This Friday, May 29, 90 students of general economic and commercial preparatory classes (ECG) from the Montaigne high school, accompanied by around thirty junior year students from the establishments of Camille-Jullian, Montaigne and Max-Linder from Libourne, participated in a simulated international meeting, combining economic, environmental and global security issues.
Gathered within several foreign delegations, the students must support their point of view. Thierry David / SO
The scenario, imagined by their history-geography teachers Tangui Pennec and Thomas Verclytte, is intended to be as realistic – and explosive – as possible. On July 4, 2026, a cargo ship owned by a Chinese shipowner and owned by a Russian holding company ran aground in the Northwest Passage, off the Canadian coast.
The grounding of the ship causes an oil spill. But the contents of this boat prove to be even more at risk, since the “Presidente Porras Barahona” is in reality transporting Russian military equipment and 2 million liters of oil. Then followed a serious global diplomatic crisis involving all the players, which had to be resolved at a conference in Iceland, for fear of seeing military escalation take over.
Art of negotiation
Then, gathered in small groups, the students jump right into the game, playing the role of Russian, Chinese, European, American diplomats and other members of economic or environmental institutions. Everyone brings their arguments, which will be contradicted or supported. “The most complicated thing is really putting yourself in the role, when for us it is totally the opposite of our convictions,” explains Achille Colomb, 18, a dummy member of Russia, who seeks with his comrades to recover the Russian sailors detained by Canada, and recover assets frozen by the European Union. “The goal is to embody a position, to listen to what others say, and to make yourself understood,” explains Titouan Boudet, 19 years old.
