ECOFIN

ECOFIN is the common shorthand for the Economic and Financial Committee, one of the six Main Committees of the United Nations General Assembly (the Second Committee, or GA2). It addresses agenda items related to macroeconomic policy, international trade, development financing, sustainable development, eradication of poverty, operational activities for development, information and communications technologies, and the external debt of developing countries.

In the real UN, every member state holds a seat in ECOFIN and each has one vote. The committee meets annually during the regular session of the General Assembly in New York, typically beginning in early October, and forwards draft resolutions to the GA plenary for adoption. Its work intersects closely with ECOSOC, the UNCTAD secretariat, and the Bretton Woods institutions, though ECOFIN itself produces only non-binding recommendations.

In Model UN, ECOFIN is one of the most frequently offered GA committees because its broad mandate accommodates large delegate counts and accessible topics. Typical MUN agenda items include:

• financing for development and the SDGs
• sovereign debt restructuring
• illicit financial flows and tax cooperation
• digital economy and the digital divide
• food security and commodity price volatility
• climate finance

Rules of procedure usually follow standard GA format: a Speakers List, moderated and unmoderated caucuses, working papers, draft resolutions, and simple-majority voting. Position papers are expected to cite the delegation's stance on relevant frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015), the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (2015), and the Monterrey Consensus (2002).

Delegates should note the distinction from the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council, which shares the abbreviation "Ecofin" but is a configuration of the Council of the European Union composed of EU finance ministers — a separate body with binding legislative powers within the EU. MUN circuits occasionally simulate the EU Ecofin as a specialized regional committee, but the UN GA Second Committee is the default referent.