Author Topic: The Diplomacy After the Night Before - Zam/Lod  (Read 1587 times)

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Offline Lauren

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The Diplomacy After the Night Before - Zam/Lod
« on: May 15, 2022, 09:46:47 PM »
For Queen Anne-Marie her own coronation had been quiet some time ago but she remembered it like it was yesterday. It had been a beautiful spring day in 1991 exactly 30 days since her father died from a short illness. It had been a day of mixed emotions for her, one of great sadness as the loss of her father was still present in her heart and yet at the same time she was excited that the role she'd been groomed for all her life was finally here. She wondered if in a monarchy that lacked the hereditary mechanism of Zamenhuf the sense of conflict between the new Queen's emotions were the same. She had watched the ceremony with her son Prince Heikie who was due to turn 18 in a few weeks time. He was then due to head to Chamwick in East Moreland to study aeronautical engineering and in many ways this was his introduction to the world of politics that would follow. The Zamenhufians were content to watch the coronation and then enjoy the festivities at the Isle of the Goddess.

The following morning the Queen had requested a meeting with diplomats from Lodja. A new Queen was an opportunity for a new friendship and the Queen was intrigued as to who would attend for the Lodjains. There was after all going to be a great deal of pressure on the time of Queen Natalia yet her Conclave was still partly empty. She made her way to the appointed room for the meeting with a few of her civil servant advisers alongside her while Prince Heikie was off to explore the Palace with a slight hangover.

Offline Libby

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Re: The Diplomacy After the Night Before - Zam/Lod
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2022, 08:31:21 PM »
The new Queen was a little nervous. With the CNN monarchs it was different as she was facing a group that she knew were already friends with the Lodjains and had a track record of co-operation with the Queendom. Here though with Zamenhuf there was a nation that they knew very little about and their Queen. Natalya was unsure how best to approach this situation and had insisted on wearing a formal outfit as would be expected of the Queen, the pale blue dress with gold stitching. The Queen had selected a room that overlooked the bay towards Gaia and had asked the new Lord of the Conclave, Lubos Kubik, to join them. He was much more experienced than her in terms of politics but just like Natalya this was his first taste of international diplomacy.

"Good morning Queen Anne-Marie" Natalya greeted her as she was shown into the room alongside her advisers. Natalya waited for them to be introduced before taking a seat of a large sofa with a view out the window. She had sat next to Anne-Marie and turned to face her. "I'm thankful that you came our nation has been through a harsh year or so and to trust us to be safe enough for you to visit in such an exposed event means a great deal to me and the government of Lodja. I think I see some similarities between us, you're a nation that has placed a great focus on arts and cultural capital during your history meanwhile this Palace until very recently was often the home of poets, artists and important scholars. Sadly the recent turmoil has changed that for now but I am determined that the Palace will regain its position as a great hub for creativity, culture and art.  Perhaps that can be a start point for our discussions."

Offline Lauren

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Re: The Diplomacy After the Night Before - Zam/Lod
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2022, 06:23:43 PM »
Anne-Marie was proud of her nations passion for the arts and culture, she herself had attended the prestigious Amaranta Messana Academy, named after one of the nations leading authors and poets. She knew much of their poetry off by heart and like many from Zamenhuf embraced the impact on their culture. "The sound of this Palace is the kind of place we would dream of back home. We place a big emphasis on the arts in our society and I agree that this is a fantastic place for us to begin discussions. An arrangement to share our arts and culture will be something of interest to us. I would like to maybe suggest that as a start we have a ballet company from our nation come and tour here while one of yours comes to us. I believe it may well be a fitting tribute to Queen Klara who I understand was a dancer?"

Offline Libby

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Re: The Diplomacy After the Night Before - Zam/Lod
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2022, 09:56:23 PM »
Natalya was hoping that this would be the tip of the iceberg for the relationship of Lodja and Zamenhuf. She suspected that such tours could happen very very easily and didn't really need the input of the monarchs to achieve it. Natalya did agree though that it was a great place to begin as it was an easy win. "I'd be delighted to have that happen, if you permit I'd like to promote it as the first of what I hope will become an annual tour that we can grow and grow, we'd like to name it the Queen Klara Showcase." There had been various talks of how to memorialise the deceased Queen and this could be a nice way of not just keeping her name alive in Lodja but keeping the name alive globally.

"I hope though that we can go beyond the arts, I would like to help our nation breakdown some of the barriers that we've had to foreign investment. Klara tried to do this by establishing the Queen's Licencing Ltd. You see the problem was in Lodja you had to have permission from a noble to own a business and as such that allowed nobles to become rich by essentially extorting entrepreneurs. QLL allowed businesses to obtain the Queen's permission for next to nothing, 1% of their shares. What I would like to do is use Zamenhuf as a kind of guinea pig. What I am proposing is that any Zamenhuf business that has existed for five years in your homeland is exempt from the need to have noble permission to invest in Lodja. All we would require is that they comply with local employment laws and taxation on profits made here. In return we'd like to discuss some kind of reduction or removal of tarrifs on sales between us."

Offline Lauren

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Re: The Diplomacy After the Night Before - Zam/Lod
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2022, 10:23:19 AM »
It was rather a strange system, the nobles owning everything. Back home despite the royal family enjoying luxuries and wealth far beyond those of the average Zamenhufian the driving force for government was the Orphine principle "Wealth must be shared among the community.". It was Rule No.8 of the Twelve Divine Mandates and so was at the forefront of Anne-Marie's mind. "I'm grateful that you trust my people with this opportunity. I hope we can make it work and thus open up other such opportunities to more of your people. In regards to reduction or removal of tariffs between us I think its a direction of travel I can approve of, I am though a firm believer in equality and fairness. If that is to be the case in terms of trade I have a question and depending on the answer a suggestion. My question is would those businesses be exempt from taxes and tarrifs in Lodja when they invest. Now assuming the answer is yes my suggestion is that any Lodjain business that have been in operation for five years get the same treatment here in Zamenhuf."

Offline Libby

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Re: The Diplomacy After the Night Before - Zam/Lod
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2022, 08:53:25 PM »
Natalya understood that reciprocation was going to be a key to any kind of trade deal. "I can confirm that if a business comes here and pays taxes on what it earns here then it wouldn't face any barriers to transfering funds back home. As for tariffs then we'd be open to examining a gradual reduction for goods imported into Lodja from your nation. This would ultimately aim at reducing to zero." The Queen was pleased with how things had been going, "Now obviously you know we are members of the CNN and we could potentially see you gain access to an even wider market through an arrangement there."