Non-disclosure agreement (Tamora and the Conglomerate)

[Markus]

Mr. Anginer, I am writing to you in order to respectfully ask you to agree to a meeting between you and HIM Abbas Safavid, Emperor of Tamora. HIM has expressly requested your presence to the Imperial Palace in Djerb for talks on a series of matters for which HIM wishes to maintain the utmost discretion and will present the details in person when you will be meeting HIM.

The scheduled meeting, should you agree to it, will be announced in the itinerary of the Emperor as discussion one the state of the Elysium project and the contract with the Conglomerate.
Should you need to present an official reason to the press we would appreciate it if you would provide explanations according to that itinerary as to avoid unwanted confusion.

Considering the discretion necessary for these exploratory talks we would prefer if you would come alone to the meeting but we can accommodate the presence of a small number of your staff should you require it. We respectfully ask you that those staff members understand the total discretion such a meeting implies regardless of their future employment.
I look forward to your reply and I am available at all times for any details or information your office may require in order to set up the meeting.

Respectfully yours,
Sub secretary of Foreign Affairs
Empire of Tamora
Hassan Momeni

[Markus]

This was the second time Maxime was meeting emperor Abbas. The first time he met Abbas it was mostly because Maxime had used his, or better said, Heyra’s connections with the Ecclesiastical State which in turn used their influence in the federated kingdom of Attica to push for a meeting with Abbas in which to agree to the Elysium project.

Now, almost a year later things had changed quite a lot. The great power that was the Ecclesiastical State had now been reduced to a just a city state that had withdrawn in isolation, the Heyran Republic was no more and in its place the Conglomerate appeared while the Elysium city was advancing at a steady pace. In fact Tamoran companies were not hegining to incorporate there and announcing plans to expand beyond Midaranye using the Elysium registered subsidiaries. Perhaps not many foreign analysts expected the Heyra – Tamoran partnership to work but so far those that betted against it proved to be wrong.

Today the business relations between the two sides were goond enough that they were exploring the possibility for further cooperation with Abbas inviting Maxime to Djerb for talks. The Conglomerate was now seen in Tamora as someone you could show yourself with in public with and this was reflected by having the meeting shown the in the itinerary of emperor Abbas. Of course the official agenda of the talks was the status of the construction taking place in Elysium and not what was actually going to be discussed. So when Maxime arrived at the Imperial palace he was meet much in the same way as the last time, the slave servants opened the door of his car and the captain of the Imperial guard greeted him. Unlike last time however, Maxime was invited and escorted through the front door of the palace as all worthy guests of the Emperor. Tamora was showing the Conglomerate they were both pleased with how things were going and that the Conglomerate was earning their respect. The captain escorted Maxime through the long corridors of the palace when he finally stopped the captain asked Maxime to wait until Abbas would meet him. After about two minutes, the captain returned saying that the emperor will see him and opened the door to the room where Maxime had meet Abbas before.

As Maxime entered the room, Azita, one of Abbas personal assistants who was also a slave, approached Maxime, politely greeted him and escorted him to the other side of the room where Abbas was sited as his desk. Once Maxime was close enough, Abbas stood up and greeted Maxime and extended his hand for a handshake:

“Mr. Anginer. I am so glad you could come. Please have a seat”

Just as Maxime was seated, Azita approached Maxime and asked:

“Would you like a fresh arrack with no ice or would perhaps prefer something else?”

As soon as Maxime answered, Abbas continued:

“I have to say Mr. Anginer that I am quite pleased with how things are going with Elysium. To tell you the truth I was expecting some problems on your side like lack of funding, delays caused by the usual bureaucratic machinery or just a general lack of focus as the Conglomerate is geographically present in so many places. But it would seem you have managed to overcome those. And for the first time in a long while the major businesses of the empire are no longer just complaining to me and actually have things positive to say.

Personally, I think it’s much too early for them to celebrate and I believe that they take a great risk putting money in their Elysium branches. The whole world is watching us and I have a feeling they will come up with some way to legally force you to freeze their assets.  This is something that concerns me. “

Just as Abbas had paused, Azita brought Abbas and Maxime their refreshments. Abbas pointed at a piece of paper on his desk and said:

“My advisers suggested that I ask you to sign this before we talk further. But I disagree; I don’t think a piece of paper can stop you from talking if you want to” as he said that he folded the papers and threw it away.  “ So let me ask you this, can I have your word that we will discussing from this point on does not leave the room regardless of the outcome? “   

[Markus]

Abbas noticed how Maxime remained silence when he voiced his concerns. Since Maxime didn’t deny it meant that his fears were indeed well founded. That was something he would have to consider in the future.

“Very well then” Abbas said once Maxine gave his word.

“The first thing I wanted to talk to you about is the ongoing problem we are facing in the Empire. Not only are other powers waging an economic war on us but we are also lagging behind the other powers of Mundus in terms of technology. It is increasngly difficult for our companies to keep up with foreign ones. Tamora’s market is safe since it is well protected by tariffs but outside Tamora, with few exceptions, they are having a hard time competing in anything but cheap products that are dependent on labor costs. I want to reverse that by first trying to buy some foreign companies that do good R&D, have a good portfolio of patents or have access to technology that is up to date. Now I understand that we cannot afford to buy behemoths like EMAC or acquire companies in the defense sector since that will raise alarms in all foreign capitals. Nor am I interested in the IT sector which my advisors tell me is full of expensive companies, I am interested in the low profile sectors, mostly industrial. For example we have a local car manufacturer that is struggling for years and its cars are far from competitive. I would be interested in buying a foreign car manufacturer that is struggling only to have access to its technologies and patents. Having us appear directly as the interested part in buying those companies would spook them so I would need you to identify potential companies to be acquired, negotiate good prices and find a legal way to have those companies eventually end up in our possession. Now please do consider we are not Rokkenjima and therefore we don’t have billions and billions to be wasting on this. We don’t want to end up like the Ecclesiastical State that handed everyone billions in donations and eventually succumbed and is now just a city state. So the price of the companies will matter a lot. Of course, we wouldn’t expect you to be doing this for free.

The second issue and this is not something that needs to be kept secret but rather discrete is related to Clysperis. I want your people to assess their economy and see where the main potential is for growth is and periodically assess the strategic industries in Clysperis in terms of foreign ownership. I want to know who has significant investments in those strategic sectors once the foreign investments start pouring in. And I am interested in knowing who is behind those investments as I expect a lot of companies might be registered in countries with specific legislation in order to hide the real owners. 

What do you think Mr. Anginer? Can the Conglomerate do this? “

[Markus]

Abbas liked the detailed answer and the fact that Maxime did not seem to distance the Conglomerate from the Tamoran companies that incorporated there.
When Maxime was done, he replied:

“I see I have asked the right people for this since you seem to have all the details on how to do this.
So let’s get a bit into the details of this: as I said, I am interested in buying companies that have good technology that we can use, we are also willing to just buy the various patents from a company that is under liquidation. My advisors drew me a list of the sectors that they feel we need to focus on, of course if opportunities arise in other areas, we are also willing to consider them.”

As soon as Abbas finished, Azita handed Maxime a paper with the following list of economic sectors:
- automobiles, including parts
- heavy/industrial machinery
- (consumer) electronics, home appliances
- medical equipment

”I will draw 1 bln dinars/usd from the Imperial Wealth Fund for this and see how this go. Depending on the results we will continue further acquisitions. “

“As for the second matter, as I said I consider it a discrete matter not a confidential one. Clysperis is a friend and ally of Tamora though I am worried they are opening too fast and thus expose themselves to too much foreign influence. So I see no problem with your observations.”

“The inevitable issue must be addressed. What are your fees? Especially for the first task as that is the purpose of this meeting.”