Italian official visit to Argentina

[Naio90]

As agreed a couple of weeks ago, the President of the Italian Republic would be invited for an official state visit to Argentina, for among other things, subscribe a series of bilateral agreements, cultural visits and to discuss further cooperation.

With the established date approaching, everythign would be prepared, at a remote section of the Ezeiza International Airport would be secured for the italian aircraft to arrive. A red carpet would be put on the ground, leading from the parking position for the aircraft to where a motorcade consisting of black SUVs, police motorcycles and security vehicles would be waiting for the italian delegation. On one side, a special area would be designated for media to position themselves and take photos and make the general coverage of the arrival. On the other side, a military band would be playing the italian anthem during the descend of the italian President. The argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs would be the one receiving the italian Head of State.

Security would be monitoring the area and make preliminary checks to guarantee the safety of all participants.

The motorcade would transport the italian delegation directly to their lodgings and stay with them, just like the security attachment, during the whole stay of the italians on argentine territory.

Tim

 

[Tim]

December 14, 1997

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The Italian delegation was small but very carefully selected. Consisting of: the President, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro; Gianluca Bianchi Fasani, the head of the newly founded Antarctic Research Program; and Lamberto Dini, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

These 3 VIPs and 10 guards of the personal protection detail were travelling with an Aeronautica Militare Falcon 900. Because of the short range of the aircraft they made a stop at Amílcar Cabral International Airport, Cape Verde, for refuelling before flying to Ezeiza International Airport As the aircraft approached the airport they contacted the control tower and requested permission to land. After landing they were very informed of the taxi route which they had to take to arrive at the specially prepared landing area.

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Upon landing two of the guards walked down the small stairs and stood beside it before the President stepped out, being welcomed by the sound of the Italian national anthem. He stepped towards the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to be here in your beautiful country minister." He was then followed by the two other officials and they all posed with the Argentine minister for the press to take some pictures of the delegation.

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Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"President Scalfaro, welcome to Argentina, we are delighted to have you here with us. I hope you had a pleasent flight. Is this your first time in our country?" The Minister would walk down the red carpet chatting casually with the italian president until they reached the door of the black SUV. One of the security officers opened the door for him, and after a brief farewell, the italian would be invited to board the motorcade. The rest of the italian delegation would be boarded on to the other VIP vehicles and once everything was in place, the motorcade would depart. The security capsule would clear the wat through the highway into Downtown Buenos Aires and provide all security meassures.

Once at the designated lodging, the President would be given personal time, while security would remain outside and inside the hotel, overlooking everything. The italian security team would also have access to all of the hotel and to a argentine police and diplomatic liaison, to cover potential questions or requests.

The President was expected at the Casa Rosada early the next day, to start the official schedule. In the afternoon, he had been invited to visit the cultural center of a italian heritage society in Buenos Aires, and the other day, a flight was prepared to bring both the argentine and the italian presidents down to Antarctica for a quick visit and inspection of the soo to be inaugurated facilities.

Other meetings and activities were also scheduled.

Tim

 

[Tim]

December 14, 1997

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"The flight was good, thank you, and it is indeed my first time visiting this country in person. The Italian entered the SUV with the other members of his delegation and the guards entered the motorcade in a separate vehicle. As the President got some personal time at the hotel he took the time to freshen up himself, taking a short shower before getting ready for the rest of the state visit. Two Italian guards were stationed outside of his room, and two others at the other diplomat's doors, and the rest helped the Argentinians with the protection of the hotel.

When he was ready the President and Minister of Foreign Affairs left to visit the embassy in Buenos Aires. They used the transport made available by the Argentinians to travel with six guards to the embassy, leaving four behind at the hotel. The meeting late in the afternoon lasted until the evening and contained a dinner with ambassador Giuseppe Manzo to end the first day without much events with the Argentinians, but with an important meeting as the ambassador would be the face of their country as they strengthened their diplomatic bond.


December 15, 1997

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The next day the President got up early to prepare for the official schedule. In the morning he would meet the Argentine President and after that meeting the two Presidents would visit the Italian heritage society in Buenos Aires.

When he was ready he went to the cars that had been prepared for him and four guards to travel to the Argentine President at his residence under escort of the Argentinians.

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Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

Everything was ready at the Casa Rosada, the argentine governmental palace, for the President of Argentina to receive his italian counterpart.

The motorcade would depart as scheduled from the italian Head of State's hotel and cross the gates into the main entrance point of the building, stopping on the red carpet. The President of Argentina would be waiting in the main hall and firmly strech the hand of his italian colleague, greeting him politely and welcoming him to the "house of all argentineans", before inviting him to climb the big white marble stairs (which the argentine would comment was marble imported from Carrara, Italy) towards his private office.

Once inside, both presidents would have a brief private one-on-one conversation before moving into a small conference room where they would meet with the rest of the italian delegation and their argentine counterparts to discuss the arrangements.

"President Scalfaro, I am very happy to have you here in our country. It was long time since we last had an Italian Head of State here, well, it was actually a long time since we even saw an italian leader that was capable to bring Italy out if its lethargy and back into the international community as an active participant."

Tim

 

[Tim]

December 15, 1997

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"Thank you very much for having me President Cambiasso, it's an honour to be here." He said as he shook hands with the Argentinian before entering the large building and walking up the (Italian) marble stairs.

"Thank you very much for your kind welcome and your kind words regarding our administration. We are indeed working very hard to put the Italian Republic back on the map as an important international player," He placed a clear emphasis on we, as he was far from the only one who was doing all this hard diplomatic work.

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Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"From our own experience, its a very hard job, one that demands a total commitment not only from the one pulling the cart, but also from the whole team.

Europe has been very unstable lately in terms of internationally active nations, with some few enduring but with many new Governments rising and falling almost overnight. Portugal, France, Romania, Poland... All with promising and ambitious leaders that failed to last in time. That is why we are so interested in finally seeing Italy, a nation with whom we share an identity perform so well. Argentina wishes to have a strong friend in Europe, a nation that can bring balance to that region, and we offer you any asistance we can in helping Italy achieve this."

Tim

 

[Tim]

December 15, 1997

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"Exactly, and my prime minister has put together a very capable team that can help me fulfil those goals.

Indeed, from what I have gathered a lot of countries cant seem to get a stable government which is worrying, especially in Europe.. Usually the leader on such topics. We are very glad that you are looking for a close bond, as we seek the same. Italy wants to have strong bilateral bonds all over the world and Argentina, with such a shared identity, is perfect for that. I'm very excited for our administrations to work together to achieve this."

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Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"As the prominent mediterranean nation, we are looking forward to close cooperation also in matters such as security in that area. As you know Argentina is one of the worlds leading trade nations, and we have one of the biggest merchant fleets out there. That is why we always look to cooperate with other naval powers to safeguard freedom of navigation around the trade routes. We would love in the future to conduct joint naval exercises there with some of our ships, but that is a matter for our Ministers of Defence to discuss. To sum up, we feel much more secure having Italy as the main enforcing power in the Mediterranean Sea.

Is there anything else you would like to discuss in private, or shall we move on to the conference room to proceed with the subscriptions of the agreements?"

Tim

 

[Tim]

"Wonderful. Security in the Mediterranean is one of our main military goals for the coming year, to ensure that all commercial vessels can sail safely without having to worry about the increasing threat of piracy from Northern Africa. We are very glad to hear that Argentina is also willing to actively work towards this safety, as Italy cannot do this all alone but we will be taking a leading role in the central and eastern Mediterranean regarding this.

I don't believe I have anything else to discuss, and I would be glad to join you in signing the agreements."

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Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"I look forward to see argentine and italian frigates cross the seas together! Lets move on then."

The argentine president would invite his colleague over to the private small conference room next door, where the rest of the italian Delegation and their argentine counterparts would be waiting. There were printed originals of the Agreements to be signed, neatly packed into elegant dark blue folders with the italian and argentine Coat of Arms stamped into them.

"Please Mr. President, take a seat. We have here the final versions of the Agreements we discussed some time ago, ready to be signed in the next few minutes in front of the press. Before we move to that, I wanted to have a small discussion with all the team present about how we can further build on them or expand.

I understand that your Government and Antarctic Program has received the invitation for the International Antarctic Program?"

Tim

 

[Tim]

The President nodded in agreement with the Argentinian's comment about frigates crossing the see together, glad with the positive attitude they both seemed to have

The President took the invite and took a seat between the two other delegates, so he would be sat in the middle at their side of the table. "Wonderful, the agreements all looked in order and have been approved for signing so I'm glad to do that," the President looked at the Minister of Foreign Affairs for confirmation, and he gave a small nod, since he was the one responsible for the acceptance of treaties. The President then looked at the director of the newly founded Antarctic Research Program who then spoke. "We have received the invitation indeed and filed a first mission. It is a small mission as we believe that the science should be done in Antarctica, but analysed away because of the high costs of keeping personnel there. Therefore we only want to have the personnel there that is necessary for operation of the equipment and performing of the experiments. In line with this we view the scientific data as very valuable and urge for the sharing of most data publicly so the scientific community can analyse it and use it for their research. We hope this is something you agree with,"

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"Great, we will then set the agreements apart and have then brought to the press room, to sign them in front of the media.

As for Antarctica, we look forward for this first italian mission, as part of our International Antarctic Program, to be the first of many. The facilities are ready to begin operations and to start expanding the frontier of human knowledge in a variety of fields of research.

Part of the IAP also implies that the Argentine Antarctic Program will destine part of tis budget to "international cooperation", in other words, subsidize other nations operations when they are using argentine facilities. This project is alla bout scientific cooperation, and we all benefit from having the best scientists and researchers down there.

I also hope you and your Delegation is ready for our trip to the South Pole tomorrow. We will be departing all together in one of our private jets towards Ushuaia, where we will spend the night and get our winter gear and prepare ourselves to board an Argentine Air Force transport aircraft that will fly us directly to the "Moreno" Research Station at the South Pole.

Leaving Antarctica aside, we would also look into the possibility of atracting italian investments into Argentina. We already have some Fiat assembly facilities, and we would be interested in opening or expanding on them. Would that be something Italy would be interested in? This would also bring the possibility of tax exemptions and other financial aides to the table."

Tim

 

[Tim]

"Me and Dr. Fasani are indeed ready, my minister of Foreign Affairs will sadly not be visiting with us as he has other duties. I am very much looking forward to the visit." the President said. "So am I! The opportunities Antarctica gives us scientists are so vast and wonderful and I truly believe we will be able to do ground-breaking research here together," the Director of the Antarctic Program said.

The President and Minister of Foreign Affairs nodded to the Italian investment. "Our large businesses, such as Fiat, are indeed booming and Italy is quickly running out of space for large factories for companies like Fiat but also other car manufacturers and other types of companies, the costs make Argentina a very attractive destination for plans like these so if you were to offer us extra possibilities I am sure our companies would be very much interested, however I cannot make any decisions on behalf of these private companies, and I can only talk with them." the Minister spoke.

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

"Please, let the Fiat Board, and other similar ventures, know of our interested. Argentina is willing, through our Ministry of Industry, to provide the necessary legal framework to give the italian companies a very good position.

Now, shall we move to the press room to sign the Agreements and make some photos for the media?"

The President would stand up and invite the italians to the next room.

This room would have a small platform with two lecterns, a small table and the argentine and italian flags in the back. There would be 30 seats to accomodate national ain international media and other assistants to the small ceremony.

The agreements to be signed, together with 2 expensive looking pens, would be on the small table, waiting for the Presidents to address the media and to sign the Documents.

Tim

 

[Tim]

The minister nodded to the Argentine speaker. "I will."

"I believe that settles everything so we're ready for the signing." the President said before walking to the other room, standing at the lectern at the side of the Italian flag. He had been informed they would speak first, and then sign the agreements.

"First of all, let me thank Argentina for the warm welcome me and my colleagues have received in this beautiful country.

Today marks a great step forward in Argentine-Italian cooperation. Not only for our own good, but also for the good of humanity as a whole. We will be signing treaties of cooperation and a visa agreement for our citizens to promote travel between our countries. These agreements mark a great leap in our mutual cooperation and friendship as countries.

But beside these agreements we are also here to discuss the Italian cooperation in the Arctic Research bases that are being established by the Argentine government, giving Italian scientist access to this whole new area of research. I believe that in working together our scientists can uncover many of the hidden truths of our world and even universe."

The President smiled and nodded to the Argentine president, confirming that that was all for his speech.

Naio90​

 

[Naio90]

The President would begin his speech to the media:

"Thank you, President Scalfaro, for the warm words. We are really happy to host you here in our country, and we completely share your vision of a prosper argentine-italian relationship. We share a past, so we should also share a future.

The Agreements we sign here today will be part of that future, and will significantly contribute to the economic and social development of both of our countries. In todays complex and itner-related world, no one can prosper on its own, and the binding of likeminded nations, with similar goals and objectives is a must.

Argentina and Italy are continents apart, but we feel like Rome could be just few kilometers out of our borders, due to the familiarity with which we can communicate and relate to, that certainly made all negotiations and talks far easier.

The Argentine Republic has been looking for a firm european friend for a long time now, and what best that work with a nation we already share so much, and that also happens to be the main power in the Mediterranean basin.

Tomorrow, the President and I will be boarding a flight to see first hand work on one of the pilars of our new cooperation, science. Specifically, antarctic science. The opportunity that the Argentine Antarctic Territory gives us for the furthering of sciences is unique, and we are happy to share it with other nations on equal terms. We will be visiting the South Pole Scientific Station and launch our new International Antarctic Science Program, which will also include other nations in the near future, such as the Republic of Korean and the Rattanakosin Kingdom.

Now, lets proceed and put ink on paper by signing the agreements."

With this, the argentine President would invite his italian counterpart to subscribe the neatly prepared Documents.

Tim