Metaverse, Barbados becomes a republic and opens its virtual embassy

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Barbados becomes a republic and opens its first virtual embassy in the metaverse

Barbados, the small Caribbean island of 280,000 inhabitants will become, by the end of the month, a full-fledged republic. The former British colony will replace Queen Elizabeth with a new president, a woman, Sandra Mason. Simultaneously with this revolution, another equally unexpected one will take place at the end of January: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has announced an agreement with Decentraland, one of the best known digital worlds, for openness of a virtual embassy. A sort of “Second Life” where there will be more embassies in the world. The government is also dealing with other virtual environments such as Dream Space e Superworld. Of the metaverse of Mark Zuckenberg, what the engineers of Facebook’s number one are working on, not a word.

Barbados becomes a republic and opens its first virtual embassy in the metaverse

“This platform, said Foreign Minister Jerome Walcott, will be an important forum in which Barbados it will work with its partners to develop diplomatic relations, new investments, business, tourism, and culture ”. You enter the metaverse with an internet connection and virtual reality glasses. Inside you move with your own avatar, interacting with other avatars and companies of all kinds. Already over twenty years ago a similar operation was attempted in the metaverse, which was then called “Second Life”. The operation failed miserably perhaps because the technology was not yet sufficiently ready and perhaps not even the time was ripe.

Barbados becomes a republic and opens its first virtual embassy in the metaverse

Bloomberg Intelligence now it believes instead that the business that could be generated would be around 800,000 million dollars by 2024. E Microsoft has already announced the possibility of using avatars in its video calls. For Barbados having a virtual embassy represents another step towards positioning itself as an American hub for new technologies and as a cost-effective way to expand the network of contacts. “It is a tool that will allow us, at low cost, to establish new allies, develop relations with other countries and offer services around the world,” confirmed a spokesperson for the country.

Barbados becomes a republic and opens its first virtual embassy in the metaverse

Thanks to the metaverse, Barbados it could relate, even with respect for the environment (fewer flights), with the nearly two hundred countries recognized by the UN. The first country in the world to open an embassy in a virtual world, however, was the Maldives in 2007. Maldives then followed by Sweden, Estonia, Colombia, Serbia, North Macedonia, the Philippines, Albania, Israel and Malta. What will be interesting is to find out how the virtual world will interact with the real one. For example, if the avatar is robbed or harassed in the metaverse, can the real person appeal to ordinary justice? At the moment it is not possible to know but, it will be discovered “only by living”.

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