Each government of Mundus viewed trade between nations differently when it came to how important it was to their own economy. Tamora was a nation that heavily discouraged imports through heavy tariffs placed on foreign manufactured goods. The tariffs were a legacy of old times when Tamora tried to be less reliant on foreign trade and influence from other nations in its vicinity. Whether it was a good policy a few hundred years ago was debatable. What was not debatable was that now that policy meant it propped up Tamoran industries that could not compete with foreign goods on even grounds and relied mostly on the domestic market. In turn Tamoran consumers were captives to Tamoran manufactured goods which tended to be of poor quality because the high tariffs made the better foreign goods artificially more expensive. Unsurprisingly, the Tamoran reluctance to change its ways also extended to their tariff policy. And while the Tamoran people and even Tamora as a whole might not prosper because of that policy, the Safavid imperial family was content with the status quo. It made tens of thousands of Tamoran business dependent on them to not change the tariff policy or else there would go bankrupt which in Tamora often meant not just financial ruin but also slavery. It was for this reason that Tamora did not join any free trade agreements and was reluctant to lower tariffs for good produced in other countries unless it felt confident enough their economy would not be disturbed. So far only Clysperis had made the list.
Yet even for such a nation as Tamora that had policies in place to discourage imports, any sign of other nations willing to ease their sanctions on Tamora was treated with importance as it meant a crack in the wall many nations placed in an attempt to isolate Tamora on the world stage. So Alya’s trip to Lakhzovia was seen as key first step to achieving that goal. Lakhzovia was seen by Djerb as one of the few allies Rokkenjima had so having Lakhzovia move even slightly out of sync with Rokkenjima was also weakening Rokkenjima’s influence aboard which Tamora clearly favored. Djerb had long decided that it was in Tamora’s best interest to see current international order that was dominated by the CNN-Ach-Rokkenjima axis be weaken by encouraging the development of new centers of power like MidAranye and SANE. It was a long term objective but one that Djerb had the patience to attempt to put it in practice.
Alya bowed slightly before Irdan and replied:
“It is a historic moment indeed. Thank you for the invitation” she then followed the host to where the meeting would take place. Once inside, after both delegations took their seats, Alya proceed to resume the discussions:
“I would first like to begin by showing our appreciation to Chief Medaber of Nakim whose
initiative that seeks to help Tamorans is to be praised and is the fact the reason that made this meeting possible. He is not of our faith but his act of charity has earned him our respect and his willingness to publicly express his opinions on the matter, opinions which are not popular in all corners, shows that he is a man of deep spiritual convictions which as Tamorans we greatly appreciate.”
“Secondly, I would to say that we understand the reasons why the Republic of Lakhzovia has chosen to place sanctions on the Tamoran Empire. We have seen quite a few nations and since I have been granted the position of Head of Foreign Affairs I can say that my inbox is always full with email from people of various nations that wish to express their disagreements, some of them not in very nice terms, over our domestic policy of allowing slavery.”
“Thirdly, I would say in the time that has passed since the sanctions have been placed on Tamora we have seen that despite them our resolve to continue to conduct our domestic policies in accordance with our beliefs, experience and traditions has not changed. But more importantly, I believe that the Republic of Lakhzovia has also observed that Tamora is not a threat to the Republic. The interests of our two nations are not opposed“ before the hosts had a chance to retort she added “I know that because of your close alliance of Rokkenjima that might not seem so but it is true. Our sphere of influence is in MidAranye and we seek to expand our sphere to developing nations and build ties with nations of the Islamic and Manist faith. We do not seek to make Mundus bend to our rules but we do seek to make sure that no nation or alliance of nations can make us bend to their needs. And with all due respect for your close allies, the Rokkenjimans, they underestimate us if they believe we will give up merely because they are upset.”
“Lastly, despite the sanctions, our nations have engaged in limited collaboration in the
past and I believe that pursuing such collaboration in the future will be beneficial to both nations. With Seaforth’s retreat into isolation, for which we take God and His Prophet, Lakhzovia is now the major in cotf peninsula. We welcome such a development since we see Lakhzovia as a more pragmatic nation than Seaforth and one that understands that there is no point in putting efforts towards things you cannot change such as Tamora’s ways when you can cooperate on a case by case basis to the benefit of both parties.”
