Kalistani Major History

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Initial negotiations with Lodamun fail to produce results
Foreign Ministry reports "hostility" from Lodamese Vice President
Kaliburg, Ananto District
July 17, 4004


Foreign Minister Davjeet Bhattichariya, discussing recently aborted efforts to open trade with Lodamun

"Well, they sank it," the Foreign Minister, Davjeet Bhattachariya reported when asked about rumors of negotiations with Kalistan's neighbor to the North, Lodamun.  "You'd think that their country would be a bit more receptive to a discussion on trade, but it is clear that they are not.  Such a position toward Kalistan must reflect a deep hostility on the part of the Lodamese toward our country."  To demonstrate Lodamun's hostility toward Kalistan, Minister Bhattachariya read a short series of correspondences between Kalistan and Lodamun. 

It began with Kalistan writing to Lodamun offering to work together on a host of economic matters, to which Lodamun simply responded:  "We want to form a company," accompanied by a link to a treaty. 

Kalistan followed the curt statement by asking some important questions about the Treaty, such as: where would the company be Head Quartered, who would have controlling interest in the company, (given Kalistan's national law that foreign entities may not gain controlling interest in any Kalistani company, who has controlling interest would be a key question which would determine whether Kalistan participated or not), as well as given that Kalistan was being asked to contribute 5% of both trade and infrastructure budgets totaling over 9 billion rubles, and finally, asking for clarification about subsidizing the development of other country's rail lines without any corresponding contribution to the maintenance of Kalistan's.

It concluded with a question about the potential for bilateral work between Kalistan and Lodamun.

Lodamun's Industrial Minister and Vice President described Kalistan's questioning of Lodamun's treaty as "arrogance", explained that Lodamun had no special interest in Kalistan, except to help it build its railroad, and described Kalistan as no more important to them than any other Northern Selayan nation.  Kalistan was invited to watch its tone, to tread lightly around Lodamun and to consider a different foreign minister who is more "diplomatic" (or perhaps more deferential, ed.).  This last statement borders on a violation of the Kalistani Espionage Act. 

The Foreign Minister concluded, "We would ask the Lodamun Ambassador to leave Kalistan given the reprehensible and hostile behavior of his Government's representative in its brief discussion with us, but as we have no diplomatic relationship with our western neighbor to begin with, we cannot invite them to leave.  But-  this essentially concludes discussion with Lodamun.  We will not further seek any sort of association with that Republic, which we should have otherwise viewed fraternally, given their ostensibly Leftist orientation.  But:  we were doing fine without them before.  So there is absolutely nothing lost by maintaining the Status Quo."

The Minister stayed for Questions, but demonstrated throughout the conference that he was just as perplexed at the sudden shift in what otherwise appeared to be a promising development as the reporters were.