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has strongly disproved the "Okun" theory. The theory 
states that more equal distribution of income will decrease incentives to work and earn more 
money, and mechanisms such as the tax code or minimum wages which strive redistribute wealth 
are costly. They said, "Societies do not face a choice between efficient production and equitable 
wealth and income distribution. When growth is looked at over the long term, the trade-off 
between efficiency and equality may not exist. In fact equality appears to be an important 
ingredient in promoting and sustaining growth.” They have reason to believe that nations with a 
larger income inequality have entered recessions more frequently while more equal societies have 
enjoyed longer growth. 
 
1.5 Past Actions  
The United Nations has successfully cut the poverty rate in 1990 by half and the issue of economic 
inequalities has been addressed. Many countries have implemented different policies and enforced 
individual solutions but still, much has to be done to stimulate more progress.  
 
In China, the plan “Action Aid” was developed to eradicate poverty and has tried to reduce the 
wealth gap through various projects: the Revolving Fund helps provide reliable credit loans to the 
poor, women's activity centers have been established to lower literacy rates and reduce educational 
differences, the Participatory Budget Analysis project facilitates communication between the poor 
or disadvantaged and the government to ensure that they will have a more equitable allocation of 
public spending. Despite successfully resolving urban poverty, China still remains as one of the 
countries with the highest income inequality.  
 
In the United States of America, they set an increase in the federal minimum wage back in 2013. 
However, a higher minimum wage only raises those in the bottom and does not touch those in the 
top, failing to change the root causes of income inequality. As some workers will get a raise from 
the hike, it will cause others especially the young who do no have experience to lose because some 
employers will cut jobs to pay employees more. Hence, unemployment rates for teens in 
high-minimum wage states are higher than those in low-minimum wage. Ultimately, the real 
minimum wage is $0 as employers can choose to let employees go or not hire them at all. 
 
1.6 Possible Solutions  
Economic Growth  
The basic step would be for nations to work on their economic growth. Economic growth can 
mean either an increase in the output that an economy produces over a period of time or an 
increase in the output an economy can produce. This can be measured by either the real Gross 
Domestic Product (GDP) or production possibility frontier (PPF), which is a graph with two axis: 
consumer and capital goods. To obtain an outward shift on the PPF, meaning an increase in the 
capacity to produce, governments can: apply of new technology, employ a division of labour and 
specialisation, introduce new production methods, increase the labour force or even discover new 
natural resources. This would in turn raise the overall quality of life and standard of living for the 
people by allowing for higher incomes and more job opportunities. 

 
Figure 6: Outwards shift on the PPF curve 
 
 
Taxes  
However, with economic growth, there would still be income inequality. It would be impossible to 
eliminate but can be reduced with certain policies by focusing on the lower income population. 
Governments can support the lower class by providing cheaper housing or other social welfare like 
free public education for children. They can allocate more tax money to fund other social welfare 
programmes that help raise the real income of the lower income group. In order to tackle the issue 
of tax evasion or tax avoidance, government can also use their authority to request for firms to 
publish their wage ratios to increase transparency.  
 
Another alternative would be to use taxes to redistribute income. A progressive tax allows for the 
taxing authority to collect more as the taxpayer’s income increases. This income tax is divided into 
blocks so if a taxpayer’s income passes a certain benchmark, the taxpayer is charged with a new tax 
rate. This would in turn narrow the gap between the income classes and generate funds which can 
be used to aid programmes that specifically help the poor. Countries like the US adopt this system 
which is based on the logic of the “ability to pay" principle. However, it has been criticised for 
punishing people who work harder and earn more money, reducing the motivation to excel 
 
1.7 Questions A Resolution Must Answer (QARMAs) 
 
I. Why are past actions of UN, Member States and other multilateral organizations deemed 
ineffective and how could they be improvised to improve their effectiveness? 
II. How inequality tackles economic growth and how it affects prosperity in the different 
regions? 
III. What are the principal problems caused by the rising of inequality both at national and 
international level? 
IV. As ECOSOC does not carry the jurisdiction of implementing or establishing direct 
economic or political measures, nor decide on mandatory financial transfers, how can 
member states be convinced to develop policies in this regard? 
V. How can other UN bodies revise the actions and foster investigations and report on this 
issue? 
VI. How can multilateral organisations such as the IMF, the World Bank or the OECD 
contribute to tackle global inequality? 
 
1.8 Links for further reading 
1. Economic Analysis and Policy Division: World Economic and Social Survey. Retrieved 
from  
https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/document_gem/wess-report/ 
2. The Guardian: “Gender Pay Gap will take 170 Years to Close”. Retrieved from 
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/25/gender-pay-gap-170-years-to-close-
world-economic-forum-equality 
3. UN Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among 
countries. Retrieved from ​https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/inequality/​. 
4. UNCTAD: Development Policies and Income Inequality in Selected Developing Regions, 
1980-2010. Retrieved from 
https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/osgdp20124_en.pdf 
5. UNDP: Human Development Reports. Retrieved from 
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Complete_reprint.pdf 
 
1.9 Bibliography  
1. Holodny, Elena. "Here's What Income Inequality Looks like around the World." Business 
Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 14 July 2015. Web. Jan. 2016. Retrieved from 
http://www.businessinsider.com/ranked-incomeinequality-around-the-world-2015-7​. 
2. "How Is Economic Inequality Defined?" The Equality Trust, n.d. Web. Jan. 2016. 
Retrieved from ​https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/how-economic-inequality-defined​. 
3. "Inequality." OECD, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. Retrived from 
https://data.oecd.org/inequality/incomeinequality.htm​. 
4. Sutter, John D. "What Is Income Inequality, Anyway?" CNN. Cable News Network, 29 
Oct. 2013. Web. Jan. 2016. Retrieved from 
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/29/opinion/sutter-explainer-income-inequality/​. 
5. "About the OECD." OECD. N.p., n.d. Web. Jan. 2016. Retrieved from 
http://www.oecd.org/about/​. 
 6. "General Assembly Adopts 68 Resolutions, 7 Decisions as It Takes Action on Reports of 
Its Third Committee." Meetings Coverages and Press Releases. UN, 18 Dec. 2013. Web. 
Jan. 2015. Retrieved from h
​ ttp://www.un.org/press/en/2013/ga11475.doc.htm​. 
7. "General Assembly, Taking up Second Committee Reports, Adopts 41 Resolutions, 2 
Decisions, Deferring Action on Small Islands Text | Meetings Coverage and Press 
Releases." UN News Center. UN, 20 Dec. 2013. Web. Jan. 2016. Retrieved from 
http://www.un.org/press/en/2013/ga11478.doc.htm​. 
8. "Economics Online." Economics Growth. N.p., n.d. Web. Jan. 2016. Retrieved from  
http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Competitive_markets/Economic_growth.html​. 
9. "Economic Growth." Economics Help. N.p., n.d. Web. Jan. 2016. Retrieved from 
http://www.economicshelp.org/macroeconomics/economic-growth/​. 
10. "Progressive Tax Definition." The Economic Times. N.p., n.d. Web. Jan. 2016. Retrieved 
from ​http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/Progressive-Tax​. 
11. "What Is GDP? Definition of Gross Domestic Product." About News & Issues. N.p., 23 
Nov. 2015. Web. Jan. 2016. Retrieved from 
http://useconomy.about.com/od/grossdomesticproduct/p/GDP.htm​. 

Topic B: Advancement on Global Transport Connectivity 

 
The topic and discussion of Global Transport Connectivity is as relevant as ever. Though 
globalisation, specialisation and international trade have lifted millions of people out of poverty 
and continues to do the same, global transport connectivity is yet to reach its full potential. 
Marginalisation , exuberant social costs, Trade Wars *cough*Trump *cough* and regional 
conflicts are but a few examples of what hinder us. This topic is vast, its problems intricate and a 
resolution which suits all will not come easily.However, the dias encourages each delegates 
endeavours to the utmost, challenges the convenience of conventional solutions and seek to 
innovate simple,concise ideas that when applied, empower societies. 
 
 
2.1 Background/History  
World Cities develop hierarchical relationships that rise and fall over time according to their 
control and mediary functions in the system. As commanding nodes in the world economy, world 
cities are defined by dense patterns of interaction between people goods and information. A 
rapidly expanding and sophisticated global network of transport services and infrastructure 
facilitates this interaction. In turn, the globalisation of finance, production, ,labour , services 
cultures and information has given impetus to and has helped shape, extraordinary advances in 
transport provision. Thus, the role of transport connectivity in the evolution of world cities is 
crucial and fundamental.  
 
While in the previous decades, development policies and strategies tended to focus on physical 
capital, recent years has seen a better balance by including human capital issues. Irrespective of the 
relative importance of physical versus human capital, development cannot occur without both 
interacting as infrastructures cannot remain effective without proper operations and maintenance 
while economic activities cannot take place without an infrastructure base. The highly 
transactional and service oriented functions of many transport activities underline the complex 
relationship between its physical and human capital needs. For instance, effective logistics both 
relies on infrastructures and managerial expertise. 
 
Because of its intensive use of infrastructures, the transport sector is an important component of 
the economy and a common tool used for development. This is even more so in a global economy 
where economic opportunities have been increasingly related to the mobility of people, goods and 
information. A relation between the quantity and quality of transport infrastructure and the level 
of economic development is apparent. High density transport infrastructure and highly connected 
networks are commonly associated with high levels of development. When transport systems are 
efficient, they provide economic and social opportunities and benefits that result in positive 
multipliers effects such as better accessibility to markets, employment and additional investments. 
When transport systems are deficient in terms of capacity or reliability, they can have an economic 
cost such as reduced or missed opportunities and lower quality of life. 
 
2.2 Current Situation 
With more than $14 trillion expected to be invested in global transport infrastructure projects by 
2025, a new report from Strategy& lays bare the need for a collaborative and tech-savvy approach 
to developing sustainable and inclusive transport systems.  
 
Sustainable and inclusive transport systems demands a very different planning model from those 
that have been devised in developed countries and are currently used around the world. The model 
for the future will need to be far more flexible, adaptable, and well regulated. Three new concepts 
need to be incorporated: 
● distributed and diversified transport systems;  
● sharing of real time data 
● pragmatic, balanced multi-modal regulatory schemes, which balance the needs of users 
and the economy with those of the incumbent operators. 
 
Around the world, advancements to global transport connectivity have taken place at different 
paces and with differing goals. 
 
In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced plans to build a Silk Road economic belt and a 
21st century maritime Silk Road , now known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)-(Fig 2.1). The 
BRI is geared towards encouraging greater policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, 
investment and trade cooperation, financial integration, cultural exchange and regional 
cooperation between Asia, Europe and Africa, by creating jointly-built trade routes emulating the 
ancient Silk Road. The BRI will encompass more than 70 percent of the world’s population (4.4 
billion) and 62 per cent of the world’s GDP (around US$21 trillion) illustrating the colossal scale 
of the initiative. 
 
In 2017,the World Bank successfully assisted African governments in incorporating climate 
adaptation and mitigation into project design in the $300 million Dakar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) 
pilot project.This project included the construction of 18.3 kilometers of fully segregated bus lanes 
in Dakar, build or provide terminals, metro-style stations, bus fleets, and intelligent transportation 
systems (ITS), improve access for pedestrians, better integrate the system into the urban 
environment, and restructure the public transit network. 
 
The project also reduced long-term greenhouse gas emission by 1.5 million tons of CO2 emissions 
gave millions access to public transit service,increasing access to employment opportunities by 7%. 
By 2020, two-thirds of the population will have access to at least 8,000 more job opportunities 
than they do today. The increase will then benefit poorer areas in the northern suburbs, where 
access to more than 120,000 employment opportunities will be made possible. 
 
However, it has been reported that today, developing countries, especially in Africa and Oceania 
and including many SIDS and LLDCs, pay more for their transport connectivity than developed 
countries. The main reasons are to be found in these regions’ trade imbalances, as well as their 
lower trade volumes and shipping connectivity. Policy makers can help remedy this situation 
through investment, as well as port and trade facilitation reforms, especially in the regions’ 
seaports, transit systems and customs administrations. Broadly speaking, connectivity relies on 
various dimensions that can be grouped into three categories: geography, infrastructure and 
cost-effectiveness. 
 
This can also be attributed to LLDCs having trade flows and costs depend not only on the 
efficiency of their own customs and other border agencies, but also on those of neighbouring 
transit countries. Collier (2008) called this situation the “landlocked with bad neighbours trap”. 
The physical movement of goods is often impaired by poor supply and quality of hard 
infrastructure which, in addition to difficult regulatory environments and inefficient logistics 
services, results in a lack of trust in the logistics chain.  
 
Therefore, The Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative launched at the 2005 WTO Ministerial Conference 
in Hong Kong remains a key tool through which high-income countries provide support to 
developing nations to do so. The initiative reflected a recognition that agreements to liberalise trade 
would benefit developing countries more fully if complemented with development assistance 
targeted at improving the ability of firms in developing economies to use trade opportunities. 
 
Total AfT disbursements are significant. They increased from an average of $21 billion in 
2006-2008 to $39.8 billion in 2015 (OECD and WTO 2017). Most of this aid is allocated to 
African and Asian nations, with each region accounting for around 40% of total AfT 
disbursements. 
The World Bank estimates that intra-regional trade in South Asia could nearly quadruple to $100 
billion if just the barriers were removed and processes streamlined; boosting physical connectivity 
would dramatically boost this further. 
  
 
Fig 2.1  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2.3 Challenges facing Global Transport Connectivity 
Rapidly growing, unregulated connectivity has always served as a detriment to short-term and 
perhaps even long-term development.  
Access to coastal areas in Africa facilitated the slave trade. 
Access to European explorers facilitated the spread of epidemics in the New World. 
Access to the outside world today facilitates the spread of illnesses such as HIV/AIDS.  
In most cities, such as Manila, growth in vehicle ownership outpaces that of road development. 
Road congestion and underdeveloped road networks cause logistical inefficiencies and create 
obstacles to productivity.  
Hence, one of the main challenges facing the advancement of Global Transport Connectivity is 
how tightly governments can maintain and regulate growth. 
 
Environmentally, Transport sectors have also had a significant contribution to the Asia-Pacific 
region’s GHG emissions. Asia’s motorized transport emissions are responsible for 23 per cent of 
global aggregate emissions and are set to rise to 31 per cent by 2030. If no action is taken, transport 
will become the single largest emitter of GHGs, responsible for 46 per cent of the share of global 
emissions by 2035. 
 
Geographical factors also represent a challenge such as in the case of African transport systems 
which are vulnerable to multiple types of climate impact: sea level rise and storm surge, higher 
frequency and intensity of extreme wind and storm events, increased precipitation intensity, 
extreme heat and fire hazard, overall warming, and change in average precipitation patterns. The 
increased frequency and intensity of extreme climate event challenges the year-round availability of 
critical transport services: roads are damaged more often or are more costly to maintain; expensive 
infrastructure assets such as ports, railways or airports can be damaged by storms and storm surges, 
resulting in a short life cycle and capacity than they were originally designed for. Critical 
infrastructure such as bridges continue to be built based on data and disaster risk patterns from 
decades ago, ignoring the current trend of increased climate risk. For Sub-Saharan Africa alone, it is 
estimated that climate change will threaten to increase road maintenance costs by 270% . It is 
estimated than an average of ten tropical cyclones sweep through the south-west Pacific Ocean 
between November and April each year, and several Pacific small island developing States sit 
atop the tectonic-plate boundaries known as the “Ring of Fire”, where most of the world's largest 
earthquakes occur. All of these events have a destructive impact on infrastructure, as evidenced by 
the damage caused when Tropical Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu in March 2015.  
 
Gender diversity in transport sectors internationally is also something that needs to be addressed. 
Women account for only 17.5% of the workforce in EU urban public transport for example, and 
hold less than 10% of technical and operational jobs. In the United States, women comprise only 
15% of transport and related occupations and only 4.6% of commercial truck drivers are women. 
 
Finally, a challenge to global transport connectivity is the emergence of bottlenecks, classified by 
Prentice (2003) under three general categories, namely:  
 
● Infrastructure bottlenecks 
Chronic or temporary in nature. Chronic infrastructure bottlenecks can be due to 
climate and physical barriers or due to underinvestment.Temporary infrastructure 
bottlenecks are those which would arise from weather disruptions, market 
perturbations 
● Regulatory bottlenecks 
 Unintended consequences of some other policy objective (e.g. safety/quality 
inspections and security measures)  
● Supply chain dysfunctions 
Due to dysfunctional supply chains which occur when participants fail to act in a 
common interest, (e.g. respect to hours of operation. ) 
 
For example, Peru suffers somewhat inadequate port infrastructure. Reduced operating depth in 
docks, dock maneuvers and input channels.  
 
Chinese Taipei has put much effort in road network construction. However, the lack of proper 
administration, coupled with a few local road-network bottlenecks, impedes the desired traffic 
capacity being achieved 
 
The US-Mexican border at Loredo. With respect to individual modes, for highways found that 
urban interstate interchange bottlenecks accounted for most of the delay experienced by truckers 
 
The European part of Russia is where the majority of the population lives and the economy is most 
active. Yet, basic transport network in Siberia and the Russian Far East is not yet developed and 
some areas do not have connections to the main transport network. Air and inland-waterway 
transport have been under-financed, aggravating the imbalance between European and Asian parts 
of the transport system 
 
 
 
 
2.4 Classification of Countries, Blocs 
As of 2019, nations in the world can be classified into MEDCs (More Economically Developed 
Countries, LEDC (Less Economically Developed Countries) and NICS (Newly INdustrialised 
Countries). As nations vary in terms of development and economic activity, their goals and roles in 
the advancement of global trade connectivity are likely to defer. 
 
 The term MEDC is one used by modern geographers to specifically describe a country’s economic 
development. The former secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan defined a 
developed country as one that allows all the citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe 
environment. About 20% of the world’s countries are in the developed category and the ten largest 
MEDC countries are United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia, Japan, 
France, Republic of Korea, Germany, Italy and Spain. The criterion for evaluating the degree of 
economic development is Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the per capita income, level of 
industrialization, the amount of widespread infrastructure and general standard of living. 
 
MEDCs often play the role of helping less developed countries advance global transport 
connectivity through  
● Driving investment in key regional value chains through both regulatory reform and 
investment identification and investor matchmaking. 
● Providing “Aid for Trade,” a multilateral initiative designed to assist developing countries, 
especially low-income countries, spur growth by integrating into the world economy.  
● financing infrastructure projects and establishing cooperation mechanisms  
 
Countries with low incomes and low conditions of living are considered less economically 
developed countries (LEDC). These countries meet three criterions; poverty (3 years average of 
Gross National Income per capita of less than US$905, and must exceed US$1086 to leave the 
poverty list), human resource weakness ( based on nutrition, health, education and adult literacy) 
and economic vulnerability (based on instability of agricultural production, instability of exports 
of goods and services, economic importance of non-traditional activities, merchandise export 
concentration, handicap of economic smallness, and the percentage of population displaced by 
natural disasters). These criterions are reviewed every 3 years by the Committee for Development 
Policy (CDP) of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Some examples 
are Ghana, Haiti, Nepal, Brazil, China, Mali, Afghanistan and Africa . 
Less Economically Developed Countries face challenges developing and advancing transport 
connectivity due to a sleau of factors often they 
● perform quite weakly in elements related to transport facilitation such as customs 
efficiency, logistics services quality and professionalism, timeliness of shipments and 
the availability of cargo tracking systems.  
 ● Have outdated or ineffective infrastructure which results in above average operating costs 
and lower investor confidence 
● Rely heavily on Foreign Aid or Investment to advance trade and transport infrastructure 
 
 
 
 

 
The term NIC began when the four Asian tigers of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and 
Taiwan rose to global prominence as NICs during the 1970s and 80s, with a fairly fast industrial 
growth since the 1960s. All four countries have high GNI per capita, open political process, a 
thriving export oriented economic policy and high income economies. Today, Newly 
Industrialized Country (NIC) apply to several countries like South Africa, Mexico, Malaysia, 
Brazil, China, India, Thailand, Philippines and Turkey whose economy has not yet reached the 
MEDC stage but has surpassed the LEDC stage. NICs usually have common features such as 
increased social freedoms and civil rights, strong political leaders, a switch from agricultural to 
industrial economies, an increasingly open-market economy, a large national corporation operating 
in several continents, strong capital investment from other countries, political leadership and rapid 
growth of population. 
 
Newly Industrialized Countries are rapidly developing transport infrastructure and engage in 
global transport connectivity to bolster their economies, often running high Balance of Payment 
surpluses often they 
● Place Emphasis on manufacturing sectors, often importing from primary sector economies 
and adding-value to goods before exporting them 
● Engage in high levels or protectionism to protect infant industries such as Tariffs and 
Quotas 
● Participate in regional trading blocs, and attract foreign investment, especially from 
developed countries. 
 
2.5 Questions A Resolution Must Answer (QARMA) 
 
● How would countries advance transport connectivity while ensuring that the initiative 
delivers sustained economic, social and environmental benefits across generations? 
● What measures are needed to integrate women, youth and marginalized populations into 
mainstream global transport sectors? 
● How would member nations allow both rural and urban areas equal access to economic 
and social opportunities internationally? 
● Is there a need for greater collaboration between public and private sectors across areas 
such as risk sharing to accelerate innovation and development, operation and maintenance 
funding? 
● How should countries promote integrated intermodal transport systems to balance, link 
and coordinate the varied modes of transport such as roads, railways, maritime and 
aviation, in order to achieve optimum efficiency? 
● How far should governments open markets for shipping and aviation, maximise 
connectivity and consumer choice, and look beyond national markets? 
● How would countries collaborate to identify, classify and overcome the emergence of 
bottlenecks in Global Transport Connectivity? 
 
2.6 Suggested Reading  
1)​Digital Connectivity and Trade Logistics-United Nations Conference on Trade 
Retrieved from 
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/aid4trade17_chap3_e.pdf 
 
2)Transport pivotal to Asia and the Pacific’s sustainability-United Nations 
Retrieved from 
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2016/12/transport-pivotal-to-asia-and-the-pac
ifics-sustainability/ 
 
3)Economics of improved transport links in Belt and Road countries-World Economic Forum 
Retrieved from 
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/measuring-the-economic-impact-of-improved-trans
port-links-in-belt-and-road-countries/ 
 
4)Transport-A Pivotal Sector in Asia Pacifics Journey to Sustainability- The Diplomat 
Retrieved from 
https://thediplomat.com/2016/12/transport-a-pivotal-sector-in-the-asia-pacifics-journey-to-sustai
nability/ 
 
5)Stronger Open Trade Policies Enable Economic Growth -World Bank 
Retrieved From 
https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2018/04/03/stronger-open-trade-policies-enables-econo
mic-growth-for-all 
 
6)Increased connectivity drives Asia’s regional and global trade growth-TFX news 
Retrieved From 
https://www.txfnews.com/News/Article/6571/Increased-connectivity-drives-Asias-regional-and-
global-trade-growth 
 
7)Three factors that have made Singapore a global logistics hub-The World Bank 
Retrieved from 
http://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/three-factors-have-made-singapore-global-logistics-hub 
 
 
2.7 Bibliography 
1) “The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa” Nunn, Puga 2007 .   
Retrieved from  
https://scholar.harvard.edu/nunn/publications/ruggedness-blessing-bad-geography-afric
a 
 
2) “Guns,Germs and Steel” Diamond 1997 
Retrieved from 
https://jamesclear.com/book-summaries/guns-germs-and-steel 
 
3) Cracking the global transport Challenge- Pwc 
Retrieved from 
https://www.pwc.com/ph/en/pwc-needles-in-a-haystack/cracking-the-global-transportation-chall
enge-for-future-generations.html  
 
4) Aid for trade and trade in services-Vox 
Retrieved from 
https://voxeu.org/article/aid-trade-and-trade-services 
 
5)The Economic Impact of Enhanced Multimodal Connectivity in the APEC 
Retrieved from  
https://www.apec.org/-/media/APEC/Publications 
 
6) Governance for global transport connectivity-International Transport Forum 
Retrieved from 
https://2017.itf-oecd.org/governance-global-transport-connectivity 
 
7)“ Transport and The World City Paradigm” Paul Knox 
Retrieved from 
https://books.google.com.my/books 
 
8)Regional Connectivity- KPMG 
Retrieved from 
https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2018/06/regional-connectivity.html