Bargaining in Nürnberg

[Großlausitz]

Schatzamt
Nürnberg, Franken


While their foreign and defence colleagues in the EDF states were busy preparing and executing the plans for the peace-keepers in Batavia, today's meeting would cover other aspects. It was about humanitarian affairs, securing a slice of the cake in Batavia and business in general. For the government of a semi-stable state their leadership was rather ambitious. Some European states considered them too ambitious and somewhat deluded.

However, today's host, Schatzkanzler (Chancellor the Exchequer) Graf Maximilian von Montgelas, a scion of a Franco-Germanic noble family, preferred to rely on his own judgement only. To judge he used the sources he trusted. Old family contacts to the corporate espionage business, the Treasury's experts as well as government intelligence. By no means the young democracy was secure or prosperous country, yet it had some potential. If they negotiated wisely today, Franken could help herself to a respectable market share in Batavia.

As the Batavian delegation settled down in the preciously adorned and furnished meeting room, which literally breathed Franconian history - the paintings of two famous former Schatzkanzler were hanging on the wall, Schatzkanzler Montgelas introduced his fellow delegation members. "This is Friedrich Weller, State Secretary for Economic Cooperation and Development, he is representing his ministry. Right next to him, there's State Secretary Jakob Troller, standing in for his boss, Economic Minister Unsteet." Graf Montgelas turned to a group, which were easily recognised as businessmen. "Among others, these are representatives for the HOFMEIER AG, which is very interested in business in Batavia." He also added the names of the three other companies present.

"In a nutshell, I hope we'll have a peaceful and productive meeting.", the Schatzkanzler finished.

 

[Batavië]

Karel van Leck of the Ministerie van Financiën, commonly abbreviated to 'Fin', was the most senior member of the visiting delegation today. Having flown over on the Griffin 747 with his aides and press corps, he only expected to be in Franken for today and fly back the very same evening, depending on how things progressed.

He shook the hands of those closest to him and, in very clean German thanks to his time as a business student in Franken many years ago, thanked them for seeing him today.

'Gentlemen, as you know my country's economy, indeed the entire society, is going through a difficult but necessary transition. Going from a strictly planned economy to one that embraces the free market has consequences as well as the obvious benefits. To be frank, without significant foreign direct investment, and even aid, things could falter and that would be bad for us all.'

He glanced down at his notes lying before him on the table.

'First, let us begin with investment, particularly in infrastructure. Who here can expand on high speed trains? Prime Minister de Jonghe is invested very much in the high-speed linking of the Scandinavian states.'

 

[Großlausitz]

Schatzamt
Nürnberg, Franken

The Chancellor nodded understandingly and took some notes. Securities?, What about conventional trains? The Hofmeier AG representative, the executive treasurer, however, asked "May I answer the minister's question?" As Graf Montgelas nodded, he proceeded eagerly. "My company certainly can cater your need for high speed trains, Minister. Prestigious projects usually inspire a country's population, if they are presented to the public properly. From what I understand, Batavia still has to cope with the aftermath of a domestic conflict. A country's infrastructure needs conventional railroads working first. Afterwards we can discuss prestigious plans. Furthermore, I think I speak on behalf of my colleagues of my fellow competitors, -"

"- we need securities and guarantees. Not to forget security per se.", the Schatzkanzler smirkingly finished the executive's sentence. "And this is where His Majesty's Government comes in. To give our companies an incentive we'll have to show them a stable framework. It's not military security, but rather the safety for business conduct. If your government can hand over some firm collaterals, we will provide the necessary sponsions. I'm afraid, but here we cannot be satisfied with government declarations only, as these are clever businessmen, who have to look after other people's money. Otherwise any company wanting to do business in Batavia will have to offer ridiculously high interest rates to attract investors and/or pay high rates to their banks for loans, if they get any. Here goodwill unfortunately won't suffice."

 

[Batavië]

'Ah yes, I understand. First let me say that the conventional train network is also undergoing an overhaul, but that will be handled mostly by the domestic industries. We are going to electrify all railways and expand service to more towns and villages. Even the communist government, however, knew how important trains were. They are still slow, of course, but with some safety checks and updates, they will be like any other conventional network, if not as flashy.'

Van Leck knew that they would be concerned about business security.

'The market reforms have brought about intense business law redrafting. What I mean to say is that your companies will not be overtaxed or meddled with. They will operate as they would almost anywhere else they are used to. As for collateral...well I'm not sure what you mean. We can offer bonds and other financial products. Perhaps if you elaborated more on what kind of securities you were interested in, I could have more answers at the ready.'

 

[Großlausitz]

Schatzamt
Nürnberg, Franken

The Schatzkanzler struck out the note on trains. "So noted, my dear colleague. What collaterals do we want? The most extreme demand lingering among my party's parliamentary faction is to force you to cede a part of your gold reserves. This idea is charming, but the downside is it's way too, well, blatant. More realistically, we request you to submit bonds as securities. Their total sum should equal to the respective contract value you offer and you can hand them over in portions. For example, once a constructing company starts phase one of a project, you will submit a total value in bonds to HM Government that equals the agreed payment after phase one. Once the contractor confirms the reception of phase one's payment, you will be returned the bonds. And so on."

OOC: Yeah, I know. Sometimes I transfer my fancy for long and complicated sentences to my English sentences.

 

[Batavië]

'That seems fair.' commented Van Leck in response to the bonds idea. He didn't even bother with addressing the gold reserves idea because it simply wasn't going to happen.

'Now, what about our mining industry? We signed a contract with Carentania a few weeks ago for copper. They will help upgrade the mine on Windhoek Island and in return we signed a deal to sell them copper at below market rates. There is more than copper on Windhoek. Iron ore, tin, coal, some heavier elements as well....'

 

[Großlausitz]

Schatzamt
Nürnberg, Franken

The Schatzkanzler nodded contently. "Well, tell us more about the infrastructure on Windhoek Island. How much we have to invest to make an efficient exploitation feasible? It goes without saying that Franken's automobile industry as well as other sectors, e.g. our hi-tech companies, will welcome another source of raw material supply. Thereby we could balance out the Eastern imports." A representative of Pegnitz Vereinte Bergbau added: "If you want to see our most recent addition to our mines portfolio, you should stop by Southern Belmont. There we have been cooperating with Belmonti firms on coal mining for some time."

 

[Batavië]

'Windhoek Island is sparsely populated. The only city is Windhoek, serviced by both a civilian airport and an Air Force Base as well as a civilian and Navy dock. The fleet is headquartered there. However, few roads are paved and no rail exists. We would like to change that. A ring road, which follows the coast, will be paved before the end of the summer. We also plan to pave some roads that penetrate the interior of the island and therefore the mines. Mind you, the island is rugged and mountainous, unlike the mostly flat mainland.'

'Yes, it will take money and time to build it up, but the minerals are well worth it. We know for certain that there are large supplies of a long list of different minerals. Batavië wouldn't expect infrastructure investment to be totally handled by foreign investors. With some budgetary work and some bond sales, the government hopes to invest heavily in the infrastructure. Naturally any outside assistance would be of great help and would also speed up the process most noticeably.'

 

[Großlausitz]

Schatzamt
Nürnberg, Franken

"For the beginning this sounds very interesting, minister. My company as well as our fellow competitors from Fränkische Rohstoffe will send teams to Windhoek island to compose some preliminary status reports and do some probing. Once we have got an impression of our own of the island's mineral supplies, we will inform you about our terms. As a basis, however, we need your own mining affairs bureau's data, if there's any. Otherwise the probing may take longer.", the Pegnitz Vereinte Bergbau (PVBB) representative explained.

"Once you are done with prospecting, I'm confident FRO and PVBB will be able to convince some Franconian infrastructure construction companies to join their project. How large is Windhoek's population exactly? As you said called the density sparsely, I daresay additional costs will be caused by getting people to settle there. Especially highly-educated ones, regardless whether we bring some engineers from Franken or not. On the long run there needs to be an immigration concept.", Schatzkanzler Graf Montgelas added.