[Egypt] Call to Japan

[Naio90]

Egyptian Secretary of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Rafiki woudl set a private call to his japansese counterpart.

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

Private and Secure Line

Yukihiko Ikeda, Minister for Foreign Affairs, was at his desk reviewing the recent influx of diplomatic messages to his government. The task of managing and sorting all these relationships was exhausting, yet rewarding work for him. As he was going through his dossiers, an interofficer alert was sent out stating that the Egyptian Secretary of Foreign Affairs himself was on the line. Yukihiko decided to take this call himself, rather than the standard protocol of passing the call off to a subordinate. Yukihiko answered the call, "ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ‎ As-salāmu ʿalaykum (Peace be upon you). Please forgive me if I mispronounced that, my Arabic is not perfect. I am Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yukihiko Ikeda, I welcome your call and thank you for contacting our government. How may I be of service?"

Edit: @Naio90

 

[Naio90]

The egyptian secretary would be gladly surprised by the japanese good intentions, and despite a rather quirky accent it was well pronounced and gramatically correct.

"Wa-Alaikum-Salaam, Minister Ikeda. Thank you for taking my call so quickly, I hope I am not interrupting anything, I'm sure that your newly appointed cabinet has a lot to do, restarting Japan's economy and introducing the new nation to the world."

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

Private and Secure Line

Yukihiko Ikeda smiled at the customary returned greeting, it meant his attempt was heard and honored. "You are most certainly not interrupting. While the process is quite cumbersome, the process of international diplomacy is quite enjoyable to me. The prospect of actually doing the work instead of managing it is a welcome break. I actually was reviewing my Egyptian dossier not too long ago. We are very interested in matters of trade with Egypt, especially passage through the Suez."

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"I see you are a man of action, I like that, we will get along well... You see, my nation is also very interested in many of your nations values and foreign policy positions, plus we see your naiton as a regional power and a big global economic player. It is my Governments believe that deepening the bilateral ties can only bring benefit to both sides.

With that said, you might have heard that our nation currently follows a policy of neutrality, avoiding multilateral organizations such as the GA. It is our believe that such organizations can severely affect a nations sovereignty, and have the potential to drag the world into a global conflict. That is why we firmly believe in strengthening foreign ties on a strictly bilateral level. And Japan is one of our priorities.

We already have bought some pieces of military hardware. We would like to continue having Japan as a provider, and also expand to a broader commerce.

What can I tell you about the Suez?"

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

The minister nodded in agreement, "We have similar views of Egypt for partnership purposes. Egypt is a top partnership priority for the State of Japan as well.

Our companies are thrilled to have Egypt as a partner and welcome continued business. As you know we offer very competitive pricing for our goods, and we have other opportunities for deepened cooperation on the military hardware front.

As for the Suez... Our nation has ambitions to develop global trade networks, connecting the nations of the world via our maritime logistical support companies and our robust ship building facilities. The Suez is one of Humanities greatest engineering feats. We wish to discuss terms to ensure passage for our vessels through the Suez when the time comes that we are required to do so. Possibly establishing a resupply base for our commercial vessels there as needed. Plus, we would like to establish a trade deal with Egypt."
@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Trade is one of Egypt's main ways of interacting with the global community. Actually, if we go to the crude facts, my nation is the current top exporter of goods worldwide. We would be more than interested in extending this network to include Japan, and also open our own 100 million inhabitants market to japanese goods.

As for the Suez, it’s a strategic asset of our nation, and my administration is committed to treating it that way by increasing operational costs and security procedures. With that said, Egypt will never cut access to the Suez Canal to the friends of the nation. Rest assured that if the Egypt-Japan bilateral relation continues on the present course, you will have no problem benefiting from the world’s most important waterway. This obviously extends to the possibility to leasing parts of the commercial port in Port Suez, or in Alexandria."

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

"Excellent. We look forward to continued trade through the Suez. As our operations expand, it is very likely that we will construct a forward base within your country. Our nation exports Vehicles, Machinery, including computers, Electrical machinery, equipment, Optical, technical, medical apparatus, Iron, steel. Essentially the machinery of the modern world. We would like a treat confirming at least one trade ship from each of our nations to trade in the other. Egypt sends a ship as will Japan."
@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"We could open up the egyptian market for japanese optical equipment, medical apparatus, steel and vehicles. In return, we would like to provide Japan with egyptian fossil fuels, fertilizers, fruits, copper and gold.

We have a very decent merchant navy ready to be used to export our goods, so, we could even discuss an increased frequency and quantity of the transported goods."

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

"Perfect. We can commit to at least one ship originating from Japan to deliver our goods to Egypt. We cannot be sure where we will commit the rest of our merchant fleet at the moment. To deliver such an array of goods may be challenging at the moment. We can transport the optical and medical equipment in container ships, but the steel would have to be transported in one of our bulk carriers and the cars from one of our vehicle transports. We could possibly commit our bulk transporter to carry Japanese steel to Egypt and return with copper and gold. The container ships could transport our equipment to Egypt and return with fruits and fertilizers. We are unsure if we can commit a third vessel at this time. Our fleet is simply too limited. If our national contractor cannot place the third vessel, we can surely arrange for it to open a transit line to Egypt."
@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Obviously, as soon as your merchant navy has the capacity, we would welcome the trade of all the aforementioned goods. Which egyptian products would be allowed to Japan in return? Also, should it be of your interest, we could perform some of the trade with spare egyptian merchant ships, to transport japaneses goods from Japan to Egypt."

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

"Our thought are bull carriers would carry Japanese steel to Egypt and return with copper and gold. The container ships could transport our equipment to Egypt and return with fruits and fertilizers. We are building tankers capable of transporting petroleum as well but that ship may have been committed already."
@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"I would propose we go 50/50 and employ both japanese and egyptian vessels in the exchange. We currently have bulk carriers, tankers and vehicle transports available."

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

"Very well, we agree. Let us sign a trade agreement then committing at least two vessels originating from each country to be in service of our trade. With a tanker, you could ship energy products to Japan. We could utilize your vehicle transport to trade Japanese vehicles to Egypt. In return, we can ship our steel and pick up your copper and gold in our bulk transport and ship our finished equipment in container ships, having them return with fruits and fertilizer."
@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Excellent. We will commit then two ships, a tanker and a RoRo-vessel. The tanker will carry fossil fuels from Port Suez to the destination of your choosing in Japan, while the RoRo will load the vehicles from the port of your choosing to Port Suez.

We chose Port Suez due to it being our main port on the shores of the red sea, and so we can make the process quicker, but should you wish so, you could also unload the japanese goods in our main port in Alexandria, on the Mediterranean, japanese vessels will have no additional fees."

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

"We will have a container ship deliver our machinery to Port Suez and return with fruits and fertilizer while our bulk transporter can bring Japanese steel to Egypt and return with copper and gold.

Send all shipping to and through Nagoya, our primary port. Speed will be the primary factor and so Port Suez will be perfect for our needs. When our ships have finished being built, we will begin the trade process.

With our trade talks concluded, unless you have anything else to be discussed there, we would like to know how else we can deepen our bilateral ties. We hope you will continue to turn to our defense industry for your military needs. We have been looking for partners to help us develop certain products. Our own research and development facilities are not yet underway and so we would need partners in this realm as well. One of the first products we would like to develop are diplomatic car based on our Toyota Century sedan and limousines. We feel there is a need and a market there for the statesmen and ambassadors of the world. Furthermore, we wish to develop domestically designed fighters and helicopters. All things in due time but we would like to broach such ideas now to know where we can focus efforts to accomplish those ends."

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Excellent! We will begin the corresponding paperwork as soon as possible, in order to be able to set up the corresponding trade routes.

Now, moving on to other issues, Egypt is very interested in expanding the bilateral cooperation to other areas of interest. One of them is clearly the acquisition of military equipment. As you surely know, we have already set up a order for ground equipment, which I understand has already been delivered in full. We wanted to first thank you for the quick delivery and inform you that we are very happy with the quality of the products. This opens obviously the door for further acquisitions. Our Ministry of Defense will be reviewing your catalogue based on our current defense needs.

As for the development of new equipment, we have begun the construction of a new R&D facility, in order to be able to produce assets of strategic importance to our national requirements. It would be a very interesting opportunity to discuss potential cooperation between both our development institutions. There might be more than one project which could be of importance to both Egypt and Japan.

Beyond merely "physical" objectives, my Government would also be interested in perhaps increasing the direct flights between Egypt and Japan, to boost tourism and bilateral commerce. This could be accompanied by the reduction of visa requirements for businessmen travelers and perhaps for tourists as well."

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

"We have the ships to begin trading immediately as well. We are happy to help with any and all your defensive needs that we can. We are also pleased to hear that you share our interest in researching new technologies.

We share your view on allowing easier travel between our nations. With the anticipated level of commerce between us, it would help our citizens travel to facilitate that."

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Do you have more details regarding your priority projects? Where would you like to start?

Regarding the visas, let me draw up some drafts my people back at hte Ministry of Foreign Affairs were drafting. In the meantime, I would propose to set up a direct flight between Cairo and Tokyo."

@Suvorov

 

[Suvorov]

"Our priorities are Fighters, Helicopters, and the civilian diplomatic car. For cost reasons, we may wish to start with the car. If the other projects are started now, however, we may be able to delay their costs into the future."

@Naio90