Dannin Transport & Innovation Expo [RP]

by **Mertagne** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 5:07 am

THE DANNIN TRANSPORT & INNOVATION EXPO
Hosted at the Origas Dannin Convention Centre, City of Dannin, Mertagne

The Origas® Dannin Convention Centre welcomes customers, suppliers, sciencers and schmoozers alike from across the region of Anaia and beyond* for the first Dannin Transport & Innovation Expo.

What is the Dannin Transport Expo?
The Dannin Transport Expo is a semi-open RP series surrounding the events of a transportation exhibition displayed in the Mertagnian capital of Dannin. Nations posting in this thread will be detailing their experiences at the exhibition as members of the public or individuals that have traveled to Dannin from their home nations to showcase new and updated technologies in the world of transport and beyond.

While the convention does have a transport theme, smaller stalls related to innovation and new technologies in general are accepted. Do you want to show off your new freeze-ray! Go for it, but remember that IC, people might ask questions on how it will improve their bobsleigh network.

What is the venue like?
The Origas® Dannin Convention Centre is shaped like a large donut, and is split into two floors with 12 sections per floor, resulting in a hall configuration of up to 24 halls. The transport expo has taken up 9 halls on the lower floor, and has configured the space as such to allow for up to four main concurrent talks to be held on private stages within these halls that hold up to 750 people (500 seats), with full recording suites and video feeds available outside the stages for those that are unable to enter the stage.

The full capacity of the convention halls for this expo is 20,000. The convention will be held IC over the course of three days - from a Wednesday morning to a Friday evening. It is expected to rain lightly throughout the duration.

What sort of stuff can I RP?
You can RP almost anything you like, as long as it is happening during and at the Transport Expo in Dannin and relates somewhat to transport and innovation. Here are some prompts:

A company from your nation has a stand at the Expo and wishes to display their wares.
A prolific member of a company in your nation is delivering a talk at the Expo.
A politician is at the Expo to scope out new transport technologies for your nation.
You have sent forward a member to help ratify the launch of new intra-regional organisation AUNTIE - the Anaian Union of National Transport Institutes and Economies.
A scientific outfit in your nation has developed something new and interesting they wish to showcase.

Posting Restriction
Please only post in this thread if you are a forum moderator performing moderator business, or your nation is a member of one of the following regions*:

* Other nations will be accepted on a case by case basis. TG me if you wish to post.

Have a fun time in Dannin, and enjoy taking a look at all that this part of the multiverse has to offer.

by **Mertagne** » Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:16 am

A darkened stage hall at the Origas® Dannin Convention Centre

The crowd settled in for what was to be the first of many talks held at the Origas® Dannin Convention Centre over the next few days. This first guest speaker, Mertagnian Transport Premier Ezhvin Kidd, was here to announce his latest brainchild - a cross regional project spearheaded by his very own party.

The dim lights on the stage began to glow in the Red and White colours of the Workers Unions of Mertagne, the second largest political block in the nation and holders of the presidency after the most recent elections. Kidd's appointment to the Federal Council was in part due to this, and he was looking forward to bring his party's unique political spin to what was sure to be a prestigious event.

He stepped out onto the lectern, a large, pine piece with an intricate carving of a train running across it, with each carriage representing a different time period in the invention's history. A coal cart, a period carriage, the back of a bullet train, and a sci-fi inspired hovering cart featured on the lectern, which threated to overshadow Kidd if he didn't kick off his speech immediately.

"Thank you all for coming. My name is Ezhvin Kidd, and I'm the Transport Premier for Mertagne. For our friends from abroad who don't know what that entails, I oversee policy direction for the Department of Transport. I'm very keen on transport, which is one of the reasons I'm here today, and for the next three days to introduce and check out the Dannin Transport & Innovation Expo. The Expo, of course, is a regular event for us in Mertagne, but this year with the help of the government, we have advertised it far and wide across the AREA for members of other nations to get involved. I'm happy to see that we have a good turnout this year, and I look forward to discovering the innovation that I know is present with you, wherever you have travelled from today."

Ezhvin adjusted his red tie and continued.

"Transport is at the heart of Mertagne. Our location in Anaia is right in the heartlands of what we call Calania, and since our period of international isolation we have been very keen in ensuring that we can make the right decisions with our friends in the Anaia region and beyond to make interconnectivity easier than ever before. That is why I am proud to say that the end of the Dannin Transport Expo will coincide with the intra-regional launch of what we're calling AUNTIE - the Anaian Union of Transport Institutions and Economies. AUNTIE is an organisation that aims to be headquartered right here in Dannin, and seeks to open dialogue between national transport authorities, private enterprise, and key stakeholders that are interested in contributing to intra-regional transport networks. Our scope is aiming to include road networks, port authorities, aviation authorities, and railway agencies. AUNTIE does not seek to replace your authority, but seeks to unit and develop towards a common goal of integrated transport that is safe, accessible, sustainable, and scalable."

The lights of the stage had slowly changed from the red-and-white to an Anaian spread of green and purple.

"If you represent a transport authority for your nation, we want to hear from you as we build AUNTIE. You can have a guiding hand of the future of this organisation, and help us develop the best transportation links in the multiverse. If you're a private business, we want to hear from you as we build AUNTIE. You can contribute key infrastructure and development to the project, and as the organisation grows, I have no doubt that there will be infrastructural contracts to bid for. It's going to be a very exciting time for the development of the region, and beyond."

The stage lights deftly shone with the lime and white of Mertagne.

"Mertagne is excited to be at the forefront of this initiative, and where better to launch it at the Dannin Transport & Innovation Expo. We will need innovation to solve the challenges that new and exciting transport technologies posed, and I for one look forward to finding out how we can all work together."

A smattering of applause could be heard from across the stage.

"I've been asked to officially declare the Expo officially open. I'm very honoured to do so, so please - have an explore and see what fantastic innovation can be found in these soon to be hectic halls."

by **Ko-oren** » Sun Dec 05, 2021 3:54 pm

Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Fie Wegman was in attendance and on her way to sign a document to confirm the initiation of a committee - and the procedures that will guide it - to decide on our intention to commit, on an as of yet unknown date, to AUNTIE, on behalf of Ko-orenite railways, air traffic, and port authorities. The domestic policy is clear: Willowbourne is the primary international airport, which has a good rail connection to Greencaster, the largest port, with secondary functions in Katashi (which has both a port and an airport, but no railway connection to the Ko-orenite mainland), and Sterrenwolde (which has all three: port, airport, railway connections). That's only the start, however, as what do these ports and airports connect?

Nearby countries are always better for trade, which sets us up with other island nations in the Ocean of Ayes, the Salamantic Sea, and the Celestial Ocean. There we find the Plough Islands - perhaps not the best place for business - as well as Mont Vert, the Avorago Islands, and the Ochre Islands. Sure, it would be great for Ko-oren to act as the transport 'hub' for Anaia's western islands - but we're also quite far out there and both Avorago and the Ochre Islands have a much more central location. We also need to connect with the infrastructure of Nova Calania, which will likely be the main source of and destination for our goods. The obvious point of contact there would be western Quebec & Shingoryeo - which we would otherwise have to sail all the way around to get to Mertagne and the nations in the Grinshem Sea and Sea of Champions - or potentially Huayramarca, Cocoabo Forest, or Krytenia. That hinges on whether either of those nations join AUNTIE and connect us to the economies of central and eastern Anaia.

No matter what, Ko-oren will be depending on this, without a lot to offer in return. It's always fun to enter these discussions with little to no leverage.

by **The Plough Islands** » Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:00 am

That the Plough Islands are in attendance at the Dannin Convention Centre at all is something of a surprise, with there being little that conventionally would have been seen as attractive to those most committed of Marxist-Leninist ideologues in this Stonehenge of capitalism. Ultimately, the Transport & Innovation Expo's role as an Anaian regional exchange in all but name made it important for the Plough Islanders to be seen here, and so it is Anaian solidarity - rather than the vulgar pursuit of ducats - that has led them to make the long trip to Mertagne.
Though they are more connected to the region than before, and Premier Dale Piper had obtained several commitments at Foxchester to the effect of securing the rights to transit and shipping routes between the rest of Anaia and the Plough Islands, there evidently remains some unease from the vanguard of the proletariat over the potential level of foreign interest in their country. Consequently, there are no direct government representatives in Dannin, with Sutton preferring to keep other countries at a comfortable distance; holding the options for further exchange, but being careful about when and how to use them. Instead, the Plough Islands are represented at the conference by their national airline - PITA, or Plough Islands Transdimensional Airlines, the name hinting at a route network of occasional flights to an eclectic mix of destinations throughout the multiverse - and the aim, rather than explicitly to forge new opportunities, seems to be to make better use of those that already exist.

You find the PITA stall in a quieter section of the centre next to a group of Mrii offering suspiciously cheap and obscurely detailed importation services, the location having been picked to ensure a comfortable - but not large - level of traffic. Against a backdrop of a large, meticulously detailed relief map of the Plough Islands, and draped in green and amber flags, the stall is manned by just four people - a pilot, a woman you suspect may be a constable, and two other delegates - all dressed in differently coloured striped sweaters, wearing sewn-in name tags of their own rather than the convention badges. If you are a cricket fan, you may recognise the tall pilot as the veteran Plough Islands limited overs all-rounder Andrew Fairfield, who has been flying Islanders and Trislanders on domestic routes for eight years; he happily chats to visitors at length about the airline and his home country, although he jokes that his "so-called celebrity status" has failed to shift many of the leaflets and timetables on offer.
If you pick one of them up, you find a full-colour picture of a PITA Tu-134 flying low over Waterfalls on a misty morning, and the following text;

in 2012, Cde Patricia Smith, Chair of Plough Islands Transdimensional Airlines, wrote:"When we glance up and sight a plane from PITA, we see a little of ourselves; for it is not only the people's labour that builds and nurtures the airline, but also the people's hopes that we carry whenever we take flight"

Situated in the northern Celestial Ocean, the Plough Islands are a misty outpost of granite and pine trees at the edge of Anaia, home to an enduring society of miners, fishers, farmers, and workers numbering just over a hundred and forty thousand hardy souls. Most Plough Islanders have their roots in Britain, which first settled the archipelago in 1750, first as a supply station and later, briefly, as a penal colony, before granting the colony limited self-rule in 1852. The late nineteenth century saw the exploitation of the islands' mineral wealth and the beginning of a radical socialist movement in response to an increasingly oppressive colonial elite; following the First World War this agitation, under visionary leader Cde Gabriel Sutcliffe, organised as the Party of Socialists of the Plough Islands and succeeded in forming a national identity in the colony.
This bore fruit in 1960, when after decades of peaceful agitation the country severed its links with the British Empire and became the Commonwealth of the Plough islands, with Sutcliffe as its first Premier. Though the months immediately following independence were turbulent as the new Socialist government set about righting the wrongs of the colonial period, through their collective endeavour the people of the Plough Islands were able to build a new society and retain their independence in the face of great changes in the world around them. Today our country, though it may be small and isolated geographically, stands out as a beacon of egalitarianism and solidarity, while the achievements of the socialist society of the Plough Islands - particularly in the realm of international cricket - continue to set an example for the world.

Whichever part of the multiverse you come from, Plough Islands Transdimensional Airlines is your gateway to the islands and beyond.¹ The flag carrier of the Plough Islands, PITA was founded in 1972 out of a desire to provide reliable, affordable, and useful air travel connections both within and without the country, and to aid the workers of the Plough Islands in building a socialist society.² The airline will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2022, and in that time, PITA has contributed greatly to the modernisation and collectivisation of the labour and society of the Plough Islands. It has also provided opportunities for thousands of islanders to experience the wider multiverse - as well as allowing countless foreign visitors to experience our small country for themselves.
All international flights arrive to and depart from Echodale Interdimensional Airport, which is also PITA's central base for cargo shipment and aircraft maintenance. Echodale is situated 12 kilometres west of the capital city, Sutton, and frequent buses link the airport and the capital with its mix of colonial and modernist architecture, bisected by the beautiful December Park and its well-known cricket ground, and overlooked by the 272 metre tall Sutton Radio Tower. Alternatively, visitors may transfer at Echodale to one of PITA's domestic flights, potentially taking them to visit the industrial heart of the Plough Islands in the Redcliff valley, the rolling hills and wheat fields around Silverdale and Foxdale, or the rugged inlets and dramatic cliffs of the New Dalmatian coastline.

A Britten-Norman BN-2A Mk III-2 "Trislander" of Plough Islands Transdimensional Airlines.

PITA flights within the country are operated using Britten-Norman Islander and Trislander aircraft, which have a proven reliability record and are well suited to operating from the short runways common at outlying airfields in the Plough Islands. International flights naturally require the use of larger, pressurised, turbojet airliners, and PITA has used the Tupolev Tu-134 to operate these routes since its foundation; these are well suited to the celestial navigation requirements of long journeys to and from the country. All aircraft currently operated by PITA were fully refurbished in 2016 as part of a fleet modernisation programme, which aimed to uphold a hitherto excellent safety record, and the airline is proud to never have experienced a fatal accident in its entire operating history.³
Unlike the oppressive, cramped conditions mandated by many other airlines under the yoke of capitalism, PITA offers its passengers a pleasant travelling experience, with no differentiation between passengers according to their wealth. All aircraft are fitted with woven, padded seats to ensure a gentle ride, and travellers have the ability to listen to Plough Radio international broadcasts to pass the time. On long distance flights, drinks and meals are also served, with the chance to experience the renowned Plough Islander fish and chips before you set foot in the country.⁴

Anyone interested in further information regarding PITA, particularly countries wishing to negotiate air transport links with the Plough Islands or aerospace parts suppliers familiar with Soviet aircraft, is invited to write to the Ministry of Public Works & Transport at the address below.⁵ (Please note that for the purposes of national security, the Ministry is unwilling at this present time to permit further direct scheduled routes to Echodale by airlines other than PITA.)

Aviation Section
Ministry of Public Works & Transport
Commonwealth House
Lenin Avenue
Sutton

¹ Subject to restrictions; citizens of countries that are currently diplomatically recognised by the Commonwealth of the Plough Islands may travel to the Plough Islands for not less than thirty days in any rolling twelve month period unless they have a guarantee from an appropriate Plough Islander citizen or organisation. Citizens of countries that are not currently diplomatically recognised by the Commonwealth of the Plough Islands may not travel under any circumstances unless a waiver has been issued by the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Plough Islands.^† In all cases, entry to the Plough Islands is conditional on receiving an entry visa, following an interview to be conducted on arrival at Echodale by the Plough Islands Constabulary. Additional restrictions may apply based on the type of visa granted. Please allow up to six hours upon arrival for interview and customs checks.

^† Owing to the geopolitical realities of the multiverse, it is not possible to reproduce an exhaustive list of countries that meet any of these criteria at any given time; please check with the embassy or consulate representing the interests of the Plough Islands in your region before travel. However, following the events of the Declaration of Foxchester, travellers are advised that any citizens of countries located within the area of Atlantian Oceania, or citizens of any country with a recent travel history including the region, are likely to be refused entry to the Plough Islands.

² Readers interested in the history of Plough Islander aviation prior to 1972 may be pleased to learn that a brief history of this period is currently being prepared by journalists from the Plough Islands Gazette and will hopefully be available for wider distribution next year.

³ No people have lost their lives on an aircraft operated by PITA since its foundation in 1972. This assessment does not include any of the five hull loss incidents that have taken place during the same timeframe, or PITA Flight 101 from Echodale to Southampton on the 6th September 1982, during which the cabin emergency siren in the Tupolev Tu-134 operating the route activated following takeoff and could not be silenced by the crew except by way of the contents of a passenger's suitcase stuffed into the horn.

⁴ Travellers with special dietary requirements may request that the chips be served without fish.

⁵ "Air transport links with the Plough Islands" may or may not be recorded formally; although any connections made may be used for roleplaying purposes in future, it is not the intention of PITA to operate a storefront for its services at this time.

by **Tropicorp** » Sun Dec 19, 2021 8:20 pm

Artists Rendering of Uberportal Regional Transit Paths

While much of the Tropicorp Staff was on hand for the AOCAF Competition being held at Tropicorp Park, a handful of Tropicoast Representatives were off to the Dannin Transport and Innovation Expo in Mertagne. In Collaboration with deployed team members from the other side of the Troportal in Tropania, the Tropicorp representatives arrived in Dannin to set up a booth with information on their progress in reverse engineering both the Troportal and the Cocoportal and leveraging the fundamentals of both systems for the creation of the proposed Uberportal at Calania Landing.

In the wake of the foxchester event, Tropicorp Scientists, Researchers and Engineers were keen to study the immediate zones on either side of their portals and had previously measured similar levels of undetermined unquanitified measurable sources at a location south of Legalese on mainland Calania on the Bekk Side of the Portal. While Tropicorp's primary interest is the technology they have also been working with a number of firms with proposals on how to leverage the uberportal with the proposal gaining the most momentum based on the latest size projections from Tropicorp Engineers is the large Free Area Trade Zone and Atlantian/Anian Regional Shared Embassies. If successful, the Uberportal could also vastly reduce common travel times from one Calanian heritage landmass to another while also providing great economic benefits to nations on both sides, countless job opportunities as well as an open door for regional and national level diplomacy across the multiverse.

Tropicorp Representatives planned to be on hand throughout the Dannin Transport Expo to answer any questions regarding their current research surrounding the smaller portals in Tropania and the Cocoabo Forest as well as how what they have learned can be applied to the uberportal opening up new transportation routes into and out of the region.

by **Ochre Islands** » Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:18 pm

Peter Rollingham, the Ochre Islands Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was waiting off-stage in one of the four halls available for speeches in The Origas Dannin Convention Centre. He had been up once to announce the Ochre Islands will be joining AUNTIE, with a keen interest on regional harmonisation of air traffic control and shipping controls, forecasts and the like. The Ochres knew that sitting between Nova Calania and the so far largely unpopulated Lurhautsia meant that eventually a lot of sea or air traffic would be crossing Ochre territory, so future-proofing this was of vital national interest. As was, of course, taking advantage of any opportunities it might bring for stopovers of planes or ships.

The lights on stage and just off it dimmed as the Mertagnian host spoke, with the wall behind them lit in subtle Ochres, red and blue and white. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, it is 3PM in Dannin, so please welcome to the stage, the Ochre Islands Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs – Senator Peter Rollingham!'

Peter walked out, a spotlight following him from the stage to the podium with applause ringing out from those in attendance. The applause died down, he took a sip of water and he began to speak.

'What is innovation? At an exposition such as this, people often think of innovation as being a new mode of transport, a new energy storage method for our vehicles, or perhaps even an upgrade on a train track which makes them last another ten years. However – how does that immediately benefit the common citizen of our nations whilst they wait for those innovations to trickle down to them, let alone become affordable as more and more companies take up production?

What if today's innovation could be an immediate benefit for citizens across Anaia? What if, instead of spending time before a holiday filling out visa forms, you could spend that time doing anything else you so wished? What if instead of spending hours at passport control, waiting to cross the border into your destination of choice, you could already be on your way to your hotel, or even at poolside?

This is real innovation. This is real progress. This is the Anaian Open Reciprocal Travel Area – AORTA – "the beating heart of Anaia".

Citizens of AORTA members will be able to essentially arrive unannounced at another AORTA member's border, and, so long as they have 6 months remaining until their passport expires, and said AORTA member has no reason to bar them from entry, they may freely enter that country without need for a visa, a visa waiver, or a lengthy passport check.

AORTA membership guarantees each nation's sovereign rights to otherwise treat people arriving at their border as they see fit. This is no free movement area, there is no transfer of rights from one nation to another, there is no "this will let you live and word abroad anywhere you want".

Would joining AORTA mean the border between Mertagne and Starblaydia would fall overnight in a glorious concerto of pickaxes and sledgehammers? No. Would it mean you have to let in anyone who arrives at your border? No. Does it make life easier for your citizens and mine to visit other AORTA members countries? Yes.

I hereby, therefore, call on all Anaian nations to contemplate this and consider membership of the Anaian Open Reciprocal Travel Area. The Ochre Islands will gladly facilitate all membership requests and respond to any questions our neighbours in Anaia may have.

Let us all come away from Dannin having made true innovation happen.'

by **Tropicorp** » Fri Jan 14, 2022 7:29 pm

After hearing the speech from Foreign Affairs Secretary Peter Rollingham in Dannin, the Tropicorp Officer of Projects for Hybrid Advanced Transportation (TOP HAT) waited for time to invite Rollingham to the Tropicorp Holdings booth where plans for the Tropicorp Supported Free Trade Zones of Nova Calania and Alluerisa remained on display. While Tropania's footprint in the region was small and remained focused on research and the further establishment of the Aquacorp, Free Trade Zone at the Calania Landing would, if ratified, be an obvious connection for Rollingham's AORTA Reciprocal Travel Area - as the goals in foundation were largely identical - to provide free and open trade, tourism and commerce between nations of the region(s).

by **Banija** » Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:16 am

The CEO of the RTC, Biru Abate, prepares for his own speech at the Dannin Transport & Innovation Expo

The Regional Transit Corporation was considered something of a massive success story to most Banijans. A private company that worked in the public transportation- a company that had seen great expansion opportunities abroad. They operated in all four of the major sporting regions, and beyond, in many other nations, both in the sporting world, where Banija generally specialized, and the non-sporting world. They had achieved continued growth by moving their headquarter to Rosaria, in Eshan, and then when the economic miracle hit Banija, they moved their headquarters back to Istria with the launch of the Istria Stock Exchange.

Things had been going well for the company. But the AO-Anaia split, while completely out of the company's hands, made things nerve-wracking for those at the RTC. As a money-making corporation, they tried to do what major corporations do best in a political crisis- say absolutely nothing at all, do whatever you can to avoid picking a side, and focus strictly on profits until the dust settles. That strategy was going rather well for the company, until the Euran Government decided to hold a referendum in the Euran Oceania Territories on the EOT's Anaia or Oceania stance. Then, of course, there was big pressure on them to support the "Let's go AO!" Campaign in the Euran Oceania Territories. So they were major contributors to the campaign- likely the largest foreign contributors to that campaign.

Their financial support for that campaign, of course, would not do much to endear them to the all-important Anaian market. And their support for the campaign was a calculated risk- that they could help the Euran Oceania Territories stay in AO, help improve their standing within Atlantian Oceania, and then maybe let bygones be bygones when it comes to Anaia. Except, there was one small wrench thrown into those plans. Atlantian Oceania lost. It was a thin margin, yes- but it was a clear victory for the Anaia campaign, as with massive turnout on both sides, Euran Oceania Territories clearly spoke with one voice, that they were to join Anaia. So the RTC was left straddled with the risks of supporting the AO campaign financially, without the benefits of supporting the winning side.

The Double L, as the kids would call it. He didn't know if there was any lingering resentment there from Anaia governments. But it was his job to move past it and launch the RTC's next decade of growth, in Anaia. They had in-roads in Chromatika, especially, as well as Quebec. But to expand beyond? Was the challenge. This speech would be the beginning of their efforts to do so.

"Thank you all for allowing me to speak here today!" Biru Abate said. "I'll be short, don't worry. But I would like to thank the Dannin Transport & Innovation Expo organizers for allowing my company's presence at this exposition today. I firmly believe that the Regional Transit Corporation and Anaia have an extremely bright future together, hand in hand."

"As we all know, effective and efficient public transportation is at the very heart of what cities do. And big cities and metro areas, all across the multiverse- they all have the same need. How do you move people around, in a carbon footprint friendly manner, in the small space that a metropolitan area allows for? We all know the answer is public transporation. But where do we fit in? We are the company that prides ourselves as the multiverse experts to solving a city's public transport needs. Do you need to build a system? Do you have a system that needs renovation. Do you need one that needs to be updated? Do you need a company to simply run the day to day, while the City provides oversight?"

"That's where the Regional Transit Corporation comes in. We've got people who can do it all. Build these systems. Operate these systems. And, most importantly- we do not take a one size fits all. People may think we do, because we're a big, multi-national corporation. We've got the advantages and resources of a multi-national, yes. But we always try to localize our operation. Any RTC local operation- the Board of Governors is built with representatives of the local government, as well as the RTC itself. Constant collaboration gives us ways to localize public transit systems according to not just some corporate method, but hyper localize our products so that we can fill needs."

"I look forward to speaking with you on how we can work with your nations, and cities within your nations, to improve public transportation options all across Anaia."

by **Ko-oren** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:40 am

A new regional organisation was unveiled by the name of AUNTIE. The Anaian Union of National Transport Institutes and Economies - a rudimentary treaty on the definition (and perhaps elimination) of tariffs - one of many awkward acronyms embraced by Anaia. Fie Wegman, the minister for Infrastructure and Transportation was already in Dannin to ratify that treaty when there was a sudden rumour on Expo grounds that that AUNTIE wasn't all that prospective regional organisations were up to. AORTA, proposed by the Ochre Islander delegation, was going to be the new hot organisation to join by the end of Dannin. In fact, Peter Rollingham, the archipelago's Foreign Affairs boss had already collected some official-looking signatures from various delegations. To get the rest to sign, there was a snazzy presentation about the merits of joining AORTA - the Anaian Open Reciprocal Travel Area. What followed were, depending on who you ask, dozens of minutes of sleep-inducing buzzwords (the junior members of the Ko-orenite delegation), or about half an hour of amazingly futuristic prospects (the rest of the Ko-orenite delegation). Always the supporter of bureaucratic rhetoric, the Ko-orenite government jumped on this immediately.

After the talk, it was a matter of summarising the points and having all ministries signing off on the ratification. Of course, not all opinions are equal in value: Foreign Affairs as well as Infrastructure and Transportation weigh the most, while Environment, Energy, and Resources is also an important one. Given the consequences that AORTA might have, Employment and Economy has another valuable reaction that must be worked into the final decision.

What followed was an overnight session of scrutinising AORTA's points: visa-free travel, easier passport checks upon arrival, without granting free movement of people, goods, and services - that's what AUNTIE is for, at least partially. Together, the treaties immediately put Ko-oren in a position we've never been in before. Parliamentarians from parties like the Nationalists or Vert&Bleu certainly have some issues with the wording and the 'impression it leaves behind' (while using some terminology like 'independence' and 'sovereignty' themselves, the irony) - but that's why we don't let the parliament make decisions for us, do we? The Parti International are beyond happy with the strides we've made since the Anaia move, though.

Light impact:
Education - FOR
Finance - FOR, pending questions about each government's room to impose tariffs
Health and Welfare - FOR, pending questions about medical visas
Justice - FOR, pending questions about extradition
Science, Culture and Sports - FOR
Regional and Local Affairs - FOR

Heavy impact:
Foreign Affairs - FOR, pending questions about who gets to vote on adding new AORTA members
Environment, Energy and Resources - FOR
Trade and Industry - FOR
Infrastructure and Transportation - FOR, pending questions about intertwining AORTA and AUNTIE and adding new treaties
Employment and Economy - FOR, pending questions about tourism

Final decision: Domestic Affairs' Prime Minister Dhunerin Laurderinthen - FOR

Dannin Transport & Innovation Expo [RP]

Dannin Transport & Innovation Expo [RP]

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