[ARG] Call to Italy

[Naio90]

The President of the Argentine Republic would privately request a phone conversation with his italian counterpart.

Tim

 

[Tim]

Marianna Scalfaro, the president's daughter and personal secretary looked at her father's schedule and booked a thirthy minute gap for the phone call with the president of the Argentine Republic at 15:30-16:00 UTC+02:00/11:30-12:00, UTC-03:00.

At 15:25 UTC+02:00 a security officer set up a PRIVATE AND ENCRYPTED line between the Argentine and Italian presidents. At 15:30 he once again checked if the line was secured and encrypted before letting the president open the phone conversation. "Good day mister Cambiasso, I hope you are doing well." After this friendly greeting he wanted to get down to the core of the meeting quickly, so he asked "To what do I owe this call?"​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

After checking the line was secure, the President would pick up the phone at the established time:

"Mister President, thank you for accepting my call. I wanted to finally catch up with the Government of a nation we consider a friend, due to historical and social factors. Many argentineans find italian heritage in their veins, and many italians themselves call Argentina their home.

Following this line of thought, my Government and I consider it would be productive to increase and improve our bilateral relation, starting with more commerce but also possibly talking about visa facilitations, cultural exchanges and eventually maybe political coordination on matters of mutual interest."

Tim

 

[Tim]

The president had his phone on speaker and was in the room alone. This made him able to take some notes as he listened to his Argentine counterpart. "Indeed, our countries are more than ever connected by our people, and I believe that we are responsible for keeping this bond strong, and potentially even strengthening it with bilateral relations as you described. The topics you mentioned are all something our government is interested in discussing, so shall we start off with trade?

Italy is looking to increase its export and import especially through mutually beneficial deals with little to no tariffs to boost both our economies with the worth of the goods. I'm not fully up to date on what Argentina exports but Italy exports Refined Petroleum, Pharmaceuticals, Vehicles and Vehicle Parts, Industrial machinery and Jewellery. Is your administration interested in importing any of these goods? And could you inform me of the Argentine goods available for export?"​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"We are delighted to hear that! Yes, bilateral commerce would be an ideal issue to start off with, since I understand we can reach an agreement quickly.

Hearing what Italy has to offer in terms of exports, we would be happy to open the argentine market to italian pharmaceuticals, industrial machinery and jewellry. In return we are looking for a new european market for our grain, lithium and soybeans derivates. We can also provide fossil fuels and vehicles, but since your nation also exports those, I understand that you won't require them from us.

How is the situation of your mechant fleet? Should you require it, Argentina currently owns one of the largest merchant navies out there, and we would be willing to transport your goods on our ships, if you currently don't have any bulk carriers available. Just let us know."

Tim

 

[Tim]

He quickly noted down the list of exports and imports. "That sounds very good. Were you looking for a regular trade deal with tariffs due or for a potential free trade deal? And did you already have a frequency for this back and forth shipment in mind? And currently our merchant navy is not yet in the possession of any ships we can use so we would greatly appreciate it if Argentina could take care of the shipment of the goods."​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"Considering the distances, we could be talking of monthly shipments. As for the rate, we would be accepting to equal tariffs on both sides, and since Italy is one of the nations we consider natural partners of us, maybe we could discuss the possibility of a freed trade agreement. our economies are more complemetary than competitive between each other.

As for the ships, as mentioned, we would be happy to transport italian goods on the return trips."

Tim

 

[Tim]

"A monthly shipment sounds reasonable to us. I will let my Minister of Foreign trade look into the details of the tariffs that would be due so we can make an informed decision about that, of course also discussing the possibility of removing tariffs via a free trade agreement. Thank you greatly for being willing to take care of the shipping of the goods." He wrote some information down on the paper with the trade notes, including the information the Minister of Foreign Trade needed. "So, what else did you want to discuss?"​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"Which ports do you want to be ued for this trade. On one side, everything would go through the port of Buenos Aires.

As for other issues, we would like to hear a little bit about Italy's foreign policy and international objectives, to see where we can find commong ground to cooperate."

Tim

 

[Tim]

"On our side the trade will go through the Port of Gioia Tauro.

As for the foreign policy, our administration is focussed on establishing Italy as an important port into Europe for ships from other continents, but also as an important voice in international diplomacy. Our main international objectives are the values of democracy and human rights all over the world. We are looking for partners with these values in common with whom we can cooperate for mutual benefit."​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"We will submit all documentationt o initiate bilateral trade as soon as possible, we will be transporting the italian goods on our return voyages. Is that settled?

As for your foreign policy, we look forward to work with nations that value democracy and independence, we have sadly seen how in the past many nations attempted to influence either formally or informally foreign Governments. The Argentine Republic has been following a strong South-South Cooperation agenda, which looks to collaborate with less developed nations in the southern hemisphere and contribute to their stabilization both socially as well as economically, with the long term objective of them achieving compelte sovereignty over their resources and decisions.

With this in mind, we do have multiple initiatives going on and in planning, to boost equal economica development throughout the world, and having Italy as a prominent and major port in Europe could certainly help the foreign commerce and exports of many of those smaller nations.

We are also happy to have finally an active Government in the Mediterranean, one of the worlds major trade routes, of strategic importance for trading nations such as Argentina.

Another aspect of colaboration we could think of is our soon to be opened scientific antarctic stations. We would be delighted to start joint research projects making use of our new facilities with the progress of science in mind."

Tim

 

[Tim]

"Thank you very much for taking care of the trade route. Our Minister of Foreign Trade might contact his Argentine counterpart to further discuss how the tariffs will be handled once he has checked what they are, but I believe that getting the trade underway as soon as possible is beneficial for us both.

We value national sovereignty a lot. International cooperation is important for all countries but this must not go so far that a country loses part of its sovereignty by the external influence. The South-South Cooperation you describe sounds very noble and once Italy's position is more settled we are very glad to help you help these developing countries to become self sufficient and with that more sovereign.

Indeed, the Mediterranean is crucial for all modern European nations, being the gateway to Asia so we do not treat the responsibility that comes with it lightly.

That sounds wonderful. I'm not fully aware of the situation of territorial claims in Antarctica, but I know that it is a great place to conduct research on the world and on the abilities of humans to survive while in isolation from the rest of the world so I am glad to open up talks between our research programs to open up this new possibility for our nation in the domain of science."​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"Indeed, with your almost total control over the Strait of Sicily, your nation de facto control trade between West and East, a strategic position with high potential.

Rearding Antarctica, all our research stations are being developed inside the Argentine Antarctic Territory, as recognized by the international community. The proximity of continental Argentina to the AAT is a key advantage that gives us the edge over other scientific programs, since logistically we are few hours away from any point in the continent. This allows us for year-round operations, inserting and extrancting research teams.

Currently we are designing the new "Milleniun Antarctic Scientific Plan", which will set guidelines for research areas we deem of special interest for humanity, and we plan on bringing international partners on board. Some of those areas will be global warming, astronomy and bioprospecting."

Tim

 

[Tim]

"Exactly.

Indeed, your proximity must be a real gamechanger for these longer missions. Are you able to service all locations even in winter, or will the researchers need to winter-over? We are very glad to work together on such a plan for the scientific progress of humanity. Are there any events planned relating to this yet to which we could potentially send some experts or is it still very early in the making?"​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"Indeed, some stations will be having docks, for naval resupply, meaning that it won't be able to happen during the winter months due to the ice, but all stations will have heliports and drop zones for aerial supply, plus, the larger bases are being built in areas that allow the constructions of airfields, guaranteeing, if weather conditions are good, year round flights with cargo and crew.

The stations should enter operational stage in the coming weeks, meaning that we are planning a first international call up for mid january 1998 for a first 1 month deployment in march 1998. If there are also long term projects a foreign nation is interested in, we will accept proposals to host foreign researches for the winter."

Tim

 

[Tim]

"This all sounds like it's really moving forward and planned out. We are very eager to look into the possibilities of sending Italian researchers to these research sites. Could you inform me a bit of the facilities that are being planned so I can inform our research universities so they can look into proposing research to join a possible mission. What will be the capacity for researchers at different locations, and how many international researchers are you planning on allowing?"​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"All stations will have some sort of research space, some larger and better equiped than others. Stations located on the antarctic coast will have dry and wet laboratories, suited for marine biology research and experiments, while also being able to handle ice samples that are useful to climate and glacial research. Stations located south will make use of their position to include astronomic observatories and ozone layer studies.

The fact that all stations will have logistics depots will allow thm to be used for field camp studies in the sense that they can be used as supply center for more in-land temporary study sites.

Other research fields that will be possible are astrophyisics, earth sciences and atmospheric sciences. Should any of your universities or research teams have a specific need, that can also be addresed, for example, by providing space in our labs to install equipment."

Tim

 

[Tim]

"This all sounds very promising." The president had made some notes and would send out a memo through his Minister of Education to the research groups after the phone call. "I hope we can work together to use these research facilities to build a better tomorrow for all of humankind. But shall we move on? I am in no way qualified to talk this much about science. You briefly mentioned visa's if I recall correctly, we are very eager to work together to find a good solution that makes it easier for our two populations to travel between our countries for tourist and business related travels."​

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"Neither am I! I will delegate this issue into my Minister of Education and Science and our Antarctic Institute, I'm sure working together, argentine and italian scientists can achieve astonishing results! Nevertheless, I will personally push the issue for Italy to occupy a central role in the new potential researches.

Swtiching issue... Yes, visas was one of the issues I had on agenda. With bilateral trade ramping up, it is to expect that bilateral private investments will flourish as well, meaning that an increased number of businessmen and investors will be travelling back and forth between our countries. This means that it might proof beneficial to implement a visa facilitation or excemption program for business visits, limited to a specific time period, but able to be obtained on-arrival by presenting the corresponding documentation. Maybe this could also be extended to short term contracts and technical workers that come just to perform specific tasks.

As for tourism, this would be a more broad issue both of our nations are important tourism hubs and receive anually large amounts of foreigners. Considering this, an agreement to quicken the process of obtaining tourism visas could be in order. We even might look into the possibility of a visa excemption for tourism purposes if the idea is reciprocal."

Tim

 

[Tim]

"Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to work with you in your programs.

An on-arrival business visa for investors or workers that come for specific tasks does sound good to me. What kind of time frame limit were you thinking off for this business visa? I believe that allowing people with a passport and valid documentation about their business or work contract should be easy enough too check and to bring for the travellers.

For tourist visas we are also mainly interested in visa's on arrival, but there only a passport is present and in non suspicious cases. In case someone is suspicious they might be asked about their plans, if they have enough money on them, et cetera to check if they aren't here to illegally work or do something else the visa does not permit. On our side I believe it can be a thing of no more than ten minutes at the airport, does your country also have the capacity to handle such a system? Of course because of the distance and the price to travel between our countries I doubt there will be thousands of travellers daily, so the pressure on this system will not be too much considering this."​

Naio90​