I thank the two previous speakers for their contributions, and if I may, would like to offer some response.
I am most grateful to Hegio Cyamus Seneca for the copy of "History of Terra". It is an easy read, and I was able to digest much of it last night during my bedtime reading. Many of the chapters are very good and very interesting, although alas, the chapters on southern Artania are not so good.
Our ancient Gerajan (OOC: Hindu) texts show clearly there used to be a Greater Malivian Empire spanning all of Malivia, Hobrazia, Narikaton-Darnussia, Keymon, Selucia and much more besides. The works of Professor Gopan Gummididala summarise the literature very well, combining it with a wealth of other solid historical evidence. The archaeological evidence, in particular, is convincing, and I could refer Hegio Cyamus Seneca to the groundbreaking report,
Khiva worship in ancient Malivia, which proves demonstrably how Geraja was practiced in his land, and indeed all across the lands of the Greater Malivian Empire.
I could continue on and on, and it would be most interesting to do so... but perhaps it is best not to dwell too much on the things that divide us most, and focus instead on what we can practically put right together.
The beef poisonings tragedy in Hobrazia has created much confusion and mistrust. There are lessons to be learned, and my government absolutely acknowledges that. My good friend the Prime Minister
has spoken about this issue and made a proposal for goodwill payments to be made to Hobrazians. We have also been clear we want to work with Hobrazia, and indeed our other neighbours, to improve cross-border security, and prevent incidents like this from reoccurring.
The commitments delivered to this meeting by my Hobrazian friend, Eduard Maisuradze, on releasing the satyagrahis, maintaining the dignity of the temple site where the Embassy used to be and investigating security service activities are most welcome. My government thanks him for this, and sees these as positive moves forward.
I now turn to what seems to be the heart of the dispute. Both the Hobrazian and the Selucian representative seem to fear their national sovereignty is threatened by my government. Let me assure them, and assure all of our neighbours, that we are and always have been committed towards achieving a Greater Malivian Empire through peaceful and democratic means. We would never take military action without the support of the World Congress and international law. Let me emphasise, this has *always* been our position. None of our neighbours has anything to fear from Malivia.
From the Malivian perspective, we have tried to communicate this message again and again, but it has so frequently been misrepresented and misunderstood. It is as though our interlocutors fear that just by the action of claiming sovereignty over the lands of the Greater Malivian Empire, we are signalling an intention to send the tanks rolling in. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I have discussed this question at length with my Prime Minister and Cabinet colleagues. After much reflection, we consider there could be circumstances in which we would be willing to describe Malivia's "claims to sovereignty" as "aspirations for the reunification of the Malivian Empire", if this might allay the alarm of some of our international partners. However, to take such a profound symbolic step would be politically sensitive for us domestically, and it would be impossible for our government - or indeed *any* Malivian government - to sell such a proposal to our electorate without being seen to achieve something positive in return.
What we would like to propose is that the governments of Malivia, Hobrazia, Narikaton-Darnussia, Selucia and Keymon come to a mutual understanding. This would be one where the five governments all agree to respect the self-determination of their respective populations to either support or reject unification. Thereby, it will be for the peoples of the five territories to work out their own destiny for themselves. Malivia will not coerce any of the other territories to join, and by the same token, the other territories will allow their populations to freely engage in debate about unification, and will not treat as criminal or traitors any who express sentiments of sympathy for it.
My government has drawn up a draft document, provisionally titled the Hugamest Declaration, which I invite my fellow attendees to consider.