The latest chapter of the world's most free/liberty based country is complete and it is a big one!
I'd read in weeks previous that this official event was coming and was happy to see it. Now the official negotiations and recognition are complete with Somaliland (different than Somalia) --- Liberland continues to advance and build the freest country in the world, based on Libertarian and related principles.
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I've written a few times now about Liberland, important milestones, updates and part of it is because every day new people are coming into the Liberty / Crypto space -- and hearing about it for the first time and I always remember this in my blogs and writings, etc.
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Vit Jedlicka is a pretty neat guy to have for a President of a country when you follow his work and learn about him!
Part 1 of this post: Quick TLDR Overview of Liberland for new people to the idea
Part 2: Official Statements and Explanations on the Treaty btw. the 2 countries.
Formation of Liberland / What is Liberland (TLDR Overview)
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Free Republic of Liberland (hereinafter “Liberland”) is a sovereign state located between Croatia and Serbia on the west bank of the Danube river.
The nearest towns are Zmajevac (Croatia) and Bački Monoštor (Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia). On some maps, this area is referred to as “Gornja Siga”.
Liberland came into existence due to a border dispute between Croatia and Serbia.
This area along the west bank of the Danube river is not claimed by Croatia, Serbia or any other country. It was therefore terra nullius, a no man’s land, until Vít Jedlička seized the opportunity and on 13 April 2015 formed a new state in this territory – Liberland.
The boundary was defined so as not to interfere with the territory of Croatia or Serbia. Its total area of approximately 7 km² is now the third smallest sovereign state, after the Vatican and Monaco.
For more information regarding the border dispute between Croatia and Serbia see an article on Wikipedia.
The motto of Liberland is “To live and let live” because Liberland prides itself on personal and economic freedom of its people, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, which significantly limits the power of politicians so they could not interfere too much in the freedoms of the Liberland nation.
(From the Liberland official page/website; word for word from official sources so as to not misinterpret or misword anything)
Official Email Received in my Inbox Today from Liberland:
Dear Barry Dutton,
It is my great pleasure to announce a significant step towards developing Liberland’s presence on the international stage. On September 24th, on our special diplomatic mission to Africa, the governments of Liberland and Somaliland signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
That is de facto first real recognition and start of bilateral relations. It is also great chance to share Liberland’s expertise in the blockchain industry with a developing nation. It is also a opportunity to make an embassy in Somaliland fully operational.
Somaliland, unlike Somalia, is a stable representative democracy with 3.5 million inhabitants and enjoys high levels of internal security, low taxation and a functioning market economy.
Please read the official statement here.
Your support is the key to our actions and we sincerely appreciate that. Thanks to our community of more than 450.000 people we were able to achieve enormous success and were able to establish connections and teams in more than 90 countries. Thank you.
If you would decide to also contribute financially to our diplomatic missions and necessary administrative costs, you may do so through our website.
Join our Facebook page or follow Liberland on Twitter to keep up with the latest information.
Best Regards,
Vít Jedlička (Liberland President)
Official Statement (link above in text)
BERBERA, SOMALILAND — The Free Republic of Liberland has successfully begun the mutual recognition process with the Republic of Somaliland and commenced cooperation on a number of important fronts.
Vice President of Somaliland H.E. Abdirahman Abdilaahi Ismail, Somaliland Trade and Investment Minister H.E. Omar Shoaib Mohamed, Liberland Minister of Protocol Dr. Tariq Abbasi KGCIOM MBE DL and Liberland President Vít Jedlička signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Somaliland and Liberland governments.
The Memorandum was signed at 1:45 PM on the 25th of September 2017 at the seaport city of Berbera in Somaliland. Representatives of the two countries also created a Joint Committee on Technology, Energy and Banking. The two countries also agreed to cooperate and support each other during the mutual recognition process and on international fronts.
The President of Liberland presented the Vice President of Somaliland with official gifts from Liberland, including a mint collection of Liberland Merit coins and a symbolic one unit of Ethereum.
Somaliland, unlike Somalia, is a stable representative democracy with 3.5 million inhabitants that enjoys high levels of internal security, low taxation and a functioning and thriving market economy.
The Free Republic of Liberland, a country founded on the principles of individual liberty, was proclaimed on 13 April 2015 on a parcel of land on the Danube River between Croatia and Serbia. The land claim was made in accordance with international law regarding terra nullius, as it had remained unclaimed by either Serbia or Croatia and no longer had any state affiliation with either neighboring country. As of today, Liberland has close to a half a million applicants for its citizenship.
Before signing the Memorandum of Understanding, President Jedlička of Liberland delivered a speech about Liberland’s vision of mutual cooperation with Somaliland. It can be read below.
Text of Speech by President Vít Jedlička
-- on the occasion of signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Somaliland and Liberland
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Berbera, Somaliland
24 September 2017
Mr President, minister, excellencies, dear friends. I have been for many years an admirer of your independent country and your founding strengths. It is obvious that your decision to be an independent country almost 30 years ago was the right one and I applaud you for that.
The Preamble of your constitution lists three points that almost perfectly match with key principles behind Liberland’s constitution: 1) The decentralization of the administration of the government. 2) guarantees of private property rights and 3) the protection of the free market.
Of course, there are many areas where you have to work hard to be able to keep up the pace with developed countries. But I believe that if you adhere to these principles set by your constitution, you will soon succeed. I applaud you for keeping tax revenue as a percentage of GDP in Somaliland as low as 7% and yet are able to organize a decent amount of security and justice in the country. This guarantees that 93% of the economy is organized by the citizens themselves, through free markets.
You have managed to make an advantage out of your non-recognized status and I believe there is much more potential here which has not yet been utilized. You can become a testing ground for many things that are very difficult to develop, evaluate and implement in the over-regulated world of recognized countries. You have great potential to host chemical and pharmaceutical companies that are struggling with burdensome and progress-stopping regulations.
I further commend you for managing to attract a 1 billion dollar investment from the United Arab Emirates. It is a great sign of a healthy investment future for the whole country. I hope Liberland will play a similarly important role as the UAE in Somaliland’s near future.
Today we will sign the Memorandum of Understanding between our two countries, which will create a Joint Committee on Technology, Energy, and Banking.
Let me address these three sectors separately. Banking is undergoing a truly revolutionary time, with the introduction of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The old world still tries to deny this spectacular change, but this dramatic innovation is coming. You could be one step ahead of the world by skipping development of traditional banking and moving directly to the world of cryptocurrencies. We would like to assist you in that.
The underlying technology behind Bitcoin is Blockchain. It could be a great tool, not just for your central bank, but also for different state registries. We would like to help you to build the world’s most advanced citizenship registry, company registry, land registry, domain registry and for example, ship registry with the help of blockchain technology.
Liberland, from its foundation is relying on solar power for its energy needs. Somaliland is in an even more prime geographic location for development of a solar power infrastructure. We are also experimenting with the implementation of hydrogen cells with high efficiency. We would like to share this experience with you. We believe it could be truly the next big and green industry in Somaliland.
An independent and prosperous Somaliland is and will be a shining example of peace in the Horn of Africa and the world. You have our full support.
Thank you again very much for your invitation and warm welcome. We are looking forward to a longstanding cooperation between our countries.
Thanks for reading, have a nice day.
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