Andreas Baumgartner: Negotiating With Governments, Lifestyle Zones & Digital Nomadism
“I love starting from a positive approach and instead of asking myself ‘How can I fight these governments?’ as, unfortunately, many people still tend to do in the Free Cities space. The question I’m asking is ‘How can those Free Cities actually contribute to the development of the host country.’“
The podcast is back in Montenegro again this week with a conversation I recorded at the pop-up city of Zuzalu.
I’m talking with a gentleman who has very deep ties to the Free Cities movement, working as he does in the economic development space. His name is Andreas Baumgartner and he has spent the last 25 years working in the political and legal side of the space with the likes of The Metis Institute, Tipolis and Praxis to name but a few.
Andreas has a wealth of practical knowledge on the nuts and bolts of actually negotiating with governments during the establishment and running of Special Economic Zones and semi-autonomous jurisdictions, which is somewhat of a rare occurrence in my experience due to the emergent nature of the whole Free Cities ecosystem.
In our conversation he is keen to emphasise the importance of trying to work with host governments and highlights the strategies he has learnt to employ when approaching them. He also comments on the current limitations we are facing with particular reference to the process of incentivising different demographics to move to new jurisdictions.
This is a fascinating and informative discussion. The first of many I hope as this movement continues to evolve. Andreas doesn’t just talk the talk, he very much walks the walk as well and I appreciate that about him very much.
Enjoy the conversation.