Micronational Trade Organization

Micronational Trade Organization

Formation	1 August 2022 (2022-08-01)
Type	Intergovernmental organization
Purpose	Development of micronational economies
Headquarters	Malmünd, Ebenthal
Coordinates	46°13′27″N 06°08′58″E
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	2
Official languages	English
Director-General	Bernardo Barcelos
Budget	TBD
Staff	5
Website	TBD

The Micronational Trade Organization (MTO) is an intergovernmental organization supporting the development of economies of unrecognized microstates, commonly referred to as micronations. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern intermicronational trade and support the development of financial systems. It officially commenced operations on 1 August 2022, through the Lüttenbühl Agreement, inspired by the World Trade Organization that does not allow the joining of unrecognized states. The WTO vows to succeed and continue the work begun by the defunct Micronational Economic Group.

The MTO actively promotes the development of micronational and intermicronational economic activity by providing member states with knowledge on concepts of intermicronational economics and facilitating trade in goods, services and intellectual property by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements; these agreements are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their legislatures or autocratic rulers. The WTO also administers independent dispute resolution in resolving trade-related disputes. The organization prohibits discrimination between trading partners, but provides exceptions for environmental protection, national security, and other important goals.

The MTO is headquartered in Malmünd, Ebenthal. Its top decision-making body is the Ministerial Council, which is composed by the financial ministries of all member states and usually convenes biennially; consensus is emphasized in all decisions. Day-to-day functions are handled by the Trade Council, made up of representatives from all members. A Secretariat of a non-specified number of personnel, led by the Director-General and the deputy director, provides administrative, professional, and technical services.

History

Initial discussions

The idea of ​​creating a new organization dedicated to the development of the intermicronational economy was raised by the King Arthur II of Ebenthal in the second half of January 2022 with the adoption of the Ebenthali kupfermark and of its financial system, the Kupferplan, coinciding with the entry of the Newgraviate of Saint-Castin in the Conference of Santiago, main intermicronational organization of the American continent, of which the King of Ebenthal was Secretary-General. Saint-Castin, having a micronational economy categorized as developed, attracted the interest of King Arthur II who initiated informal contact with the Minister-President of that country, Dominic Desaintes, regarding different micronational financial systems, ballast policies, usability of the currency, and the possibility of creating an organization that would help other micronationss to develop their own financial systems and monetary policies with the ultimate objective of creating an active intermicronational market.

Soon after, Arthur got in touch with the former President of Delvera - a country that had a very well-developed micronational economy - and current Karnia-Ruthenia Finance Minister Dylan Callahan. Monarch Ebenthali asked Callahan his opinion on forming such an organization and if he could contribute his knowledge, to which Minister Karno-Ruthenian agreed, although subject to parliamentary and royal sanction. Soon, a team was formed to study the practices and policies developed by the defunct Micronational Economic Group, the first intermicronational economic organization. There were also attempts to contact representatives of the Micronational Association for Finance and Economics, but without success. All planning, however, was postponed due to more pressing matters, both public and private, affecting the progress and attention of Arthur II mainly, but also of the Karno-Ruthenian economic ministry that planned for the introduction of a new currency, while Saint -Castin focused on developing their common market with Beremagne.

Foundation and establishment

After months of delay in planning, after conversations with the Minister-President of Saint-Castin, from whom he received copies of the Castinian coin as a symbol of the commercial alliance between the two countries, the King of Ebenthal began the process of creating the organization he called of "Micronational Trade Organization", inspired by the World Trade Organization, which he studied together with his Minister of Commerce, Bernardo Barcelos. In two months Arthur prepared the Lüttenbühl Agreement, which received this name because it was written and approved during the monarch's permanence in that city. The bill was presented to the Paarlamënt on 27 July 2022 in a special session that united the two legislative chambers. After being reviewed by the justice commission established by the Tribune of Truth, parliament voted on the bill with 18 votes in favour, 1 against and 9 abstentions. By choice, King Arthur decided to sign the Agreement only on the 1st of August, formally starting the activities of the MTO.

Despite arguments to the contrary, Arthur decided to carry out the creation of the organization even without having initially confirmed the membership of any other country, in a peculiar and totally opposite way to its internationally recognized counterpart, the WTO. The Minister of Commerce of Ebenthal, Bernardo Barcelos, assumed the responsibility of having convinced the King, arguing that the establishment of the organization either in common agreement with governments of other countries, or individually and almost as if it were a national organization is trivial, and that is confident with the accession of other nations. The Government of Ebenthal then started a campaign to recruit micronations with developed or developing economies, in accordance with the precepts established by the Lüttenbühl Agreement.

Purpose and function

The main purpose of the MTO is to promote the development of micronational economies through assistance, technical cooperation and training. Its ultimate goal is the formation of an intermicronational market. Additionally, it is the MTO's duty to review and propagate the national trade policies and to ensure the coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic policy-making. It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of trade regulations and agreements, and provides a forum for negotiation and the settling of disputes.

Due to the observed underdevelopment of micronational economic sectors, generally relegated as unnecessary, difficult to understand or apply by micronational governments, the necessity of an intermicronational organization to manage the trading systems has been of vital importance for the transfer of know-how and the establishment of new independent micronational economic systems. The MTO is also a center of economic research and analysis: regular assessments of the micronational trade picture in its annual publications and research reports on specific topics are to be produced by the organization. Finally, the MTO might with other organizations and institutions.

Structure

The MTO functions as an intergovernmental direct democracy managed by two councils and a director-general. The highest administrative body of the MTO is the Ministerial Council, composed of the ministers of finance of the member states, and must meet at least once year. In between each Ministerial Council, the daily work is handled by the Trade Council composed of delegates, usually ambassadors or commissioners, appointed by the governments of their respective countries to act on behalf of the Ministerial Council. The Trade Council, in turn, elects, for a 1-year-term, the Director-General who is responsible for supervising and directing the organization's administrative operations. Since the Micronational Trade Organization's decisions are made by member states, either through a Ministerial Council or through the Trade Council, the Director-General has little power over matters of policy – the role is primarily advisory and managerial in nature. The Director-General supervises the MTO secretarit.

Membership

Accession process

The process of becoming a member of the MTO is identical to all applying countries and has no set deadline for resolution or expiration. A country wishing to accede to the MTO submits an application to the Trade Council describing the aspects of its economic policy (such as the national currency, its backing, its usability, the country's trade relations), its degree of economic development and its reason for applying for membership. The application is submitted to the MTO in a memorandum which is examined by a working party open to all interested MTO Members. After all necessary background information has been acquired, the working party focuses on issues of discrepancy between the MTO rules and the applicant's international and domestic trade policies and general laws. The working party determines the terms and conditions of entry into the MTO for the applicant nation and may consider transitional periods to allow countries some leeway in complying with the MTO rules. When this phase is concluded, the working party sends to the Trade Council or the Ministerial Council an accession package, which includes a summary of all the working party meetings, the Protocol of Accession (a draft membership treaty), and lists ("schedules") of the member to be commitments. Once the Trade Council or Ministerial Council approves of the terms of accession, the applicant's parliament must ratify the Protocol of Accession and the Lüttenbühl Agreement in order to finally become a member.

Current members

Nation name	Native name/ co-official name	Flag	Arms	Year of establishment	System of government	Current Head of State	Population	Enclave or exclave in
Kingdom of Ebenthal	Ebenthal			2014	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy	HM Arthur II King	206	Brazil
Independent State of the New Southern Rhine	Neu-Südrhein			2020	Unitary absolute monarchy	HM Jonathan I King	26	Brazil

See also

• Micronational Economic Group
• Micronational Association for Finance and Economics
• Micronational economics
• Intermicronational economics