United Duchies Government Foreign Office
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Change in Immigration Quotas
We have assessed immigration against the growth in our economy and demand for labour in our economy. After an assessment of this and our ability to invest and support immigrants in the country we have decided to increase the quotas of immigration in the points system.Immigration and Residency Visa Type Current Number New Number Humanitarian 500,000 500,000 Skilled Work or Family visa 1,500,000 2,500,000 Anastasia Visa Programme 850,000 500,000 Temporary Work(Less than 6 months) 500,000 650,000 Student 1,011,000 1,350,000 Total Permanent Visas Available 2,850,000 3,500,000 Total Temporary Visas Available 1,511,000 2,000,000 We expect about 550,000 people to emigrate for work or other reasons on a permanent basis. We have made available 3,850,000 permanent visas. As is usual temporary workers and students are not counted towards the population figures of the nation itself.
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ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE JOINT SHIELD PROGRAM
We, the Governments of the Republic of Brickston, the Kingdom of Reitzmag, the United Duchies, and the Federal Republic of Yosai, who form the European Coalition of Nations, express its greetings to all.
Following a meeting between the members of the European Coalition, through the Defence Council, the Joint Shield Program has been established. This program aims to establish a unified Air Defence System among its members to protect its assets from possible incursion and attacks. In addition, various Surface to Air Missile Systems, Anti-Air Artillery Systems, and Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, have been considered and certified to be fielded and participate in this program. Through this joint program, members are given a significant increase in national defence against any aerial threats, including nuclear weapons. Apart from the deployment of ground-based air defence assets, members are also establishing a joint datalink system to allow sharing of intelligence from any possible sources, including sea, land, and air-based equipment. This will enhance our nations' capability in cooperating to protect the interests of each other, and ensuring the safety and security of our people.
This program shall form part of our joint initiative for enhancing our defence capabilities along with the Joint Procurement Program. We hope that our programs pose no threat to other nations unless otherwise such has intentions of aggression against any of our members. The intentions of these programs are for the defence of our nations and are not intent on aggression against any nation. To this end, we urge more nations to join the European Coalition to participate in our cooperative programs, that also reach to Economic and Civil Development Cooperation.
Signed,
Okonkwo Cyryl Lavoie
President, Republic of BrickstonSir Simon Bridges GCB KCMG GCT MP
Prime Minister, Kingdom of ReitzmagJohn Peter Key
Prime Minister, United DuchiesJunichi Watanabe
General Secretary, Federal Republic of Yosai -
Statement on Joint Shield Programme and security in Europe
It is our belief that the Joint Shield Programme or JSP presents no threat to the stability and peace in Europe and is not a provocation. We believe it is an essential defensive mechanism for our nation to ensure we can deal with all threats and that the real threat is increased investment in offensive technology and the proliberation of nuclear weapons which can only offer a defense in either a Mutually Assured Destruction situation or by destroying another nation. We do not believe in Nuclear Weapons due the the environmental destruction required to test them and the threat they pose if they get into the wrong hands but we have to acknowledge the threat of their existence and the need for a defensive system to deal with all and any aerial threats.Furthermore the dangerous claims on the Red Strait and Gibraltar Strait are the biggest threat to peace , stability and commerce in Europe. It already is raising prices of shipping and goods with the taxes and constant workarounds required and is not good for anyone including Spanish consumers and citizens. The claim to the whole straits risks conflict and the best thing to defuse the situation would be for Spain to be fair and share the straits on both sides 50/50 with the respective nations on each side and allow Yosai shipping through rather than placing petty sanctions on a nation for simply wanting its fair 50% share of the Red Strait. This is the only truly sustainable solution for defusion of tensions and the ball is in Spains court in this scenario.
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Statement on Waters Management in Yosai
After talks with Yosai officials our Foreign Office have decided to announce we will fund up to 1/3rd of the budget of a new unified agency to manage coastal water environmental protection , transit safety and tug services for the waters up to half way or 210 miles offshore of Yosai whichever is the smallest. This new unified agency the Yosai Maritime Agency will be taking over roles that were already being conducted out of Yosai taxes for many years just with a boost in budget for those services. We believe this is a fair system for all and are only too happy to help our ally and partner in funding their agency to assist our ships to our benefit. This arrangement will continue to exist as long as their is not a European funding of such activities though if such a fund occurs we will assess whether this funding will continue from Duchies Foreign Office. We are also willing to offer the same funding in equal measure to Spain for the management of both straits in return for the end of taxation of straits by Spain in order to simplify red tape in crossing of straits. -
Statement on Anastasia City
We have decided to produce an update on Anastasia City after lies were printed in the Copalan Appeal. Despite the attacks the of terrorists in the city just months ago the damage has been mostly fixed bar a few streets with continued development and move ins to the city of which we update you at the end of the year on population stats.The city has had and will continue to get investment into public services , transport infrastructure including a wide network of cycle lanes and connection to a nationwide Cycle Superhighway network as well as a stadium to be built within two years with concert arena and hall and indoor event space for sports and cultural events as well as many shopping centres which will be run by government and be required to have 50% of units reserved for local businesses an co-operatives as requested by the Anastasian Metropolitan Council . We will continue working hard to create a good quality city , that is transit focused and with affordable pre-fab housing of a high standard from various Duchian Pre-fab housing companies in partnership with the council in order to provide an affordable city to live in. Obviously plans may change slightly over time with a new government dependent on election results but so far all but 1 party have backed Anastasia City and its fast tracked development. Furthermore we are issueing 500,000 Anastasian visas which will be decided by the Anastasian Metropolitan Council and overseen by the Duchies Government. We will know how many can live in Anastasia by the end of the year but very much hope that we can get the population up to around 600,000 with population of up to 1,000,000 by middle of next year. We know this is rapid development but we can keep up quality linking neighbourhoods by transport and creating community store hubs including a mix a national and local brands using the power of quality cheap pre-fab constructions which is being fully utilised with new factories coming online to help with production of pre-fab housing to solve the housing shortfall nationwide and develop more affordable office and industrial spaces nationwide. We are continuing our programme of lending to businesses to invest in jobs in offices , factories and leisure venues in Anastasia with the goal of creating a future tourist hub to experience many different cultures in one city. The diversity of Anastasia City has only been increasing over the year. We understand the importance of Anastasia City and its dream to its residents and that is why we are standing behind the residents of Anastasia City providing the tools for the city to thrive well into the future.
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Statement on Telum Relations
United Duchies government would like to say it has zero issues with Telum as a whole and especially no qualms with any nation that did not directly get involved in straits issues. Even with Spain we have no ill will but instead simply disputed the water boundaries and defend diplomatically the sovereignty of nations on the other half of the straits in being able to claim their waters. We have no desire for conflict and we wish to maintain friendly relations going forward that look past any issues we may have between us in terms of trade and visa policy. We very much hope that agreements with Telum and a potential Euro 3 grouping can go ahead and will do all we can to achieve these aims. We believe in diplomacy and peace and once again to commit to resolutions in this vein. We do not and never will support war or conflict and believe it should be a last resort for the most extreme situations and only in defense of either human rights or national sovereignty when all else has tragically failed.We are greatful for a resolution of the Red Strait crisis and thank Spain for their cooperation in this and believe we can all have a prosperous and positive relationship going forward. In short all is forgiven and we intend to move on in a positive and mutually beneficial manner. -
Formation of a government and key economic reforms
As of today the Moderate Party, Liberal Party and Party of Social Democrats have signed an agreement and programme to form a coalition of the Centre and Centre Left to reflect the will of the people of the Duchies. We as always have promised to support the party with the most seats so it was logical to pick PSD as the second largest party by votes and seats as the party for our coalition.We as a coalition will within weeks prioritise amending the law to limit work hours before overtime pay is required to 35 Hours per week, require 50% of any corporate or governmening board of any private, charity or state owned enterprise over 250 employees including foreign subsidiaries that are are required by law if one has physical locations in the Duchies to be made up at least 50% employee representatives or worker representatives up from 33%. The coalition will also limit any tax rises aiming for a tax freeze as % of GDP and aiming to secure tax cuts for the lowest income workers and citizens and limiting of public spending to no more than 47% of GDP. We will also continue to seek efficiencies to ensure best use of public money. A national minimum wage of 11.75 Dux Libra shall be introduced from January 1st 2022 covering all Duchies in the United Duchies of course any minimum wages above this either at Council or Duchy level shall take precedent over such a rate.On foreign policy we have a agreed a programme that will continue to support ECON and supporting the extension of this treaty to more members to deepen co-operation within Europe while also maintaining a good friendship and relations with Telum nations. We shall focus on European Cooperation looking for opportunities within the EU and outside the EU to cooperate while maintaining sovereignty of nations.We will also continue to seek expansion of protection of the environment while balancing this against the need to be competitive in the business world. We believe this is a balanced and sensible approach and shows that parties can cooperate and listen to the people of the Duchies.
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Pride Statement
We wish as a government the LGBTQIA + community a happy Pride. May it be a pride full of joy and celebration of unique and wonderful human beings who deserve dignity and equal treatment just like any other. We once again show our support as a nation for the community and our belief in their equality and justice for the LGBTQIA+ community. We will not waiver in our core beliefs of accepting all for who they are and embracing people of all genders, sexes and sexuality for who they and embracing them as they are. We will not be a nation that will tolerate hate based on these but instead challenge that hate and stand with the community where injustice exists. -
Statement on Closure of Airspace and Groundings
We are saddened by the huge loss of life in the air collision out of Goudadam and our thoughts are with the families. As a result of suspicions over it possibly being due to a fault in IT systems within the ATC network we took the decision to ground airplanes as a quickly as possible and close the airspace in the Duchies to any arrivals coming in diverting planes that were close to the borders out of the countries air space. We have took these measures and will provisionally keep the airspace closed for 7 days to allow ample time to investigate the cause fully , check IT systems for any potential issues and interview those involved in the handling of the aircraft involved in the accident.We have also called for help from the European Aviation Agency in the investigation in order to aid the investigation further. We will try to restore operations of ATC in 7 days with any amended procedures needed but if at 7 days we still feel it is unsafe or cannot find the fault in the system we cannot garuntee it will be open and would extend the period by another 7 days. We hope to resolve the issues as soon as possible but in this case safety as always has to take precedent. All airlines will compensated for any lost revenue and any increased costs caused by this closure from emergency funds.We fully take responsibility and are sorry for the loss of life and disruption caused and will do all we can to fix it as fast as possible.
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Statemen on Icholsen Situation
We the United Duchies government recognise the Union of Nicoleizian Socialist Republics ,Federal Republic of Icholasen and United Dominions of Icholasen all claim the whole of Icholsen and feel their claims are legitimate. We will not back any particular claim as to do so will only enflame any conflict and instead support negotiation and all sides to come to the table to negotiate a solution. We offer up our country as a neutral ground for such negotiations should there be any intent for negotiations offering to be a neutral and impartial arbiter in any negotations. -
Foreign Support Fund Announcement
We in the United Duchies Government are committed to the development of Europe for the mutual benefit of all nations. We have therefore decided to allocate the €165 Billion foreign support budget up from €135 Billion to the following countries we believe are in most need of it, we invite the governments of the nations of these countries to take up their allocation:Country Foreign Support Fund Allocation Gadalland and Aspern €60,000,000,000 Nofoaga €4,000,000,000 North Diessen €40,000,000,000 Pravoslaviya €30,000,000,000 Federal Republic of Icholasen €11,000,000,000 UNSR €10,000,000,000 Foreign Support General Fund €10,000,000,000 Total €165,000,000,000 The only condition is funds must go to sustainable infrastructure development and social programmes in terms of social sustainability, economic sustainability and environmental sustainability.
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Statement on Rejection of Foreign Support Funding by North Diessan
We acknowledge the rejectection of the Foreign Support Funds allocation allocated towards North Diessan and respect their decision. That is why we are instead now putting this allocation towards charities and groups working around Europe to help the poorest wherever they may may live the money shall be put into the Foreign General Support Fund instead for charities to distribute throughout Europe or given to any other future nations who may needed it.
