Roleplay > Diplomacy and Events

FOS Sail Meeting No.1 - Abertone and East Moreland

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Abertone:
Marco gave the paper his deep undivided attention for a whole thirty seconds before handing it over to Graziano and then pouring himself another glass of wine. It was therefore left to the Consul to offer his input.

Graziano found it odd that King David shunned modern technology preferring to scrawl his note but at least his handwriting was neat. "What you propose I see no issue with but I would like some additions if possible, and of course with my Emperors approval." He removed a pen from his jacket and added onto the bottom of the King's writing.


--- Quote ---
8. Both Parties agree that samples of products or materials may enter the nation so long as they meet the following criteria.

a) They are to the value of less than $100,000
b) That companies may not ship more than $250,000 worth of samples within a nation in a calendar year..
c) Once $250,000 value has been reached a company is liable to pay import duty.
d) No fees or taxes will be charged on samples being removed from the nation.

9. Both Parties agree that equipment to be used for shows or demonstrations may temporarily enter nations so long as they conform to local health and safety laws. Such equipment may remain for 90 days after which time import duties are payable.

10. Performers are exempt from visa requirements so long as they are not deemed a threat to the national security. To be considered a working performer they must work at least 15 days out of every 30.

11. Both Parties agree that they shall recognise the intellectual property rights registered in the other party.


--- End quote ---

"I hope these are suitable" He asked his cousin who glanced over them and nodded to Graziano. "It is my hope that these would allow it to become easier for our nations to promote themselves to each other. For example I'm aware that East Moreland has a track record for some interesting agricultural projects, golden rice and the Yellow-Tongue vaccine for a start. We have an Eastern Part of our Empire which is heavily reliant on such a trade and therefore being able to shoscase to each other what we have could be important."

DaveIronside:
David took back his note book and looked down. It seemed that Graziano had some interesting ideas. "I can support those." David said. "Can I assume that with you putting in clauses about performers you expect there to be some cultural exchanges, I'm assuming things like touring musicians, sports etc. In that regard what do you imagine happening that would make you specifically pick this out? Its the first time I've had anyone seek visa exemptions specifically for performers. Its not something I'm opposed to, I think its a good idea, I just find myself intrigued." David smiled. "I would also like to head a little deeper than just trade. Education has been a pet project of mine for a while, tied to the cultural side of my reign. We established some time back the More and Mundus project. A scheme that currently sees us tied to around 15 countries in terms of school exchanges between students. I would very much like to make that 16. The project would involve each year a group of students coming from East Moreland to a school in Abertone, usually the trip is two weeks but we've seen some longer ones. The student would stay with a host family with a child of a similar age. They'd spend a week in an Abertone school and a week having a chance to sight see. Then when they return their host families child would come with them and we'd return the hospitality. My neice Archduchess Sophie was one of the first to go to what is now Nya Aland when we partnered with the Union of Nordic People what feels like a lifetime ago. Its a project that I will have Rhiannon and Llewellyn take part in when they get to 16 years of age."

Abertone:
Graziano had heard of the More and Mundus programme and approved of it. He paused for a moment or two and then looked at Marco. "I wonder Emperor if we can lead by example here. My son Andrew turns 18 very shortly. He has just a few weeks left in school. Use him as a guineia pig so to speak. Have him come over to East Moreland and then we shall host someone from East Moreland in return. If it goes well then naturally we can roll it out to schools across the Empire having said we personally stand behind it." Graziano suspected that Marco would probably struggle to pick his nephew out of a line up and so there wouldn't be much for him to think about regarding that.

Marco had been busy watching the ships out at sea and paid very little attention to what his cousin was saying. Talk of education and schools didn't really interest him. School was simply a place to turn up and you absorbed what you could. Some like his cousin absorbed slowly while he had been rather quicker, he believed that education was not as important as life experience. With his attention snapped back he gave a nod, "Yes, yes Andrew should take part. It'll do the boy good to get to see something other than farms and churches." His comment forced the Consul to bite his lip. His 17 year old son was an active member of the Order of Isidore Youth which was in effect Boy Scouts with farming and it was something Graziano was proud of. Andrew had grown into a well rounded young gentleman and his father was confident he would one day be someone who would achieve great things.

"Sign us up then." Graziano tried his best to sound pleased about the response. " I look forward to hearing of his experiences and while I know this makes us a host family I hope you would not mind the fact that whichever Morelander we got we would not have them stay with us in the Palace, we'd head out to the countryside where we have property to try and give them a more authentic Abertonian experience."

DaveIronside:
"Excellent" David grinned and considered briefly whether he should reaffirm the Ironside family commitment to the project by having Rhainnon be the first Morelander to go but at the age of nine it wasn't really the right thing to do. He was confident however that he would find people willing to go in due course. " In terms of moving this forward we have on the table then a task ahead of me in terms of getting the CNN to sign off on our agreement, I'm hopeful it will be simple enough but just in case I'd like to say that should for some reason it get turned down that we sign off on it here and now as an East Moreland and Abertone deal. We'll keep the fact its been signed private until the CNN decision has been made. If the CNN agree we announce that deal if for some reason the CNN one fails we can announce that I'd been considering this arrangement and have finally come to a conclusion. As for the More and Mundus programme we can sign off on that here and now and I'm happy to give you a gentlemans agreement on the CETO steps if that is good enough to reassure you." David addressed this part to Marco but wondered if the term "Gentleman" was appropriate from what he had heard.

"I do have a final request." David shuffled forward and produced from his briefcase a pair of binoculars. He handed them to Marco and guided his vision to a large cargo ship sat off the coast "East Moreland maintains a series of four ships stocked with supplies such as water, batteries, rations, fuel, vehicles etc. Everything a military force of 1,000 men may need for a week. In the past its been utilised mainly for humanitarian efforts, the water facilities being utilised when Tytor had problems, refugee crisis in Mavrosia, food shortages in Royal Seleucid. We have agreements with several nations that allow us to utilise their ports. Abertone is rather unique in terms of it has ports a long way apart. I was hoping we could make some deal where we could access ports in Abertone in terms of restocking, refuelling etc."

Abertone:
Graziano was happy with how things had gone so far. They would certainly be going home with some kind of deal but the real pay-off would be who it was with. The Consul was hoping it would be the CNN, four nations with strong economies would be a really boost to the Abertone economy but even if that didn't come about for some reason he would still have East Moreland tied up and from there they could begin building with other nations. " I'm happy to take you at your word" The Emperor interrupted Graziano's train of thought as he seemed to raise a glass towards King David.

Graziano expected Marco to continue and talk about the proposal of the ship using their docks but he went back to the wine. "We buy equipment from East Moreland companies from time to time so it would seem strange for us to say no. I think though for the fact that we would be providing ports on both Ardia and Albion means that we should perhaps look at this as a way of you also helping us. While normally ports would charge a fee simply to anchor in the docks we will waive those for East Moreland's supply ships undertaking this role. We will however keep a record of how much they would be and when purchasing our equipment we would expect it to be deducted from the bill. Is  this possible?"

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