Northern Seleyan Confederation Plenary Meeting

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Dame Jacqueline DuMont, Her Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister, Empire of Ananto and Kalistan

Are there any more thoughts on Item 1?  If not, we may want to make a proposal of some sort, for example:  We propose a union of Northern Seleyan States with characteristics x,y, and z.

If there is no proposal on the floor on this first item, we will note the good will and proceed to dissolve the conference.  But we will be happy to entertain any proposal to get us started.

[Infinite1]

Lexi Wilkinson, Minister of foreign affairs of the United republic of Likatonia

We will propose a union of North Seleyan states to facilitate intra-regional trade and the free flow of goods and services within the bloc and one that will encourage and promote constructive dialogue. In addition, we propose the union to have a rotating chair, Likatonia suggests that this union should be founded on the principles of equality of nations and non-interference in national affairs. Likatonia hopes that this proposal on Item 1 will be agreed to.

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Dame Jacqueline DuMont, Her Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister, Empire of Ananto and Kalistan

Proposal from the Delegate from Likatonia has been made on Item 1

I shall restate it for the purpose of the meeting. The proposal has three parts:

1. That there shall be a Union of Northern Seleyan States, to facilitate

• Intra-Regional Trade and the Free Flow of Goods and Services, and
  
• to Encourage Productive and Constructive Dialogue.
  

2. The Union shall have a rotating Chair.

3. The Union shall be founded on the principles of 

• Equality of Nations and 
  
• Non-Interference in National (I assume this means Internal, please correct me if I am mistaken) Affairs
  

This is the proposal on the floor right now. I shall open the floor for all discussion on Likatonia's Proposal, and shall reserve Kalistan's comment until others have spoken first. We thank Likatonia for being first to make a proposal. Your courage is appreciated.

[imperialpearl]

Evan Price, Ambassador-at-large to the Northern Seleyan Confederation Plenary Meeting, Commonwealth of Lodamun

We would like to augment the statements made by the representatives from both Likatonia and Kalistan. We recognise that our [Lodamun's] participation in a confederation or union of North Seleyan States ought to be premised on a principle of equality where all members are viewed as equals and thus we second the principles as advanced by the representative from Likatonia. 

1. On mutual respect and sovereignty, we propose that nations maintain a degree of sovereignty/autonomy which honours and doesn't disregard the uniqueness of their cultural and/or economic characteristics. Where the stability of the entire system is under threat, there should be some mechanism for intervention through which other states within this union may trigger to settle internal disputes. We make this proposal in particular as it speaks to our broader ambitions for a closer political union, noting that in such a union, instability in one quarter may eventually spread to others and thus there will undoubtedly be an incentive for all to maintain stability (be it political or economic) in those states which made up this union. 
   
2. Regarding the guiding philosophies that would underpin this potential union, we note that common/mutual benefit for all should be our lodestar. There must exist structures (institutions) to support levelling the playing field in all states/territories which participate in this union. The disjointed nature of development on this continent (due in part to the actions of extra-regional territories) should not be carried around as a burden but as a genuine opportunity to correct historical wrongs. We therefore propose that any guiding principles underscore the importance of pooling resources for common benefit. 
   

As mentioned prior, we [Lodamun] are very much in favour of a political union of North Seleyan states. Although we expressed our apprehension about a centrally administrated federation, we nonetheless toss our support to the loose confederation as initially proposed (we believe) by Kalistan. We contend that insofar as this confederation stands, a central governing entity (i.e. a singular president) be avoided and instead, a modification of the Likatonia proposal is herein put forward: a rotating council based on a primus inter pares model. 

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Dame Jacqueline DuMont, Her Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister, Empire of Ananto and Kalistan

Thank you to the Ambassador from Likatonia and Lodamun for their Comments.  I will leave the floor open in case Baltusia wishes to amplify or amend the statements, before I put Kalistan's position on the floor, and then we work to try to combine them into something we can all live with.

As I read Lodamun's statement, I will try to rephrase it in a similar format as I restated Likatonia's proposal so we can see where we overlap:

1.  That there shall be a Confederation or Union of Northern Seleyan States, to facilitate

• Closer political union for the protection of systemic stability
  
• Socio-economic leveling across the system
  

2.  The Union will have mechanisms to

• Peacefully resolve internal disputes and collectively address external threats to continental security
  
• Pool resources to attempt to address historic inequality in development
  
• Share power through a permanent council of Member Nations, with a Princeps, or First Among Equals model that regularly rotates
  

3.  That the Union shall be founded upon the principles of

• Equality among all Nations
  
• Sovereignty that recognizes the uniqueness of each participating nation, to include cultural and economic conditions
  
• Internal Stability and external security
  
• Common and mutual benefit for all members
  

Would the Esteemed Ambassador for Lodamun please confirm that our formalization and restatement of their proposal matches both the spirit and the detail of their proposal, and if I need to make any changes, additions or omissions, please tell me, so I can accurate represent the statement of Lodamun?

And additionally, Baltusia, if you wish to express your views, they would be very helpful in getting to know where we all stand and where our interests overlap.

[imperialpearl]

Evan Price, Ambassador-at-large to the Northern Seleyan Confederation Plenary Meeting, Commonwealth of Lodamun

We contend that the summary as placed by the representative from Kalistan is accurate and is reflective of our comments. We humbly await the opportunity to discuss the other matters on the agenda. 

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Dame Jacqueline DuMont, Her Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister, Empire of Ananto and Kalistan

Having kept the opportunity to speak ahead of Kalistan open a fair amount of time with no additional input from other nations, I'll take the opportunity to lay our Kalistan's position.  Over the last few decades, our Continent has seen an unprecedented amount of interference by foreign powers.  For better or worse, until Lourenne's unexpected but temporary withdrawal from their role as defacto world hegemon, Artanian nations had wisely stayed away from our continent.  The worst violation of Seleyan independence from Artanian imperialism was in Luthori's halting and then eventually completely abandoned efforts to extend their "commonwealth" into Seleya based on mutual language intelligibility.  The rise of Ananto and the subsequent withdrawal of Lourenne from world affairs essentially opened the door for a new set of power arrangements in Northern Seleya.  While the South was still holding onto a zombie political arrangement known as Canrille, Artanian states saw these changes as the green light to go ahead and try to pick our continent to pieces for their own benefit.

You saw a renewed effort by Luthori to press our Continent's states into their Commonwealth, and a newly rising economic imperialism from Narikaton, who are currently dumping mountains of money into what can safely be now called client states, like Valruzia.  It is happening as we speak.  And now that Lourenne has reorganized and are in the active process of attempting to reclaim their prior position, we have another major State who is outside of our Continent looking to build influence within our continent.  All three of these states have recently visited our other Southern neighbor in Gaduridos, and have all dropped significant promises of investment among other things, while Gaduridos has not even made any attempt to contact any member State at this Conference.

Uniting for common purpose is more imperative now that these external forces are making serious and concerted efforts to peel our nations off one by one with could be described as a bribe, if that term wasn't too ethical for what is going on to our South.  Those of us who are here have some vision about the danger that is posed to Seleya by these encroachments, and at least from a few of us who have spoken so far seem to be committed to addressing it with collective action.

To that end, I shall form my proposal to the Conference in the format that I have tried to express other proposals in, so we can make a comparison.

1.  That there shall be a Confederation or Union of Northern Seleyan States, to facilitate

• Closer political and economic union for the protection of Continental Integrity
  
• Resistance to foreign encroachment in the Seleyan Continent
  
• To further our collective interests above and to the exclusion of foreign interests, but for our own collective benefit
  

2.  The Union will have mechanisms to

• Make collective political and economic decisions for the Continent that reflect our own individual and collective interests above all other interests
  
• collectively address external threats to continental security
  
• Pool resources to promote even continental development, investment and scientific and technological progress
  
• Ensure that all members have an equal opportunity to determine policy positions for Continental Security and Cooperation, however this happens
  

3.  That the Union shall be founded upon the principles of

• Continental Unity and Collective Action
  
• Resistance to External Colonialism and Imperialism
  
• Continental Security and ability to resist the impunity of foreign powers in our territorial water, land and air space
  
• Common and mutual benefit for all members
  

Our aim is to create something of a more permanent and welded political and economic union in Northern Seleya that acts closer to a single Superstate than it does to the World Congress. But we also acknowledge that that may be just one of several options, and we wish to stress that we will support whatever this Conference decides, so long as it does not explicitly run contrary to our national interests--i.e. puts Kalistan at a disadvantage.

We are open to any additional proposals, and otherwise, we will begin commentary on any one of the proposals currently on the floor.

[imperialpearl]

Evan Price, Ambassador-at-large to the Northern Seleyan Confederation Plenary Meeting, Commonwealth of Lodamun

I think that Dame Dumont aptly captures our general feeling about this issue of regional integration. We [Lodamun] have long maintained that there is utility in the region acting as a singular entity on the global stage. Notwithstanding the relative success some have had in capturing the attention of the global community, particularly on matters of positive international diplomacy, our continent remains handicapped when we as individual states attend meetings pertaining to the management of the global system. I point to the failed, yet yeoman attempt by the Kalistani Government towards the adoption of a new global currency framework, via the TMU (Terran Monetary Unit). Where we, as a continent should have jumped at the opportunity to carve out what would have been the first major step towards bringing real, tangible equality to the international economic orders, we were nonetheless greeted by the broad and open attempts of extra-regional territories to drive a wedge between us. These extra-regional territories have long fashioned themselves as being "integral" to the political economy of the continent, yet they exist as mere interlopers. We [Lodamun] contend that this behaviour is more of a consequence of our divided, and disjointed regional context than it is of the "imperialist" ambitions of these states. 

The Trans-Seleyan Railway has demonstrated that we are capable of conducting our own affairs and that when we come together as a region, through a common goal, there is no telling what can stop us. Although other nations may not share our perspectives on regional integration, particularly within the context of North Seleya, Lodamun commits itself to the completion of this tentative negotiation process and wishes the government of the Empire of Kalistan and Anato to hold strain. Just as Lodamun was willing to implement the TMU alongside Kalistan alone, so too are we willing to implement this union of North Seleya with Kalistan alone, should there be an unwillingness to do so by other states.  

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Dame Jacqueline DuMont, Her Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister, Empire of Ananto and Kalistan

In light of Ambassador Price's Statement, we shall continue our discussion here, but will aim to move our thrust toward a closer political union between Northern Seleyan States than I think is captured in some of the comments.  

Kalistan will revise its proposal to include regional political Union in a North Seleyan Confederation, with internal autonomy guaranteed to all members, and cooperation and coordination on all external affairs, to include shared security and intelligence assets, as well as an elimination of all remaining barriers to trade, free movement and free association and a move to adopt a Monetary Union something along the lines of the TMU discussions of years past.

Each member country would be entitled two delegates to a Confederated Council to determine confederation wide matters, and all states shall agree to abide by the majority decision.

This is an initial proposal, and I will take a moment this evening to format it in the standard that I have been using recently here so we may compare.  I hereby withdraw Kalistan's previous proposal, in anticipation of this one being formalized.

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Dame Jacqueline DuMont, Her Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister, Empire of Ananto and Kalistan

As there has not been any additional discussion or work on any proposal at this conference for a significant amount of time, I hereby declare this conference to be moribund due to lack of continued interest and effort on the part of the Delegations, and therefore dissolved.  Any additional proceedings related to the topic of Seleyan unity will no longer take place under this heading.  As all delegations have already left Kaliburg for home, this announcement is simply pro forma.

Thank you for attending and discussing the matter.  Peace to you all.