Kalistan

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Princess of the Empire Updates on Altea Conference
"Appears to be broad commitment in principle to cooperation" says Princess
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
June 1, 5705


Princess of the Empire Nicolette Ananto-Collins briefs Reporters about progress in Egelion

Her Highness, Princess of the Empire Nicolette Ananto-Collins provided an update on the ongoing Eastern Terra Cooperation Conference being held at the Concordia Hall in Altea Egelion. Following an initial attempt to derail the conference by a dilatory foreign power, the conference opened to general statements of a desire to cooperate from all participants from across northern Seleya and Keris, including Kalistan, Lodamun, Gaduridos, Valruzia, Egelion, the Tripartite Kingdom and Trigunia/Nadiya. Xsampa was also there as an observer, welcomed due to close ties to many of the participants. The Princess of the Empire, who leads Kalistan's delegation and has taken temporary residence in Altea during the conference, was joined by Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto.

"The agenda for the conference is limited," said Her Highness. "The distinct sense I got was that our goal is to not form some sort of overarching multi-national bloc similar to something like what they are attempting to achieve in Majatra and Artania. Instead, what we appear to be seeking is a series of multilateral agreements on things like intelligence sharing, joint exercises and patrols and a move toward more integration in security and culture of the region. And on this work we are making significant headway." The Princess was optimistic that work will be done in a timely manner.

She responded to questions about whether Kalistan's cooperation with Egelion symbolizes an alliance with Egelion and a joining of a bloc under Egelian leadership. "I wouldn't go that far," said the Princess of the Empire. "We have a lot of mutual interests, but I think I made it clear, and others at the conference, including the delegation from Lodamun who most eloquently made this point, that we are all at the conference to promote our own interests, and are working on ways to cooperate where those interests overlap. This doesn't constitute an alliance or a power bloc, but we should also note that regionally speaking we do have incentive to work together on a number of very important points, because of rising threats from other portions of the world who are rapidly militarizing and seem to be targeting nations in our part of the world. A war in Egelion is a concern to peace and security in Kalistan, just as a war started by Egelion in some other part of the world would be, and therefore we have both moral and material incentives to cooperate to prevent that."

So far the conference has focused its energies on the intelligence sharing, and appears to be leaning toward adoption of a model similar to the Lodamese CISA. "We aren't sure if that agreement will be the one we utilize or if we create something new, but sharing and early warning is definitely the priority of our discussions so far. This may be the most involved topic on the agenda--The others may be easier to accomplish. Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress has stated that the most important point from Kalistan's perspective is regular security communication and cooperation, but I suppose this will be far easier to work out than the method of regular and credible intelligence sharing."

The Princess of the Empire said she looks forward to returning to Egelion by the end of the week, but returned to Kaliburg to visit with the Empress, her husband and the infant Minor Prince William-Malcolm Isaac Ananto-Rosenfeld. She introduced the Empress for additional comments, which are listed below:

"We welcome the news from Egelion. The Princess, our Aunt, has been in constant communication with ourselves and our foreign policy team, along with the Chancellor of the Empire the entire conference and she is representing our nation admirably and competently. We encourage her to continue to fulfill our mandate for her and to come away with the best agreement she can for our nation, so that we may cooperate with our neighbors for the security of our region. While Kalistan continues to uphold its Fortress Kalistan defensive doctrine, we feel that cooperation with our neighbors enhances these security measures, and that cooperation also lays the foundation for cooperation on other matters not covered by this conference. We are currently considering options regarding expansion of diplomatic relations to some of Egelion's partners, and will rely on our Aunt's judgement following the conference to help guide our decision."

The Empress did not explicitly name Nadiya, but it is widely assumed that this is who she meant, as Nadiya is the only nation at the conference that Kalistan does not formally recognize or have and diplomatic representation at.

The pair took several more questions and just before the end of the conference, Her Imperial Majesty also confirmed rumors that she was expecting her second child. "People talk in Kaliburg, it would appear," she said. "We have not made the announcement official, however, we can say it is true. It is early days right now, so we are taking it easy, but it would appear that Baby 2 is expected in early January of next year. We will work with our doctor to determine when we should begin restricting our activity, but we also believe that last time the light duty was a bit too long, in our opinion, so perhaps we will be permitted to continue actively working until closer to the due date." The Empress said she would not opine on the number of children she will have. "We had a very happy experience the first time," she said. "And so we were eager to have another kid. Our mother and father had three children. Ideally we would want that many too."

@TheRepublic