A Latino Summit (California-Spain)
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Jesús Aguilar had an agenda full of compromises, and as the summer got closer, the agenda got busier. I wish I wasn't that busy these days, he usually thought, but the Spanish President was aware of the huge responsibilities being the Head of Government of his country meant. After a morning breakfast with the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Salvador Illa and the entrepreneurs of the region, Aguilar got into his motorcade, destination San Diego. He crossed the region of Northern Catalonian, and after passing Perpignan, he found himself in Californian land: Oh, California, how lovely you are, the President said to himself.
Jesús Aguilar's motorcade kept its way towards the meeting place in San Diego, where the Spaniard would meet the Californian Chancellor, Anthony Albanese. The President did not know much about him, despite the relationships between both countries being excellent. The streets of San Diego were busy, and the people were looking at his motorcade. Jesús knew California was a test for him, a place to prove his new foreign policy views worked and were effective: less overreaction, wiser decisions. He waved to some of the crowd present on his way, some of them with Spanish flags, to whom he waved specially.
The motorcade came to a stop, and Jesús Aguilar got out of his car. He walked over the red carpet, and shook hands with the Californian Chancellor, who was waiting for him: "Chancellor Albanese, nice to meet you! How are you feeling today?", he asked.
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The Chancellor saw the Spanish delegation arrive and he went outside.
"Hello, Senor Presidente," said Chancellor Albanese. "Bienvenidos a California."
The two went inside.
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"¡Muchas gracias, señor Albanese! Es un honor estar aquí hoy", said Jesús answering in his language after the Californian Chancellor had made an effort to do the same, before turning back to English. "Your Spanish is indeed amazing, have you ever lived in Spain? How did you learn it?", the President asked in an effort to break the ice while both headed to the room where the summit would take place. Both walked through the corridors of the building, finally reaching the room. The Spanish Presidential Press Service took some pictures, as the Californian one did, before leaving the leaders alone.
When they were left alone, Aguilar got a box out of his briefcase and gave it to Anthony. "Mr. Chancellor, allow me to give you this gift;", the President told his counterpart, while he saw how Anthony opened it: "I asked the Royal Spanish Football Association if they could get you a customised t-shirt, and they said yes, so there it is! I hope you like it, it is the newest t-shirt they have", he concluded before getting some papers and notes out of his briefcase.
"So, what should we begin with? Is there any relevant matter that requires preference over the others?", the President inquired, trying to get the summit started and moving.
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Anthony smiled.
"No, but I should. California has a bilingual policy, with so many Spanish speakers given our neighbors," he said. "Spain is part of our heritage. You, Britain, UD, Duxburian Union and Yosai."
He held the shirt."Thank you very much. I love the shirt". Anthony led Jesus into Mission Viejo.
"I would like to start with trade," Anthony said.
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Aguilar listened to the explanations about the bilingual policy Albanese gave to him: "Bilinguism! Many schools in Spain have it, mostly with English as the other language. Some have it with French, German... but the majority goes for English. In the autonomous communities or well, depends of their condition, where they have a co-oficial language, students can learn up to three languages at once: Spanish, the co-oficial language of the area and English, French, German...", he said.
The President was also happy about Albanese liking the Spanish team t-shirt he had gifted him: "I am glad you like it, Anthony. I can call you Anthony right? You can call me Jesús if you want, by the way", Aguilar added. He only left close friends call him Jesús when in international summits, and Anthony was expected to become one of those.
Being led into Mission Viejo, Jesús Aguilar admired the beauty of the private residence of the Californian Chancellor. When both took a seat, and Albanese proposed to speak about trade, he drank a bit of water and started to speak: "that is a nice topic to begin this summit with. Spain would be interested on agreeing to a free trade deal with California. We believe it is time to end with the border checks that we have between us, and that would also mean ending with visa requirements and that stuff. For trade, however, I would like our countries to keep the ability of carrying out cargo checks from time to time to avoid threats to both countries' national security and analyzing our food products from time to time. Also, for travel, maybe we could add a clause in which we stated that borders can be closed or checked again if a national emergency or something bad happened, but I hope that is not the case for the time we are alive!"
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"Oh, we were just thinking of that. Trade is important for neighbours," Albo said.
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"Awesome then!", exclaimed the President. With that agreement, trade between California and Spain could rise even more and improve, which were awesome news for the Spanish companies and the Government itself.
Next, the Spanish President moved to free travel conversations, which were also of his interest: "I was wondering if California would be up to a free travel agreement with Spain. Transit between our nations is big, and with new Eurorail services coming pretty soon and non-Eurorail services connecting our countries, I think we could surely benefit of such an agreement. What do you think, Chancellor?"
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"I feel since we both have a big tourism sector, it would be ideal to engage in free travel," Albo answered. "What a great idea."
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Aguilar smiled when he heard California was in for a free travel agreement as well, as the summit was going as he expected.
The Spanish President decided to go a step further, and checking his agenda he found that student exchanges were the next point both had to discuss, or agreed to. The Spanish President drank some water before bringing up another topic: "I have been told that California has recently been looking for some student exhange programmes, and I was wondering if your country would be interested in establishing one with Spain. As neighbours, I believe it is our responsibility to give our students opportunities to study abroad, as the European Union has no organization or programme that is responsible of that. Marks requisites and also being able to speak English and Spanish could be included so we avoid social isolation at school".
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"Yes, oh that is perfect. I would like to impliment that at all three education levels. primary, secondary, and tertiary," Albo replied.
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"We usually do not let our primary students (from 6 to 11 years old) and our secondary students until they turn 15 or 16 to study abroad, because we believe it is very important that during those ages they spend their days with their parents, siblings, grandparents... The Spanish Government is a firm defender of that, so I regret that we will not be able to implement student exchange programmes for under-15s. I hope that is not much of a concern to you", Aguilar said.
The Spanish President decided to bring up the economy topic, as it was very interesting: "I have also thought on some sort of economical agreement between us, to give a push to Spanish enterprises operating here and Californian companies that do business in Spain. Maybe we could introduce some advantages? I have been told your cabinet was looking forward to tax cuts, but Spain believes that all companies should be taxed at the same rate, but I can announce you that we will be cutting that tax very soon for all companies".
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"I wouldn't mind at all. That would definitely be fine," Albo replied. "I want you to know I want California to join Telum. As a good neighbour, it would be super important to join. Also, how did you plan for the Strait taxes?"
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Jesús Aguilar listened to the request of Anthony to join the Treaty of Telum, something that depended but also did not at all on him. The Spanish President also felt some interest about the Strait taxes question, and he wanted to know more about the reason to ask about them:
"I am very intrigued about the question on Strait taxes, are you planning to implement them with the Duxburian Union? If yes, we would be willing to help the DU and Calfornia with enforcement and measures. What we did was an idea of the former Ottoman Empire, which consists on a committee that in our case in Gibraltar is their Parliament, and in the case of the ASMSA, now disbanded; the Transport Chancellors of the bordering autonomous communities to the former Strait, nowadays a sea, formed the committee that took decisions about taxing. What is taxed is cargo value on board of cargo ships.
Also, as you might already know Anthony, the membership of the Treaty of Telum needs to be approved by all the member states, but you can be sure about Spain's support to your adhession if Spain or any Telum Treaty nation are exempted from a possible tax on their cargo ships on the Varian Strait. That will be a thing that the Telum countries will take into account when debating your entrance."
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" No, we'd do it for non-Telum. So, it's regarding the cargo."
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"Fantastic", Aguilar said with relief after he got to know non-Telum nations would not be taxed. "Yes, it only applies to cargo and the committee independently decides which nations they tax and which nations they do not. But that is our system, you can apply your own. If you decide to go ahead with the idea alongside the DU, give me a call and I will be glad to help you both alonside the GSSA and the ASMSA directors", he concluded.
"Well Anthony, with that said, is there anything else you would like to speak about", the President wondered.
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"Nope, this was a really good first meeting. If you need anything, just ask."
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"It has indeed", said Jesús, shaking hands with Anthony. "And same, if you ever need anything, just give me a call and I will find a gap for you. Not everyone has that priviledge!", said the Spanish President, laughing.
Aguilar then left to San Diego's Airport, where his Falcon Dassault plane was waiting for him. The President's plane took off on time and headed back to Madrid, leaving an awesome country and a great friend behind, but with hopes of having a friend for his entire life. Another summit to put on his diary.
The Kingdom of Spain