by M13 » Mon Oct 22, 2018 10:34 am
Thorgan Donitz' 8 years of Presidency
Supporters and opponents on the LWA
July 4473
At the possible end of this legislation, a lot of Lodamese citizens and politicians gather to discuss the path LWA and their President have walked during the last few years. While the Cabinets have had a lot of work to reach several reforms, the two most prominent figures are Thorgan Donitz and Geofrey Walschot.
One can agree or disagree with the course this President is steering, but one must admit that at last we had a legislation that wasn't scared of investments and that even got rid of the rather isolationist stamp that has been marking Lodamun for centuries. All started with LWA chairman Bruno Backx and former Trade Minister Andre Walschot, when they adressed Thorgan Donitz to come up with a plan to ameliorate the economical situation in Lodamun. Stagnating economy and financial issues abroad had caused Lodamese economy to stop growing and reaching an impasse.
Andre Walschot recalls: "For weeks and months we met in secrecy to work out several plans to save our economic model. At the end we found a few plausible and potentially successful solutions, but we also realized that our semi-isolationism wouldn't help us any further. While our isolationism had indeed protected us for a great deal, we needed to move forward. Or actually, further away. What seemed the best solution to us at that time was an investment to increase the amount of gross tonnage handled by our seaports. The only way to success was to make our nation more attractive on the international scene."
Thorgan Donitz remembers that he and Andre made contacts with several countries in order to attract potential costumers: "We had profound talks with firms all over Terra. At the end of our discussions, three nations seemed to be interested in a thorough cooperation, amongst which Istalia. The Istalian lobby was looking for new markets, as were we. The choice of cooperation seemed obvious, yet we had to be sure there was a solid base of understanding. There were discussions that lasted for years, after which we finally realized that the Istalian Republic was a perfect partner. We even made arrangements for a military cooperation afterwards, showing once again that there is a very good communication and a basis for friendship."
With the project Newport Haven finally operational, Lodamun indeed manages to operate the largest seabound port in North Seleya. This port should bring peace and wealth to Lodamun, but because of the construction of the port, there were lots of joint investments, like the C-power electricity farms. Prime Minister Bruno Backx is proud to announce a naval Traffic Seperation Scheme solely to be used for the ships headed to or coming from Newport Haven: "We have an agreement with Gaduridos that, under certain conditions, shipping headed for our international naval port is allowed safe passage through their EEZ. This helps us and our trade partners of Istalia to reach eachother. Obviously, also the Gaduridos government benefits from this agreement."
Currently, Geofrey Walschot, son of Andre, is trying to reach other nations to use Newport Haven for their trade or to invest in the project: "We have had talks with Kalistan and Lourenne in the past, and there are already several organisations that are using our naval facilities. We even had a few new jointventures or organisations, set up because of the importance and strategic position of our port. There has been a reorganisation in the Lodamese Navy, with the complete First and Second Fleet moved to Newport Haven military facility, which is also being used by an Istalian Naval detachment. The presence of that much military equipment makes sure that a lot of firms, nationally and internationally, are coming towards Newport Haven or settle in the region. There is always a great need of specialised personnel and equipment near a naval base."
LWA is willing to extense the current cooperations, if the electorate gives them the mandate to do so, thus Prime Minister Backx.
Lodamese Royalists