Istkalen - UD Summit
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Kirelesile, Istkalen
Power, mused Ursula Orlich, was so very, very terrible. She ran her fingers over the wall beside her, feeling, beneath them, the flaking wallpaper, colored a particularly nasty shade of light green, and looked down to the floor, at the ratty old carpet, worn and ridden with little holes, stained tobacco-brown; this, she thought, the truly extraordinary luxury afforded to the officials of this Godforsaken country, the truly sumptuous recompense for the unending begging and threatening and self-degradation that was their work.
And the wood was "delayed," as well; even heat, then, in the midst of winter, they could not have. A luxury too far for the Istkalenic people to give their leaders already so well-rewarded for their work.
She absentmindedly tapped at the table before her, a flimsy, fold-out construction replete with dents. At least in the Censorate, she thought, there had been the occasional reward - a bottle of wine smuggled in from California, a cut of rich ham all the way from Spain - and something of purpose, a tradition, a reason to keep sacrificing and going on. But here there was nothing; only barren misery and work so backbreaking and dead and fruitless that it drove her to half to tears. Nothing, nothing, nothing, never anything, day in and day out, without relent, nothing, nothing as life and nothing as reward, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing!
For the unending parade of meetings with the leaders of the workers' associations, who demanded and demanded and demanded, their lists of impossible things in hands - 200% benefit increases to be made, grants larger than the whole state budget to be given, and on and on and on and on, as though the country were some sort of fantasyland where anything was possible - nothing!
For the constant negotiations with the civil service, the salary increases that had to be given to force them to stay, the strange, sotto voce negotations with Demirkol made in that strange stilted language, "if this were the case, perhaps it might be possible for this to happen," and the threats of murder, the occasional assassination to keep them in fear, that had to be made just to get them to do anything at all, nothing!
For the haranguing with Jezebel-Swift and her clique of deranged fanatics, dealing with the lecturing, the barely veiled threats of terror and that irritating, annoying smugness and self-righteousness, nothing!
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, into eternity.
She realized, suddenly, that she had clenched her fists; her knuckles had turned white. She sighed, a little, choked, resigned exhale, and leaned back in her metal chair. Que sera, sera, she supposed; what could be done about any of it?
She heard steps, heavy, resounding through the floor. They were here, she supposed; here at last. She stood and collected herself, brushing at her dress, running her hand through her hair, and spoke as the door opened.
"Welcome," she said, her voice strong, "to our country. I'm afraid there's no heating" - at this she managed the slightest of chuckles - "I apologize for the cold. We have much we would like to discuss on our side, as you, I'm sure, well know and understand - but we would like to hear, first, what you are interested in as regards Istkalen."
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Arron Scott had worked hard with Nadine Wootton to get to this point. Now was the hard part. The business community of the United Duchies had had it hard with the seizing of assets in North Diessan and Czech Slavia. They had lost trust and needed new lower cost sources.
Arron Scott enjoyed his journey to Istkalen. The room was stark but that was nothing he didn't expect and neither did he care he wasn't there for a party after all.He replied "Thank you for your welcome. It is indeed a little colder than at home but nothing we can't handle. Anyway I feel we should get to business.
You may have noticed that certain countries in the world are getting far less business friendly for manufacturing and there is now a void in the lower cost goods sector and some of the more artisan goods we once would have gotten from places like North Diessan and Czech Slavia. However we see an oppurtunity for your people and our businesses.What we want is a trade deal to reduce costs to be able to get our lower cost goods or some of them at least made in Istkalen , we are willing to lower tariffs to 0% if you do the same in return for our goods , we would then encourage our companies to have some operations in your country to then ship the goods into Reitzmag and then transported over to United Duchies. You could benefit by 10's of billlions in exports from our trade . We would also seek to have some rare earths for our manufactauring to diversify those sources for our companies. We basically want good trade relations with your country."
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"We are very interested in - and certainly would be committed to - establishing free trade between our two countries," said Orlich.
"However - and I must really stress this point - it will not be possible for your businesses to establish themselves physically in Istkalen. We have no legal framework for incorporation that would allow them to register themselves, to engage in contracts, or to hold property, nor do we have any intentions of creating one. We have, yes, made agreements with other countries allowing their corporations to contract labor here from abroad, and we are certainly open to making one with the United Duchies - but that, and no more, I'm afraid, will be the extent of cooperation in this regard."
"I also must say that export and shipping are managed by our Ministry of Public Distribution," she continued, "and that this is unlikely to change. It will be our government that will manage any movement of goods out of the country, and our government alone. Rest assured, however, that whatever we may make on your behalf will be delivered properly, safely, and in a timely manner."
"Nevertheless, we are very open to doing business with the United Duchies. Now, as for our own interests - there are many people, in many cases dangerous political extremists, leaving our country in spite of sanctions we have placed on them preventing them from doing so. We would like to know whether you would be willing to return those among them who are in your territory or at your borders - or at least some of them - to our country, now and into the future. We were also wondering, though this is a considerably less important matter, whether your country would be willing to establish a cultural exchange program for students with Istkalen."
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Arron Scott listened "That is the economic arrangement we imagined and most businesses have been asking for they want to utilise the factories owned by Istkalen companies and organisations. "
He listened to the proposal on cultural exchange and immigration and said "Yes indeed we have certain concerns about certain faith groups anyway and frankly if they are committing terrorist acts in Istkalen we don't want them so if we receive evidence they are committing terror acts or violent acts in Istkalen we will happily extradite them back. On the cultural exchange we are willing to establish such a programme and possibly even a education exchange programme with you we want to increase the bond of friendship between our peoples."
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"It is nice to hear that we will have your cooperation on this matter," said Orlich. "As for exchange - we are open to an education exchange program as well. Is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"
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He replied " There is one question we have. We understand shipping is handled by the state but alot of our companies like to negotiate on specs and production issues directly with the companies and producers involved to minimise misunderstandings. Am I to understand this is the process that companies negotiate with the Istkalen producers and then the state arrange shipment?"
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"Yes, you are correct. Are there any accomodations, in terms of their participation in this process, that Duchian companies would like?"
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Arron Scott responded "Thats perfect for our companies. We are happy to develop a treaty to sign from this.We look forward to doing business.Our companies are very interested in the chips and electronic components from Istkalen for their products given your expertise in this area with rare earths."
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"And we to you. We will draw up a draft treaty and send it to your government. Now, if we have nothing more to discuss, that will be all."
