An Odrian Dream(UD-Odria summit)
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As Vivienne Carver stepped foot on their native soil a smile appeared on her face. She was composed yet a bit nervous for her first summit. After a short introduction with PM John Peter Key and the minister of foreign affairs High Duke Nikolai, they made their way to the Palace in Cair Para.
"Thank you again for inviting me into your country for this visit. It's a pleasant experience considering my country's recent history." said the Odrian Prime Minister and made herself comfortable in a place that could be described as a big office decorated with things from various time periods.
She had a sole goal on her mind. Not to screw this up, and potentially make an economic partner. Odria was struggling on this front and any partner would be of considerable help.
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High Duke Nikolai III immediately greeted Vivienne Carver off the plane. He shook her hand and said "Welcome to the Duchies , we've very much been looking forward to this. We very much hope we can develop a strong friendship between our countries. " He then introduced John Peter Key saying "This is my Prime Minister John Peter Key who handles all the government business and negotiations. Must say it takes quite a load off me! I can get to do all the fun stuff and look nice for the camera and pretend I'm working while I just have lunches and dinners with people speaking of which we've got a brunch to get to at the palace, you'll be stunned by the palace. Its truly the grandest in Europe." The cars and convoys departed for the palace where a brunch afternoon tea style service with cakes and sandwiches would be served. The cars stopped at the bottom of the hill before going up the palace drive. They opened the doors and got out to show Vivienne Carver the view of the palace.
He said "This is the view from the bottom and from the top well lets just say its got rooms with views. We can get a photo here for the press with it in the background if you like" . -
"Oh, that'd be lovely!" said Vivienne Carver. The press hasn't been easy on her, so a nice picture from this summit would be a way to appease them. The photographer took several photos of the PMs shaking hands and the background was filled with the stunning view that was presented to Vivienne moments before.
"Shall we get to business?" she asked, while carefully tidying her pencil skirt. Once again she reminded herself of the goal. Achieve economic partnership. But she knew it would not be easy. The United Dutchies were generous but providing Odria with free money wasn't on their generosity agenda. A trade deal was an option, but considering the current state of our industry, it would be a long run for UD.
"If we shall move onto the summit's agenda I suggest going to your office Mr. Key, or are u opposed?"
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They took the photo went up the drive up past the security point to the section that was secured by guards from the army and then into one of the balconies in a secure area for the brunch tea. The cakes were lovely and they included some classics of Odrias a cuisine not quite as common in Duchies but it worked. The High Duke chatted with Vivienne on a more personal and friendly level, he always was good at putting people at ease and making the atmosphere less formal.
After that Vivienne asked about the meeting and where it was to be held. John Peter Key replied "Certainly my office is in this same palace along with living quarters but other side of the palace in the grounds more, Nikolai always seems to have the best view and location and sometimes lets me in if I've been a good boy!" . Nikolai laughed John Peter Key was not exactly flamboyant or very public but he was well regarded by those who knew him well, he was the quieter sort of leader who could just get things done with no fuss or flamboyance. This was perfect for the Duchies where this sort of non-divisiveness was crucial if you wanted a stable coalition.
They got to the dining room of the PM's quarters which had been set up for the meeting. He said " I'd like to start with trade , now before we go into details on trade theres really two options for us , one is bi-lateral mainly trade which we can offer alot such as free trade and easier visas for travel but the second we have a comprehensive sort of pre-prepared package in place called the Cair Para Treaty which established ECON, if you were to want to join its a trade , security and defense cooperation organisation where we all support each other encouraging trade but also ensuring each others defense and aiding each other in time of crisis and co-operating on issues like military procurement. We could happily vouch for your membership if you wanted which would cover alot of aspects in that treaty so we don't have to negotiate a treaty entirely from scratch. So would you prefer Bi-lateral or to seek European Coalition of Nations membership to cover more areas in a multi-lateral treaty and get more trade and cooperation with multiple nations in Europe? we would be willing to vouch for you and support you in the vote to join if you wished to do so but its obviously no pressure to do so,"
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Vivianne sat down in a comfortable chair across from John Peter Key in his quarters' dining room. As was Mr. Key finishing his proposal, Vivienne found herself to be flabbergasted by his offering.
"Joining ECON would certainly be an honor, and thank you for considering our nation! I am just worried Odria is not yet in the state of a model candidate. In a year or two maybe, but right now we need to deal with our internal issues first, and joining ECON may lead to a shift in focus. And I'm not even mentioning the status differences between Odria and other members. But if you give me time, I can bring it up with my minister of foreign affairs Mx. Jordan Riley, and my minister of industry and trade Mx. Kiran Harper. I would make sure to schedule our online meeting this evening so that I have an answer by tomorrow."
Vivienne felt honored by the proposal but also knew she alone wasn't ready to make that big of a step. Mx. Riley and Harper were her long-time acquaintances. Their opinion on the matter would be crucial for Vivienne's decision."Would you allow me to elongate this summit by one day to give me time to make a decision Mr. Key?"
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"Certainly Nikolai could certainly offer a room here and some cultural times out in the city . We have some amazing fine restaurants and bars here." He continued "Theres still alot to talk about without that aspect . For example we can put you on the list of approved nations for our Foreign Investment Bank so we can encourage companies to invest in your with lower interest loans and the like which would help both of us and establish you on the 60 day on arrival visa programme for tourists if you approve us for the same . What do you think?"
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"Thank you once again for giving me the time to decide. I will discuss not only this but also other possibilities that would lead to an economic partnership." Vivienne said with gratitude.
"It would also be beneficial for both of our countries to put each other on the list of approved nations for our respective Foreign Investment Bank. I'm more than happy to do that if you're willing to!" exclaimed Vivienne with a beaming smile on her face.
This is the moment, her first international act. Of course meetings with representatives of other countries were held sometime before, but they have led to nothing more than reestablishing what has been established before."If I may," started nervously as a plan began to set into motion in her head, "could you provide me with a list of all active and potential candidates for ECON and subsequently for any other similar organizations?" Vivienne was now nervously twiddling with her thumbs. She knew she had no stance to ask such a thing, but her hope overshadowed this fact.
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Peter Key replied certainly " ECON membership is currently Brickston,nReitzmag,nUnited Duchies,nIneland, Yosai and Telum Duxburian Dominions,The Empire of Inimicus, The Most Blessed State of of Inquista ,he Free Republic of North Diessen , The Kingdom of Spain but the key difference is ECON basically tends to value differences in foreign policy opinion so you are fully free to pursue relationships with free trade with other countries and security treaties as long as you meat ECON agreement and law standards which you'd naturally have an equal say in. Basically we value equal friendships between countries regardless of our sizes. Sadly it can be harder to be a country that disagrees within Telum from our experience as founder of the Telum alliance and idea and its sort of strayed from what we wanted it to be though we still have good relations with them trade wise so you can be in ECON and have free trade with Telum ."
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"Certainly," said Vivienne "but as I said before I need to bring it up with my ministers. Is there anything else you'd like to discuss today? Tomorrow will definitely be a busy day full of decisions, so if you don't need anything else I might try to get in touch with the ministries." said Vivienne turning herself slowly to the door but not fully, only halfway in case Peter Key might have one more thing on the agenda today.
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John Peter Key responded "I think its probably best to see what course you take first as that will inform the decision making."
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"Alright then, I'll have an online meeting with my ministers and I shall inform you of my decision. Perhaps I can even suggest something but let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Vivienne while shaking the PM's hand.
She already knew what the outcome would be regardless of what her ministers said. The more interesting part was an elaborate plan that had formed in her head during this meeting. This was the thing she now needed to speak to her ministers about.
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Despite the cold early morning Vivienne Carver, the Odrian Prime minister was now finalizing her speech and other portfolios in her place of stay. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, but that did not bother her, as she worked tirelessly to accomplish something new, something grand.
"Ah, High Duke Nikolai so nice to see you again! Are you heading to the prime minister's chambers?" said Vivienne trying to keep the pace of the fast energetic walk.
"And if yes may I join you? I have something important to discuss with mister Key." -
Nikolai heard Vivienne on his walk "Ah , hows the bedroom, fine view from that one over Cair Para. I can certainly take you to John Peter Key he's in the meeting room but I naturally can't be in there, far too political for my role." He took Vivienne and the group to the room . John Peter Key greeted them once again "I trust you had a good nights sleep, lovely rooms here for guests. Have you got an answer on the ECON issue before we proceed?"
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"Yes! The Republic of Odria would be honored to accept your invitation to the ECON! Of course, the implementation of all the policies tied with it will take some time, and correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the implementation period sits around 2 years. I believe that with the right wording we'll be able to pass all the legislation tied with it in a year." said Vivienne presenting a part of her prepared portfolio. It showed members of the House of Lowers in the opposition that are likely to support it.
"Now to the second thing I wanted to discuss before we move on. We recently discovered large amounts of gas under the seabed near our coast. Now, from the intel I've got, only a few members have access to gas reserves, and again correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that there is no pipeline in place to provide gas/oil to other members.
Where I'm heading is, if we propose a budget for a double pipeline (one for gas and the other for oil) to be built connecting mainly the Southeastern nations of ECON, would we get your vote?" -
Key was happy with the response "That is correct there is an adjustment period for the ECON treaty so you have plenty of time to adjust. I 've heard about the gas discoveries , we'd be a bit concerned about a pipeline being the sole way for gas to get to us but we'd support a Southstream pipeline through the sea but we'd also like plenty of LNG facilities to manufacture and export that way as a back up for if the pipeline faces issues like terrorism or just breaks down. We could help fund the facilities to help achieve this the gas could then be put into pipes in Duchies to go to Reitzmag though we#d need Caspian approval for any pipeline up there but we could always use ships and LNG technology instead to get from duchies to reitzmag. "
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"Prime Minister, it sounds like we have a deal!" Vivienne was thrilled that they came to an agreement.
"Now is there anything else you'd like to discuss? I got some news that the head of the Kingdom of Spain would also like to arrange a summit and I'd like to let them know when I'll be free," said Vivienne nervously and trying not to be impolite .
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John Peter Key responded "Well we would like to discuss cooperation on crime. We believe it would be beneficial to share key data and strategies on crime fighting. We feel this would help us both keep ahead of the criminals. Would you be up for that?"
