The FLAG Silver Summit

[callmedelta]

Trade is the lifeblood of nations -- it takes neither a diplomat or an economist to tell you that. With the vast quantities of silver being extracted from Franerre and Ashinara and exported to Gaelia and Lusatia depressing silver prices, Lusatia enacted the Silver Purchase Act and Gaelia renegotiated some of their trade deals away from the precious metal, severely limiting one of Franerre and Ashinara’s key exports to the two nations. While the effects of this act have taken their time to manifest, and have not been able to be properly addressed before from either Franerre and Ashinara, a renewed effort by Franerri Foreign Affairs Director Phillipe Mesny has now sought to restore some of this key trade for Franerre and their Ashinaran ally by allowing a more reliable, consistent export of silver to occur between the four nations. Thus, invitations to the Franerri-Lusatian-Ashinaran-Gaelian (FLAG) Silver Summit, to be hosted in the Ashinaran capital of Kyograd.

---

In attendance from the Franerri side was Queen Jadwiga Kainé Gwiazda Della Rosa, in her first foreign appearance since the death of her husband, along with Director Phillipe Mesny and Minister Damien Bellarose of the Franerri Foreign Affairs Administration and Ministry of Commerce and Prosperity, respectively. As the only member of the party who had not entered into their position when their predecessor was assassinated, this was thoroughly Mesny’s show. He had initially wished to host the meeting in Pareau, but the coup attempt forced him to relocate the Summit to Kyograd. At the very least, the Ashinarans were more than willing to host, and it would likely go over better with the Gaelians.

After all of the representatives had arrived at the hall where the summit was to be held, it would be up to Queen Yuzura to open the floor.

[aimway921]

When the Franerri offered to have the summit held in Kyograd, Queen Yuzura was enthusiastic about the opportunity. Not as much for the main purpose of the summit - which is renegotiating the export of Toulian silver to UKUG and Lusatia - as much for having an opportunity of hosting an international conference in Ashinara - even if 2 out of 3 visiting parties have already been to Ashinara, still, it was an opportunity to show off the country to the Old World powers, hopefully attract investment opportunities.

The summit would be hosted in Royal Palace - specifically, in the throne room, the largest and most ornate room in the palace. The throne itself, however, would be fenced off with golden posts and velvet cord, and the conference table set up over a dozen feet away from it. The reason this large room was chosen was to accommodate the expected crowd: along with Franerre's invitation for the representatives for the summit, Yuzura also attached offers to said representatives to extend the invitation to the their press correspondents. Ashinara's own Royal News Agency correspondents would also be present at the summit.

As everyone has arrived and settled it at the table, and the reporters from various countries got ready to record the summit, be it through an audio tape to later broadcast on the radio, or taking notes to then print in newspapers, Yuzura stood up. As the leader of the nation hosting the summit, it was her duty to open it.

"Dear esteemed guests," she began. "It is my honor to welcome our close partners, the Gaelics, our Toulian brothers, the Franerri, and the Lusatians, whom we hope in the future shall become as close partners with us as the Gaelics. All 4 of us are closely partnered with 2 other nations here - Ashinara has close relations with Franerre and Gaelia, Gaelia - with Ashinara and Lusatia, Lusatia - with Gaelia and Franerre, and Franerre - with Lusatia and Ashinara. I believe that today's summit is an opportunity for that to become an even more closely knit international community, where everyone present will have close relations with everyone else, and that once we are done, Lusatia shall become as close a partner to Ashinara as Gaelia is, and Franerre shall become as close a friend to Gaelia as Lusatia is."

Yuzura paused for a second, scanning the room. She chose her words carefully, to be with as kind and welcoming disposition as she could. Tensions between Franerre and UKUG could still be high, as Yuzura didn't really believe that the "apology" crammed into the back pages of newspapers were much more than an appeasement of the public, and that would get in the way if the 4 nations were to all work together. As for Lusatia - while Ashinara has ventured on a few diplomatic missions there, the country was still very much a friend-of-a-friend kind of relation - something Yuzura hoped to be elevated to being direct friends and partners.

"Now I would now like to give word to the Franerri representative, who is the organizer of the summit, to present to us the topic of discussion."

With that, Yuzura performed a small bow directed at everyone, and took her seat.

[callmedelta]

With Yuzura's bow, Queen Jadwiga and Director Mesny stood. "Before we begin our discussions, I would like to personally thank Queen Yuzura for being such generous hosts for this Summit," Queen Jadwiga said, "I believe that her words hold a complete and utter truth. Trade enriches us all, even though it may come with its own shares of trials and tribulations. But that is why crucial diplomatic meetings like this are so important, to keep the wheels of trade turning to make the lives of every single citizen in our nations more prosperous and secure." Internally, Jadwiga cringed a little. She didn't like Yuzura laying the relations part on so thick, especially right at the beginning like this. Things would go over best in Franerre if this was kept as a matter of selling silver, rather than a matter of relations with Gaelia. The worst may have been over in the spat between Franerre and the UKUG, but that still didn't mean people in Franerre were fond of Gaelia. "With that, I cede the floor to the true mastermind behind this Summit, Director Mesny."

Mesny cleared his throat. "You are too kind, your Highness. I may have organized this event, but we would not be sitting at this table if it were not for the willingness of all parties to come to the table and have an honest and fair discussion regarding the future of trade between our nations, particularly in that of the silver trade. Currently, silver is by far the most valuable export in Franerre, and silver comes second only to rubber in its value to the Ashinaran economy. With this value, naturally, comes the volume of trade of silver between Franerre and Ashinara to our most important trading partners, Lusatia and Gaelia respectively. With an increase in volume came a decrease in price, and thus the Lusatian Silver Purchase Act was passed, as well as Gaelian renegotiations of trade deals that had been formerly paid in silver. I understand the reasoning the Lusatian Sejm had for passing such a law and for the Gaelians in renegotiating trade, but a slowdown in the trade of such a key export to both Franerre and Ashinara's economies has already resulted in some damages to our economies, and a continued lack of trade will only continue to worsen the issue. Therefore, I believe that the best solution is to allow a measured amount of silver from both Franerre and Ashinara to flow into Lusatia and Gaelia. Not enough to severely depress the market as before, but enough to allow for Franerre and Ashinara to continue to use this vital export for economic prosperity for our nations. With my introduction of the topic of discussion finished, I now cede the floor to an open discussion."

[Greywall]

Anton McCaig had been silent most of the meeting, smoking a cigarette from a small soft pack marked with Lusatian lettering. As he heard the Toulians talk he blew smoke from his mouth and asked, “why we would entertain this? What does it benefit the UKUG and UKLJ to receive silver from you? My comrade would have to need a desire for it for their currency and industrial purposes for silver would be more ideal but I don’t know how much demand there would be for such an increase. Why would we buy more silver?”

[aimway921]

"Mr. McCaig, your nation and mine, along with several others, have formed the SATO alliance as a bulwark against Kumosenkan, did we not?" Yuzura was first to reply. "I believe that military action is not the one-all-be-all solution to our rival, that we can hit them economically as well. Silver is, as far as we are aware, an important component in the production of electronics. And Kumosenkan seems to currently be the world's leader in electronic export."

"Why not use our need to export silver, ans your industrial capacity, to take at least some share of the electronics market away from Kumo?"

"Ashinara, for one, is in dire need of electronics, and if we come to a deal here, we can vow to only purchase Gaelian-made and Lusatoan-made products of this category, and/or invite only Gaelian and Lusatian electronics companies to build factories on our soil."

[alxeu]

The Lusatian Ambassador to the conference was Szymon O'Kell, a son of Gaelic immigrants and recently appointed ambassador to Ashinara, replacing an old political appointee from the previous ministry. Listening to the initial speeches, he recalled his briefing regarding the conference prior to his departure - namely, he was empowered to negotiate moderate to significant increases of industrial silver imports (in line with projected increases in demand from Rybnik Technologies). 

"Well, if we're discussing industrial-grade silver and not currency-grade silver, Lusatia is open to entertain some increases to our imports from Touli. Our domestic technology corporations are anticipating expanding their facilities, and our prior deals with Franerre would likely become insufficient to match demand. Lusatia will gladly agree to expansions to our silver imports in that regard, especially with exclusivity contracts to your nations for our electronics."

Szymon would adjust himself in his seat slightly before continuing, "However, currency-grade silver is another issue. Our currency supply is about stable, and the Economic Ministry has no desire to loosen the national monetary policy. Given domestic employment rates and economic growth, if anything, we need to tighten our monetary policy further to avoid runaway growth and inflation."

"Really, anything that increases domestic currency circulation is out of the picture."

[Greywall]

"The most the UKUG can increase is maybe 1000 more tons, I really don't know what else we can do."

[callmedelta]

Mesny bit his lip, thinking. Truthfully, this summit had been about commercial silver exports, but with Lusatia and Gaelia stonewalling him on that front, he didn't exactly need to point that out. Exports were exports, after all. "Franerre would agree to exclusively trade with Lusatian and Gaelian made electronics, should we come to a deal at this table. But, I would be remiss if I did not address Minister McCraig's very valid question. This conference is meant to promote trade between all four nations at the table, but if Gaelia is not currently willing to buy commercial grade silver, then some other reason for trade must be found. Perhaps an answer could be found in the realm of luxury manufacturing?" Mesny posited. "Sure, Franerre or Ashinara could spend the government funds necessary to invest in making luxury manufacturing centers of our own that, as much I may loathe to admit it, are not up to the same standards of production as factories in Gaelia. But our governments do not have infinite funds. If Gaelia were to create those factories and import Franerri and Ashinaran silver, that would create Gaelian jobs while allowing those finished luxury goods to not only be sold domestically, or to the other members at this table, but to any nation Gaelia has dealings with. These silver imports would allow Gaelia to further cement the relationship between themselves and one of their key allies in Ashinara, as well as create further trade ties between Franerre and Gaelia now that the previous trade disputes between our two nations have been resolved."

[Greywall]

"The problem with this, the reason luxury prices are so good right now is because of lack of product to meet demand. If we built these factories then it would overtime decrease the price of luxury goods on the market hurting Gaelics luxury goods companies. Then there's the silver, we really don't have a need for more. I'm sorry, but Frannerre and Ashinara need to have something else we need to do further investments. We've already invested heavily into Ashinara and just recently decided to continue the Frannerri trade deal, Mesny there isn't really much more we can do with this silver. Further talks on silver trade will not interest the United Kingdom."

[aimway921]

Yuzura saw that McCaig wasn't interested in continuing the talks, and thus decided to shift her attention to the Lusatian ambassador, O'Kell.

"It is indeed, Pan O'Kell, particularly industrial grade silver that we're seeking to increase our exports of. And as I mentioned prior, we would be open to selling land to Lusatian - and Gaelian," she looked at McCaig for a moment as she mentioned that, "electronics manufacturing companies to build their factories in Ashinara. Not only will that decrease your costs in shipping the silver to the factories, but it will also decrease shipping costs for export into Touli. What's more..." Yuzura hesitated for a second, for what she were to say next would be a very blatant admission of Ashinara being behind economically. "You could, at least at first, take advantage of Ashinaran workforce being cheaper than your domestic one."

[callmedelta]

'Strike two,' Mesny thought as McCraig stonewalled him yet again. One more strike and he was out. Mesny had to throw whatever he could at this Gaelian wall to see what would stick. "While this summit may be called a 'Silver Summit,' there is nothing preventing silver merely being one part, or perhaps even a small part of any trade deals made at this table. Franerre still does have many other less valuable commodities to export. Foods of all sort, textiles, lumber, raw ores, raw materials, rare minerals. If there is anything Gaelia requires to import, you have Franerre's ear on the matter."

[Greywall]

McCaig sighed, wondering what the Frannerri could possibly offer but relented. "We'll take 5000 tons of silver if that helps you, any wood you can offer. 5000 rare minerals, 2000 vegetables, 1000 livestock, 2000 fruit, 1000 grains to see if Frannerri food can stick in our markets at the least if people will buy them. But otherwise I think that's the extent of what we'll buy from the Kingdom of Frannerre."

[callmedelta]

'There it was,' Mesny thought. An in. He may still need to use a certain, admittedly risky trump card, but not quite yet. Mesny confided in Bellarose for a moment before giving McCraig an answer. "You can have 7500 wood, and we can cover everything else." Now came what might be the hardest part to swing. "Franerre will need to increase her volume of consumer goods bought from Gaelia, by quite a lot, in fact. By 50,000 tons, to be specific."

[Greywall]

Anton didn’t even need to know the actual numbers he knew the UKUG could drop 50,000 units of consumer goods easily. “That’s more than accomplishable by us.”

[alxeu]

Noticing that the talks between the Franerri and Gaelians were progressing without his input, Ambassador O'Kell focused on Queen Yuzura.

"Lusatia would be willing to consider establishing electronics factories in Ashinara, to a limited extent - the same for Franerre, if they desire, too. We'd need some data on your population's education levels, though. The government would be more concerned with ensuring you have enough high-school educated workers to operate the factories as opposed to how much they need to be paid. Anyone can work in a steel mill, not everyone can operate the more complicated machinery or put together the more complicated products that come within an electronics factory."

"Furthermore, Lusatia would also be interested in investing in moving our luxury goods industries over, too, with the same caveat in needing somewhat educated workers. If we could do so, it'll open up workforces that can shift to services and office-work."