Banter with Bantyr

[Serbovia]

Demidov Palace
The Imperial Directory of Commerce
16 Anichkov Prospekt
Karelingrad
The Grand Duchy of Serbovia Proper
United States of Greater Serbovia

Like the larger Anichkov Marble Palace that today served as the official residence and office of the Imperial Regent, the Demidov Palace had been an imperial property, specifically that of the Empress Consort. Partially destroyed by artillery bombardment during the Third Battle of Karelingrad which saw the city's capture by the Whites for the last time during the Serbovian Civil War, it had been rebuilt after the war and transformed into a headquarters for the Directorate of Commerce. The original building still served in that purpose, though a New Office Annex that had been built to the Palace's former park had been added between 1961 and 1964.

At the same time as a delegation of officials and commercial representatives from Bantyr landed at the Greater Karelingrad International Airport to be received at the terminal's VIP section by a motorcade arranged by the Directorate of Commerce, Director of Commerce Yulia Nabokova and her team of aides including Deputy Director for External Trade Sergei Kozin were busy going through the points that the Directory had discussed for the meeting.

For Nabokova, the Regent's interest in Bantyr had come as a surprise. After all, Serbovians usually occupied themselves with the affairs of Midland and Jizhou, not Columbia or any other random continent. Then again, the Denisovan entrance into the RDTO had reportedly caused quite a stir in Anichkov Palace and the Directory, as had the proposal of Bantyr's corporate sector propping up that country's economy. And Serbovia already had the quiet risk of Greater Sarmatia to deal with. No one in Karelingrad needed the RDTO right on Serbovia's doorstep.

Having served in Serbovian corporate life for two decades before becoming a Privy Councillor as a representative of the Republic of Volinia, Nabokova could see from a businesswoman's point of view that the Denisovan proposal had a set of weaknesses. For one, what proper capitalist would trust a Communist, or a Demarchist, or whatever the hell those people called themselves nowadays with his money and property? The key to winning any bidding contest was to offer a better package and a partnership, and Nabokova was going to do just that.

 

[The Federation]

Thomas Ferguson director of International Affairs for Bantyr sat in the motorcade looking out of the tinted windows as the city of Karelingrad passed by on their way to Demidov Palace. The air was much warmer and humid here than it was back home adding to his increasing discomfort as he sat across from arguably the two most powerful people in Bantyr besides the President. The rumors were true however of the increasing argumentative state of Weylin-Teagan Corp's owners the sixty year old Alan Weylin and the twenty-seven year old Rose Teagan as they argued as if he wasn't there at all. Rose would spout off a few lines quickly while Alan lamented why his old partner Colin Teagan couldn't have had a son. It wasn't a surprise to him anyways that they would fight, the ending of their clan feud has brought the company together it would most likely be a feud that destroyed it which would have big implications for Bantyr.

Everyone tried to copy their model of domination it worked in the shipyard industry but no one else had the guts to do what Weylin-Teagan did to gain a crushing grip on the steel industry and moderate holdings in coal mining. Bantyric corporate life could be bloody, sometimes people died and a few payed off judges and juries here and there always netted the same result. He didn't like it but the model his government employed unfortunately let it happen either way. He wasn't surprised Weylin-Teagan's acknowledgment for a deal in Denisova generated the response it did, corporations scrambling to make the same move they did followed quickly. He for one hated the communist system and if he could would use the government to block the deal but there was too much corruption to stop things such as this. He only hoped a better deal could be made with this trade meeting.

The motorcade stopped, he and the group of business representatives and his aides began exiting the vehicles, the southern sun beating on their relatively fair skin.

 

[Serbovia]

"The economic policy of the Union encourages both the establishment of domestic business and the investment into our country by foreign companies through the maintenance of competitive corporate taxation and permissible environment laws..."

Yulia Nabokova suppressed a yawn as she listened to Sergei Kozin's presentation, itself accompanied by a ridiculous amount of computer-made graphical slides on the large screen of the third-floor Directorate of Commerce meeting room where the Bantyrian and Serbovian participants of the meeting had found themselves. One could tell that the Deputy Director had majored in Business Administration, the mecca of besserwissers with endless graphical presentations. He certainly looked and behaved the part.

A Business Administrator in the civil service was an odd thing anyway. Most people like that ended up in well-paying jobs on the private sector, but Kozin had stayed at the university before his academic credit had landed him an entrance in the Directorate of the State as a foreign trade analyst. He'd built up from there, but his tendencies of being a well, analyst were painfully visible. Nabokova smiled as she thought of transferring Kozin to Treasury. With him in the Budget Team, you'd be able to run all sorts of ridiculous shit through the Union Council just because no one would be bothered to actually paying attention to his presentations.

With Kozin finally finishing up, Nabokova decided to take the lead, also pouring a glass of water from a can that was among the snacks and refreshments that had been laid at the meeting table.

"As my collague Deputy Director Kozin explained, the Union provides hospitable conditions for business operation through legistlation, in addition to providing both a competent and educated domestic workforce as well as a flexible migrant workforce", Nabokova explaineed, pausing for a moment to think about her choice of words. It was commonly known in Serbovia, where with the exception of a few sectors work terms were usually agreed upon directly between the company and its employees, that migrant labour with lower education was used to circumvent labor law and agreements.

"We have experience in the modern tertiary sector as well as natural resources such as the Zapadnoslavian iron deposits as well as oil and natural gas, as well as access into the Eastern markets and those of the other Pasila Accord nations", Yulia Nabokova continued, "So, the question is, how can we help each other?"

 

[The Federation]

Ferguson was about to answer when Rose cut him off. "Weylin-Teagan is looking to expand into foreign steel, iron and coal markets, we either want to build our own plants or purchase ones, building them off our own design is what we prefer but a purchase is not out of the question. The Denisovan offer is tempting to the say the least and though it does not offer the permanence that we desire we our well versed in ways of making it permanent. It will cost, but it is complete access to natural resources that have yet to be tapped into. We could see creating a deal with your people to be profitable even though your economy has already been developed, if you offer complete ownership of what we would own and little government intervention than we can consider entering into a deal with your nation and turning down the Denisovan deal as you desired in your original communication with government offices. Dealing with communists is dangerous, we know this, but they can be controlled and manipulated as is such with any human being who loves money. No ideal can trump the power of greed."

Ferguson took the opportunity to get a word in. "As you can see the Bantyric government really has no power in corporate decisions however we would be more than happy to open up trade with you none the less. Especially if it nets access to other nations in your Pasila Accord. I don't think anyone could turn down that opportunity," he said with a glance at the Weylin-Teagan owners. "As for what Bantyr needs, our government has been looking to import more foodstuffs into our growing country. Food production projections are forecast to be surpassed by our nations demand in a few years."

 

[Serbovia]

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Union differs from the Communist regimes in that there are no obstacles to investment", Director Nabokova replied to Teagan, "As it stands, with the exception of certain strategic sectors covered under Title 9 Internal Security Act, those namely being airports, ports, nuclear infrastructure, et cetera. the Union encourages foreign investment and grants foreign investors precisely the same conditions as our domestic investors. Thus, the context of this meeting relates mainly to relaying Serbovia's opportunities to the businessmen and women of your country, and in drafting out a political framework towards greater concert in this regard."

Yulia Nabokova paused to think about Ferguson's mention of the Bantyrian need of agricultural imports. Though the Union had sought to compensate for increasing competition from developing and second-world nations in form of cheaper production costs by investing in higher volumes with Karelingrad and farmers' advocate groups having joined forces to lobby against environmentalist and in copiously backing the use of genetic modification, Serbovian agriculture faced a problem in form of such competition. Securing a deal here could strenghten the government parties in the rural areas, traditionally divided between the Monarchists, Trudoviks and the Agrarian Christians.

"Mr. Ferguson already brought out the topic of agriculture, and I feel that there is opportunity for reciprocity in here, but in regards to Bantyr I'd like to know if Serbovian importers would be dealing directly with the government, or are we talking about indirect facilitation of business-to-business trade?"

 

[The Federation]

The Bantyric representatives all nodded as the purpose of the meeting was laid out. Ferguson cleared his throat and spoke, "The agricultural sector was nationalized a few years ago when we started to see the problem of shortages. Therefore you would be dealing directly with the government in regards to importing food. Bantyr is a cold and harsh land, most of it's resources cannot be consumed as food and the growing season is quite short. Historically we have had deadly famines before and a future one is not out of the question the only thing that has kept us propped up now in terms of food is our fishing sector, which is not government owned. We are prepared to do everything to make sure shipping it is as cheap as possible, at least when it comes to things we have power over. For the most part Tariffs on imports and exports have not been imposed over anything coming in and out of Bantyr, if we could work out a free trade agreement between each other I sense that investment opportunities between us both will be quite high. Our corporations are looking for new customers and I can only assume yours are too. For your importers it would most likely be a combination of dealing with the government and business-to-business trade as for example it may be a business purchasing a raw material not found in Bantyr from a Serbovian supplier or in the case of agricultural products, the government buying it direct."

 

[Serbovia]

Director of Commerce Yulia Nabokova nodded cautiously. The potential significance of the country in providing greater economic access of the Serbovian corporate sector to the markets in Boreas had been noted by Nabokova and her subordinates ahead of the meeting, and she was hopeful that a solution satisfying both parties' citizens as well as businesses could be carried out.

"I believe that I can agree with your on the sentiment of validity in greater free trade", Nabkova said, taking a sip from a glass of water in front of her, "However, this matter is obviously up to the rest of the Directory and the Union Council, but I believe that we can at this time agree on some kind of a framework. As for agriculture, the Union is a veritable breadbasket in that regard, though I must inquire if there are any Bantyrian restrictions on genetic modification in crops and such? You see, GM crops are becoming fairly popular among our farming sector."

 

[The Federation]

"There are no restrictions of modified food stuffs at the moment, but it hasn't been a practice used by Bantyric farmers. We would need to see documents on the saftey and health effects on people who consume your genetically modified foods. I am sure there isn't much of a change, but in the interest of my people's health I must ask to see them anyways."