Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

The Artanian Newspaper

Darlington reaffirmes friendship with Hobrazia; admist signing of lucrative eco. deals.

September 5581

Fort William, Luthori - In the aftermath of Mr. Langley's state visit in Hobrazia back in July 5576, the Luthorian and Hobrazian Governments have met numerously during the course of these five years, in an shown objective to reassure both countries' friendly relations with these numerous meetings between Luthorian and Hobrazian officials. While the Luthorian state visit was well-received in Hobrazia, with the sentiment shown that the Empire will always find a friend in its southern neighbor, the Luthorian Government has shown, by these many encounters during the half-decade, that a more "positive" and working economic relationship was possible between Fort William and Astoria City. During all of these meetings, lucrative and profitable economic agreements were negotiated between both nations' government representatives, in hopes of loosening the "hard border" between the Grand Duchies of Erneshire and Middenriding and Hobrazia in terms of commercial goods flowing in, as the Luthorian Government has been comtemplating the implementation of tariffs upon all foreign goods to protect Luthorian manufacturing. 

Although, it should be noted that some part of the Cabinet, such as the Trade Secretary, Katherine Taylor and the Foreign Secretary, Matthew Langley, who both are quite "uneasy" with the ideas of implementing tariffs over foreign goods, risking an escalation towards a wider trade war with countries with whom the Empire do not currently enjoy a great relationship, such as the Jelbics in Beiteynu, the Canrillaise, the Kalistanis, the Lodamese, or even some Artanian partners in Narikaton and Darnussia.

"Escalation and endangerment of the whole Luthorian economy over the issue of tariffs isn't worth it", said the Foreign Secretary during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday when asked about that peculiar subject.

Returning to Hobrazian-Luthorian relations for a second, the Luthorian and Hobrazian representatives discussed about the issue of trade, the border, and surprisingly, even vague talks of defence were even in the menu. Yet, both the Citadel and the Malvin HQ denies having any talks about defence matters with the Hobrazians. In a stunning display of efficiency, Darlington Palace has passed an unanimously-backed resolution reassuring ties between Luthori and Hobrazia as outlined by the Hobrazian-Luthorian Friendship Treaty signed in the 5490s, strengthening the Government in its authority to continue negotiating. The end agreement that came up was multiple. First, the Luthori Petroleum and Hexlon Imperial firms, as per with the declaration of the Hobrazian Government, won their confidence in beginning prospecting operations of Hobrazia's untapped oil resources in the Zargundian region, with eyes set at exploitation of these oil reserves.

Luthori and Hobrazia also agreed conjointly to decrease their tariffs over each nations' goods, in Luthori, the Goverment bringed the current customs duties between Luthori and Hobrazia from 12.5 % for each goods coming from Hobrazia for the Luthorian market to 8.7 % of the total price of any product from Hobrazia. The Hobrazian deal was better for the Luthorians, as Hobrazia reduced its tariffs from 15 % to the same level as the Luthorians, meaning over 7 to 8.5 % with the final settlement being on 7.5 % of the total price of any product manufactured in Luthori. This deal is especially valuable to the automotive industry and consumer electronics (also known as the hardware) industry, both of whom being "pleased" with the Government's decision of "breaking the ice" with Hobrazia, as both they have included in this commercial agreement and also in hopes that this would be followed by other development of relations between Artanian states and the Luthorian Empire.

@TheArtanianNewspaper