Arcesia-Zaras Trade Talks

[Arcesia (Ancient)]

The Capitol, Ibernis, Arcesia


James Tagger, Minister of the Treasury, hung up the phone and sat down at his desk. His office was located in the Capitol, the center of the Confederation government. He had just finished ordering transport for the Zaran delegation from Ibernis International Airport. Today he would be discussing a trade treaty with the Free City of Zaras, hopefully one that would be mutually beneficial. After finishing up a few papers he got his entourage together and made his way to the conference room where the meeting would take place.



(OOC: you may begin by arriving at the Capitol, no need to RP landing at the airport)

[Zaras]

Standing in front of the capitol, Finance Minister Mark Seevertsen took a moment to wipe his forehead and exhale deeply. "Ahhh... am I glad I don't have to stay up late with spreadsheets, losing sleep over our budgets!", he said while smiling.

Right behind him was Metropolitan Trade Commissioner Aurora Gierden, clutching important files with both hands and staring at him with steely determination. "Yes, because you dump all the trade deficits on me.", she replied dryly.

Seevertsen looked around a bit. "You have to admit, this Capitol is much more impos-", he began, but he never got the opportunity to finish before Gierden started to push him until he resumed walking. "Come on, Mark, we're late already as is, what kind of guests do you want us to be?", she added with an urgent tone.

"Fine, fine, I'm walking. Geez."

----

Seevertsen and Gierden entered the conference room where James Tagger and his entourage were already located. They went up to get the introductory pleasantries out of the way.

"Treasury Minister James Tagger, it's an honour to meet you.", he said. "I'm Mark Seevertsen, Finance Minister for Zaras."

"And I'm Aurora Gierden, Metropolitan Trade Commissioner."

[Arcesia (Ancient)]

"Minister Seervetsen, Commissioner Gierden, it's my pleasure to bid you welcome to Arcesia. I want to thank you on behalf of the Confederacy. If we come to an agreement today, and I think we will, Zaras will be Arcesia's first official trade treaty. Now, if you don't care, I'm not one for beating around the bush. Let's get down to business."

Tagger sat down at the large conference table. He gathered his papers.

"Now, what does the Free City of Zaras wish to get out of today's meeting?"

[Zaras]

"Why, of course, the sooner we finish the better. I'm sure we both have quite a lot on our hands domestically", said Seevertsen as he and Gierden sat down as well.

Gierden put her rather large file on the table and began to open it, but suddenly paused and instead added, "Minister Tagger, you are our host, I believe you should have the courtesy of telling us what the Confederacy of Arcesia would want to obtain first." She continued to rifle through the file, chuckled and added, "Plus, it gives us an opportunity to prepare our rather disorganised list, right?"

Wow, I've just seen Gierden acting polite and friendly. Must be the end times, Seevertsen thought to himself before hurriedly adding "Yes, yes, I completely agree. We do apologise for the slight confusion, we weren't given enough time to prepare for the flight. It was a last-minute kind of decision, you see."

[Arcesia (Ancient)]

"Alright that's fine. I'm sorry you were so rushed, I always hated having to go into a meeting unprepared myself. Arcesian businesses are looking to expand internationally, and thus the opening of new markets is an important goal. We were considering an open market agreement, or if you feel uncomfortable with completely open markets then perhaps semi-open markets or lowered tariffs could be arranged."

"Also, if you don't mind could you inform me of Zaras's general market type and situation? And also what industries are prominent in the Free City"

[Zaras]

Seevertsen leaned forward from the chair and placed both his hands on the table. "Alright.", he said. "First thing's first: the unfortunate fact is, Zaras simply has no resources, besides fish, tourists and an educated workforce. You can understand this leaves us very dependent on exports..."

Gierden held up a chart. "Water, especially.", she hurried to add. "The city imports practically all of its water from abroad. We've considered desalination plants, but we don't really have a place to put them, and I wouldn't blame the Green Party if the idea made them start a riot. Also food, since you can't feed millions with just fish."

"So you see, Mr. Tagger, the city started its independence at a bit of a... shall we say, massive disadvantage."

Gierden pulled two more papers with graphs on them and put them on the table, facing the Treasury Minister. "I'd hate to bore you with history, Minister, but it's enough for you to know our market situation in the 1970s was terrible. But we've recovered since then, thankfully." She pointed to certain points on the graph. "You can clearly see the reduction in public debt, unemployment, poverty, and a return to budget surpluses since 1982."

Seevertsen suddenly had a realisation. "Oh, no, I'm dreadfully sorry, I just realised we haven't answered your question. I think we should cut to the chase then. We seem to be doing reasonably well as far as the market goes, but there isn't a lot of room for industry. Small city, you see - smaller than Hong Kong. We mainly deal with shipping..."

"Building ships and being a free port", Gierden added.

"... yes, exactly", he continued while making a gesture of "thanks!" towards his colleague. "There's also some technology-focused manufacturing and IT, the service industry and... uhm, gambling. Among others."

"We're fine with the idea of an open market agreement since we don't really have import tarriffs per se already. But I think it's a fair warning that I don't know if Arcesian companies will find Zaras to be a great city to do business in..."

She looked towards Mark, who noticed and said, "Sorry, why don't I let my colleague here continue that explanation. She usually manages to put it more eloquently than me."

Gierden sighed. "We're a Scandinavian-modeled social market economy. The government's policy is to leave private companies alone, as long as they obey regulations - especially the environmental ones -, negotiate with trade unions on matters of salary and benefit, and pay taxes."

"Truth is, there's quite a few taxes involved. Our government doesn't really want to compromise on too many since it might threaten our progress on matters of income equality. All I can say is, we have quite a few companies of various sizes, local and foreign, who don't mind those, but I honestly wouldn't fault any company for thinking Zaras might not be the best investment opportunity, you know?"

"That'd be a summary of the whole situation, and I'm so sorry for taking so long.", Gierden said. "Hopefully we didn't ramble too much..."

[Arcesia (Ancient)]

"Well, that changes things a bit. Arcesia is a laissez-faire market economy. Beyond living wage, some environmental protections, and preventing fraudulent business practices, our government stays out of business. Therefore, if any of our businesses went to Zaras they would definitely encounter much higher operating costs than here in Arcesia, that may make any venture unprofitable. So, I doubt any of our business will be going to Zaras, with or without a trade deal."

"However, I do see a huge opportunity for Zaran businesses. You said that you have problems with your food and water imports. Well, Arcesia has a thriving agricultural and food processing industry. Rather than incur high operating costs by selling food directly to Zarans, it would be mutually beneficial if Zaran businesses set up shop here. They could buy the food and resell it in Zaras, therefore our businessmen wouldn't encounter your taxes, and your businessmen could enjoy our relative economic freedom. All while providing a much needed service to the Zaran people."

[Zaras]

"Don't misunderstand me, sir, I'm not implying our government is pulling communist stunts like trying to control industries, because we've tried that in the 1970s and it failed miserably.", Gierden said.

"We try not to overemphasise our Scandinavian influences because they tend to make people believe we're too left-wing. The government mostly just enforces regulations, taxes, and helps employers and trade unions negotiate and reach agreements.", Seevertsen said. "But it is fair to say that we're several steps beyond a laissez-faire market economy, so I completely agree that Arcesian businesses might not find Zaras a good investment opportunity." He leaned forward from his chair. "To be completely honest, I always go into trade agreement negotiations with the assumption that businesses won't want to come here anyways. I'd be completely shocked if the opposite would happen, but of course it hasn't... not yet, at least."

"On the other hand, I think your proposal is a splendid idea.", Gierden continued. "Setting up branches abroad won't exactly cost companies much, and they won't incur additional expenses beyond needing to transport the orders back here, and I'm sure the profit made from buying and reselling would cover that."

"And it might even make our governments get serious about reducing taxation.", Seevertsen added.

Gierden glared at him, chuckled and said, "You bourgeois traitor." She then turned back towards the Arcesian delegation. "If we can just amend the free trade agreement to include a provision that would encourage this scheme, I think that'll work out fine. Shouldn't really be a problem convincing the Mayor to divert some subsidies to this plan."

"Might piss off the rank-and-file Communists back home, though."

"Eh, they had their chance, and failed. So I think we can say we are in agreement. Is there anything else you'd like to negotiate for before we draft the actual treaty?"

[Arcesia (Ancient)]

Minister Tagger laughed along with the Zaran representatives. "Don't worry Minister Seevertsen, bourgeois is a compliment around here."

"No Miss Gierden, I don't believe we have anything left to discuss. I'm sure the Congress of the Confederation will have no problem with this agreement. This meeting has been quite productive. I believe our legal people can hash out the technicalities."

He stood and reached out to shake their hands.

[Zaras]

Seevertsen and Gierden stood up as well and shook hands with Tagger. "It's not exactly a swear word in Zaras either, but we like to mock our own socialism.", Gierden added.

"I don't think our Parliament would have much trouble with it, bar maybe the Communists, but they barely have enough seats to do anything about it.", Seevertsen said.

"It's been an honour, sir, and I'm glad we could accomplish so much given the short time and preparation.", she added. "Hopefully this will only be the first step towards closer relations between the City and the Confederacy."

[Arcesia (Ancient)]

"It's been an honor for us as well." said Minister Tagger as he gathered his things. "If there is nothing else, then I'll bid you farewell. Unless of course you intend to remain a few days in beautiful Ibernis."

[Zaras]

"We would love to", Seevertsen said, "but unfortunately we have to go back home and break out the aspirin over what this year's trade balance will be and how badly we've miscalculated growth. But we hope to come back soon."

Seevertsen and Gierden both waved farewell as they left the Capitol and headed back to the airport.