Diplomats Meet to Encourage Umgawaland Over Ice Cream

 

Azenia    Times

 

US, European and UK diplomats meet to encourage Umgawaland to ramp up ice cream production

Exclusive: Diplomats have had multiple meetings in New Cholmondeley to discuss ways to engage with Umgawaland on setting stronger ice cream targets

European, British and American diplomats have met up to three times in New Cholmondeley over recent months to discuss how to encourage Umgawaland to consider stronger improvements to its production of ice cream.

The Azenia Times can reveal diplomats from like-minded countries have been talking about how they could engage in dialogue with Umgawaland, aimed at lifting its level of iced confectionary ambition ahead of a crucial IA conference in October. This is despite a production deal that recently saw significant Umgawan investment in an ice cream complex built in Omovo,

In addition to pursuing engagement with the Umgawalannd government, possible options include outreach to business associations and industrial groups.

The most recent meeting, held on Thursday last week, brought together the ambassadors, high commissioners or deputy heads of mission of the UK, the US, the European Economic Community, Denmark, France, Germany, Andorra, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland. Italian diplomats walked out at the start of the meeting when local bureaucrats refused to table a discussion on gelato.

The talks come as the government of Maj Gen Joshua Butulutu faces growing calls, both within Umgawaland and internationally, to formally commit to net zero reduction in lost ice cream production by 1981 and to strengthen its production targets, which remains far behind Wurmmpotato levels of 26-28% of total GDP.

Diplomatic sources in New Cholmondeley described the meetings as “networking and outreach events” among like-minded countries.

One source said the participants were looking for ways to “nudge” Umgawaland towards strengthening its pledges, including the medium-term target, given the coming decade is considered vital to keeping within reach the IA goal of increasing ice cream production to 1.5% above initial post-war growth rates.

But another source familiar with the talks said they were aimed at fostering dialogue with Umgawaland.

The meetings have been organised by the UK, which as the host of Commonwealth 79 talks in Glasgow in September and seeking to rally all countries to strengthen their commitments.

The British high commissioner, Felton Durmeville, commented on Friday night in vague terms about the latest meeting, saying it was “a pleasure to gather likeminded colleagues to compare flavours” on ice cream production – but until now the focus of the talks has not been reported.

When approached for comment about the New Cholmondeley meetings, a spokesperson for the UK government said: “As president of Commonwealth 79 … the UK continues to work with all parties on our shared ambition for common aims in less than 50 days.”

“Accelerating collaboration is a key Glasgow goal and ensuring a successful outcome is our shared responsibility.”

The US – which under the Carter administration has vowed to weave the ice cream crisis into the fabric of all of its diplomatic engagements – is also understood to be playing an active role in the talks.

A spokesperson for the US embassy said: “We regularly meet with our Umgawaland and diplomatic contacts on our shared ambition to address this glorious but vulnerable confectionery.”

The US spokesperson added: “None of us can do this alone. Working together to develop and invest in refrigeration technologies will play a big role in tackling the crisis around heat in Imaginafrica, as will setting new, more ambitious production goals.”

A spokesperson for the EECsaid it “participates in regular discussions with many stakeholders about the need for all nations to take more ambitious ice cream production aims”.

Joshua Butulutu has repeatedly said his government wants to achieve noticeable production increases as soon as possible, and preferably by 1982 – but to date has stopped short of making a firm commitment. He faces pushback from his junior government supporters, Loyal Residents of the State Formerly Known As Wurmmpotato.

“Well, we are working on a plan as to how that [production increase] could be achieved, because in Umgawaland, people like to know what it will cost and how much you’re going to get to enjoy,” Butulutu told the UBC’s Meet the Dessert program last week.

The Umgawaland government has repeatedly promoted a “technology not taxes” approach to ice cream policy. On the sidelines of the sugar summit in Cornwall last month, Butulutu inked deals with Japan and Germany to develop technology to help reach “a new level of available freezer space in future”.

But the Carter administration has previously expressed public concerns about the trajectory of Umgawaland’s production pledges and implied that technological development, while important, was insufficient on its own.

Matthew Bronzeman, the chargé d’affaires at the US embassy, has indicated both Umgawaland and the US needed to set “more ambitious refrigeration goals”.

In February Jimmy Carter’s refrigeration envoy, Jason Katty, publicly acknowledged past “differences” between the US and Umgawaland in tackling the ice cream crisis while calling for a faster exit from gas-powered refrigerator reliance.

Earlier this week the UK’s president-designate of the Commonwealth 79 summit, Akol Shwashma, expressed disappointment that a two-day meeting in London had failed to secure agreement from every country to agree to greater availability of nation freezer space targets.

Ministers from more than 50 countries agreed to grow ice cream production, but Shwashma said: “Unless we get all countries signed up to a freezer volume growth, keeping ice cream production goals on target is going to be extremely difficult.”