[Egypt] Call to France

[Naio90]

The egyptian president, Mando Safar, would set a private and encrypted call to his french counterpart.

@Moe

 

[Moe]

After ensuring that his call was encrypted and secure and was notified as to whom was on the line President Francois Mitterrand, sitting in his office with an aide sitting nearby takes a sip of Château Margaux and then presses the red button that is lighting up on his desk phone.

"Hello, this is President Mitterrand, President Safar, it is good to finally speak with you."

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

In the privacy of his office, the president would talk.

"President Mitterrand, the pleasure is mine, thank you very much for being available on such short notice. The purpose of this call was to kick off bilateral relations between Egypt and France, under my new administration her ein Cairo.

Not only does our nation sincerely respect the French Republic for its history and its recent policies of autonomy in the context of the Cold War, but also on a personal level do I admire your country and people. I studied and lived for several years in Paris.

My hope is to be able to construct bridges of political concordance and mutual commercial benefit for France and Egypt, in the framework of my administrations policy of non-alignment with any major "alliance"."

@Moe

 

[Moe]

Taking another sip of the Château Margaux and smiling at the praise, whilst shooing the aide away to have total privacy the President says,

"Well, Mister President. For all her faults, Paris does have her charms. And, yes, grand alliances are a thing of the past. I chose to join the GA, but my minister of foreign affairs is dead against it. We shall see. By the way, which university did you attend?'

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Science Po, between 1970 and 1978, great years, lots of good memories.

We have reviewed the Charters of the GA and its main bodies, and found several questionable issues regarding the forfaiting of national sovereignty. We do not agree with those and therefore opted the easy way. This does not mean we won't join in the future if things get patched up though."

@Moe

 

[Naio90]

"President, how about we discuss some matters of commercial interest? We were looking into increasing the bilateral trade between France and Egypt, in line with our interest in estalbishing Egypt, and Alexandria in particular, as a East-West commercial hub."

@Moe

 

[Moe]

"I think this would be an excellent proposition. It seems that all of your top 5 exports are commodities that France could import and vice versa. perhaps we could establish trade routes for all. As far as Alexandria, what do you have in mind? Are you thinking about expansion? If that is teh case I can put you touch with the CEO of Arcadis. The largest Design Consultancy in France."

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"We can agree on that. We will set up the new trade routes from Alexandria to the port of your chosing in France, let us know so that we can submit the paperwork.

One of my first decisions as President of Egypt was to order the expansion of the Port of Alexandria, which is already underway. However, we could get in touch with Arcadis in order to discuss the way it is currently being executed."

@Moe

 

[Moe]

"Let's first open trade routes with Marseille. It is our largest port with the facilities in place to handle five additional routes. Oh, and buy the way, I have been informed by my defense minister that a majority of your military purchases are under production and should be on the way to Egypt in the next month. Perhaps by then our own military will be ready for some sort of joint exercise, probably maritime."

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"We have submitted the corresponding paperwork to establish the previously mentioned trade routes between Alexandria and Marseille. We are also glad to know that the production of the very large egyptian order of french militayr hardware is underway. It would significanly bolster our ground forces and help reinforce and assist our frontline units in their tasks of guaranteeing regional stability and most important of all, national security.

In the meantime, we are focusing on modernizing the egyptian economy, by expanding infrastructure, but also creating new partially, state owned companies to exploit some induestries, like oil and fishing sectors."

@Moe

 

[Naio90]

"Ah, before I forget. Our Minister of Defence wanted confirmation on the possibility of acquiring a large number of Cassard-Class Frigates. Something arund 20 units. Could you confirm us the price?"

@Moe

 

[Moe]

"20 Units will be no problem at all. Each unit will cost $200,000,000 a piece. And also, although we already have 5 shipping routes established. We are looking to increase our tourism numbers by creating Cruise lines from from France throughout the world.

From say Alexandria to the French Rivera and the French Rivera to Luxor. We have a Cruise Ship/ The Horizon Class."

He would then fax over an encrypted copy of:

Horizon Class Cruise Ship
Cost: $750,000,000
CDF Croisières de France

Perhaps if we split the cost of each cruise ship we could really improve our tourism numbers. We could also increase air routes between our countries."

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"We will prepare the corresponding studies and will be getting back in touch with you in regard of the Cassard-Class Frigates. Just out of curiosity, at how much would the DPR for it to be produce in Egypt be valued?

Regarding the tourism proposal, you can count with the full support of the newly created Ministry of Tourism and Sports. We have multiple mediterranean resorts that could be included an such packages and obviously would contemplate visits to Egypt's main tourist attractions, such as the Great Pyramids and the Valley of Kings around the Nile River."

@Moe

 

[Moe]

"DPR for the Cassard? Well, an initial purchase of 20 at their current export price would be right at 4 Billion dollars. But since Egypt has already spent so much money on French military equipment, why don't we put the DPR at 3 billion?

I believe the tourism aspect would be an absolute goldmine for both our countries. Shall we continue the conversation, or let our Tourism boards take over from there?"

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"I think we can sort out the major guideliesn for this tourism proposal ourselves and relay the details and technicalities to our specialized institutions. What did you have in mind?"

@Moe

 

[Moe]

For starters, let's say we increase daily flights from both of our capitals from one to two a day, by our national carriers, Air Egypt and Air France, respectfully. We could also add additional routes on weekends. I would also like to include daily routes routes from Cairo to Marseille, Nice and double those up on weekends.

As far as cruise ships, let's start routes from St. Tropez, Cannes, Nice and Marseilles to your proposed sites in Egypt. Trips to the Pyramids, Valley of the Kings, and Nile trips should amaze French tourists.

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Among the many proijects our new administration has in mind is the idea of restructuring Air Egypt, and use it as a central element in boost tourism inwards and outwards of Egypt. This obviously would include the new routes you are proposing here, that should be linked to Cruise packages and other tours.

I hope we can move on with this new structure as soon as we can. We already have several 737-800s and 767-300ER ready to be used in new commercial routes."

@Moe

 

[Moe]

This all sounds good. Please let us know if you need any larger jets like something Airbus produces for longer rotes that will also offer more comfort.

What do you think of the planned cruise ships and many would you like to purchase together?

@Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"We would have to first constitute a state-owned tourism company to operate them, once set I think we could move on with this. Similarly to the recently unveiled Egyptian General Petorleum Corporation. Which by the way is seeking for new investment opportunities abroad..."

@Moe

 

[Naio90]

"We have received some of the last deliveries of the big equipment order Egypt had with the French Military Industries, and we are more than happy with the quality. As soon as the last products have been shipped, Specially the AMX-30 main battle tanks, we will be most possibly setting a follow up order to cover some specific needs Of the Egyptian Armed Forces.

I got word from a dispute between your equipment export company and some swedish legal services Corporation at the GA. Is everything alright?

We are concerned that such things might set a dangerous precedent for future disputes, seriously jeoperdizing nacional sovereingty Of states and the principle of non intervetion...

@Moe