Cultural sidelines to negotiation --- Thanks Marwa, Virginia and Gerhard. To amplify Gerhard's point, my life story includes negotiations in Montenegro when I was Australian Ambassador in Belgrade. Practically every time I went there I was met at the airport by someone senior, usually the Deputy Foreign Minister, who produced a bottle of Montenegro country spirit (usually Lozova rakija) and we drank several shots while waiting for the baggage from the plane - at 0630 in the morning, and several more at the Foreign Ministry waiting for the meetings to start. And usually some during the meetings. This set a scene for easy negotiations, if you know what I mean.

Source author: Christopher Lamb christopher.lamb17@gmail.com