Villevan Traveling :: Southport-on-Sea

[Serenierre]

Claridge House
Southport-on-Sea.

The Belmontien delegation had arrived at Greater Southport-on-Sea International Airport early in the morning, directly from Wendmark. The embassy of Belmont in Cornavia was rather large, when compared to the Kingdom's other missions, but that was because Cornavia had long been considered an ally all through the cold war till the early 1990s when a harsher anti-communist policy shift had alienated the government. Now, with a new government and with communism nothing but a distant memory. Paris was hoping to rebuild the ties between the two states. To do so, Foreign Minister Jean-Jacques Villevan sat in-front of his Cornavian counterpart, William Fenner, in Claridge House.

With the official greetings and pleasantries now done, Villevan started speaking, "Monsieur Fenner, it is my hope that with these meetings we shall be able to revert the damage done to bilateral ties since 1991. In these meetings I hope to cover economic, defense, cultural, scientific and political topics. But before I do say anything, I must ask, is there anything Belmont can do for Cornavia?"​

 

[Confederal Republics]

[img2]albumid=159&pictureid=1524[/img2]
Claridge House, the headquarters building of the Ministry of External Affairs

To the meeting with Minister Villevan, Minister of External Affairs William Fenner had decided to take with him the Secretaries-in-Chief of the Ministries of External Affairs and External Trade and his staff aides for security policy, trade and culture respectively, a retinue that together with all the other arrangements had necessitated the reservation of the largest of the three meeting rooms that had traditionally been used for state meetings. The representatives of the two countries had now been ushered into the so-called Auburn Room, which had been outfitted with air-conditioning fans and computer-connected projectors and stocked with snacks and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for the occasion.

He noted with mild approval that Minister Villevan was also a man eager to get straight to business, an endearing trait in the point of view of Fenner and - he knew - many other Cornavians including Cabinet Chancellor Wainwright herself. Perhaps as a consequence of the Cornavian people's history in the demanding conditions of the North, or as a consequence of the entreprenurial and individual spirit that defined the country among many foreigners, Cornavians shunned idle banter and small talk in favor of action. Granted, foreigners often mistook this for rudeness, but this was simply how Cornavians tended to conduct themselves.

The Belmontien government, Fenner had observed, had been the ones to summon this meeting. Of course, the Commonwealth had its own interests as for the country, but at the moment Cornavian interest in Belmont was of a somewhat peripheral nature.

"As you likely know", Fenner begun in his English which held a heavy accent of the Southport-on-Sea upper class, taking a sip of a glass of water - contrary to many Cornavians even in the highest level, he was a teetotaler, "We're presently working to present a new policy of foreign relations for the Commonwealth, what with the changes in our political vicinity with the final removal of the International Revolutionary Bloc from European politics and other developments. In this, our decision to enter the Council of Nations was the first step. I should, however, remind that this means that we can't commit to anything overly extensive beyond arrangements similar to what we recently signed with, say, your EDF allies in Franken."

 

[Serenierre]

Villevan smiled. He had always admired the Cornavians. Sitting right bang in the middle of the communist den that Scania once was, he admired their principle of armed neutrality. To be armed to fight war yet retaining enough control to keep the finger off the trigger. That was a principle that many Belmontien generals should have learnt from the Cornavians.

He heard his Cornavia counterpart, gently sipping some hot sea as the other spoke, he nodded occasionally. As Fenner finished, he cleared his throat before speaking, "Monsieur Fenner," he began in accented English, "I do not know the details of what was discussed between your government and that of our ally's government. But, I come here to discuss with you... present what we have to offer and hear out your side."

He leaned forward, "We Belmontien folk are very business minded," he paused momentarily, took another sip and continued, his tone warming up, "Cornavia is a rising market. Our companies are eager to come do business here and we want your companies to do the same in Belmont. I have, let me be frank, come to you here not as a Foreign Minister but instead as a salesman," he joked and laughed.

Before allowing Fenner to speak again, Villevan spoke once more, "You know, my counterpart at the Finance Ministry gets dozens of memos from businessmen and companies looking to invest here. They want to invest in oil, gas, automobiles, electronics, basically everything."​

 

[Confederal Republics]

William Fenner raised an eyebrow in response, then replied, "Mr. Villevan, the Commonwealth, as it stands, leaves our businesses to do their own bidding to the large part - no pun intended - as we've discovered that to allow the economy and the private enterprises with the freedom to prosper is the key to success as a whole, ergo, it is a laissez-faire model of economy. I believe that as a Frenchman you are familiar with the term."

"Indeed, to facilitate investment such measures could be done as reducing the tariffs between our two countries, guaranteeing the security and equal treatment to investment, joint measures against white-collar crime and such in the form of a Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement. Such a treaty is included in the framework of a recent agreement established with the Franconian government, for instance, and this is something wherein the Commonwealth is also interested in coming forward to the Belmontien government. Additionally, this treaty could entail the establishment of diplomatic trade missions alongside the regular embassies and consulates in our two countries, which would also liaise with trade groups, for instance with the Cornavian Chambers of Commerce and their Belmontien equivalents."

 

[Serenierre]

Villevan took a sip of water before speaking. “Mr. Fenner, the proposals you have just suggested are very much what my colleague at the Ministry of Finance has been hoping for... since I see willingness from the Cornavian side, I suggest that we organize talks between our two Finance Ministers to finalize details of the FTA at a later date."

"With that matter concluded... I leave to you to proceed with these talks."

 

[Confederal Republics]

The Minister of External Affairs was satisfied by the fact that the negotiations had proven to be easy ones, at least as far as economic affairs went.

Keeping in mind established Cornavian doctrine that concerned dealing with nations associated with Europe's alliances - Belmont included, though the country was only an associate member of the EDF - Fenner would not pursue anything overly groundbreaking with the Belmonti government. After all, the Commonwealth had its at least nominally maintained policies of armed non-alignment to take into account.

"I'll have my subordinates and my counterpart in the Ministry of External Trade work up such an agreement, though I can say with good likelihood that Cabinet Chancellor Wainwright will insist upon certain safeguards, for example that the trade advantages provided will concern only Cornavian and Belmonti citizens", Fenner elaborated. Southport-on-Sea had observed the Belmontien government being rather positive towards regimes that Cornavians themselves wanted nothing to do with, and such issues had been made more and more pressing by the recent and ongoing Germanian League debacle.

"However, there's more to developing the relations between our two nations than just economy, as important it might be", he continued, "So Southport-on-Sea would also be interested in a program of cultural and educational co-operation with Belmont. There are other topics still, but I would elaborate on this at first. The program in question, cemented by another agreement, would entail cooperation between theaters, museums and similar institutions of our two countries facilitated by relevant government ministries, as well as schools and education institutions in all levels through student, teacher and researcher exchanges and other programs to a similar effect."