04-23-2021, 11:29 PM
Raoul Chen, Laeral’s Minister of Trade, got along well with Liu Mei-han because they both understood each other pretty well: they’d both grown up in Rén-majority neighborhoods in the Riverlands, both hustled in high school and attended the Laeralsford College of Political Studies in later life, both worked their way up through the Progressive Party ranks by avoiding aligning too closely with any of the party’s factions. And while they’d both developed into good public speakers and affable campaigners, both always been most in their element with a set of powerpoint slides, speaker’s notes, and an ambitious policy proposal. Raoul Chen had recently delivered one of those policy presentations to the president at Republic House, and what had been scheduled for a twenty-five minute slot had turned into over an hour of back and forth discussion between Chen and President Liu. That had been yesterday; despite Liu’s enthusiasm for the idea, Minister Chen had yet to hear an official go-ahead from Republic House. Just as his thoughts were turning once again to the project, a new email in his inbox caught his eye.
It was from Alexandre Herault, the president’s Chief of Staff. The president is 100% on board, the email read. You’ll have all the resources and support from Republic House that you need, plus meetings on Mondays and Thursdays for you and your team with the president and Ministers Misra and Jin as needed. Good luck with this, it’s something Liu is very interested in. With a smile, Raoul fired off a quick response to Herault and then sent out another email for the Trade Ministry’s top officials to meet him in his office in a matter of hours.
“I’ve just received some exciting news from the president,” Raoul Chen announced to his ministry’s top officials and negotiators, assembled in the main conference room with a view of downtown Laeralsford outside. “The Laeral-Huenya Economic Corridor, preliminary details of which you can see in your briefing packets, has been approved as a high-priority project by President Liu. Tanvi Misra and Jin Liqing, from the Foreign and Finance ministries, are expected to weigh in as well. The central idea of the project is a mammoth public-private venture, facilitated by the Laeralian government, which will work with partners on the ground to build transportation, energy, and manufacturing infrastructure to help Huenya rebuild from its civil war.”
There were looks of surprise and dawning realization all across the room as they understood what this project entailed. It wouldn’t simply be a trade agreement, or even establishing a joint economic zone. It meant helping Laeralian companies be at the forefront of an entire country’s rebuilding.
“The Laeral-Huenya Economic Corridor will involve both public investment from our state-owned firms and private investment from private corporations. President Liu is speaking with a roundtable of industry leaders tomorrow, but preliminary indications are that big business is salivating at the chance to get involved in a market that was entirely closed off to Laeralian business under the old Xiomeran economic model. As a ministry, we will be working with our counterparts at the Huenyan Trade Secretariat to fast-track these deals. Broadband internet, port expansion, highways and rail lines, the electrical grid, and heavy manufacturing are all on the table, depending on what our Huenyan counterparts say. We’re also directed to facilitate deals for our state-run companies. In particular, ENL* is interested in selling nuclear power infrastructure, which could be quite lucrative, and before you ask, I’ve been assured we’ll get regulatory approval for the export of reactors. While the exact details and numbers are still to be determined, early projections say that we could be talking about investment in the range of 50 billion marks.”
The room was hushed as Chen finished outlining the initiative. Finally, one of the trade ministry’s longest-serving career bureaucrats, a grey-haired Arrivée man whom ministry gossip insisted planned to die at his desk someday, raised his hand. “This economic corridor plan sounds enticing,” he said. “But what makes us think that Huenya will be interested in choosing us as a trade partner over an ally located in their region?”
“We have better relations with Huenya than most of their neighbors do,” Chen said. “In particular, their crown prince, Texoccoatl, was given sanctuary by our government last year, and so there’s plenty of goodwill in our relationship. The Jinyu Agreement legitimized their independence as a sovereign state, and it was President Liu’s doing. All indications suggest that the Huenyans are anxious for our investment, and gift-wrapping it all as the “Laeral-Huenya Economic Corridor” will only make it more appealing.”
“What about GDIB?” asked a Rén woman sitting by the door, referring to the Global Development Investment Bank. “Wouldn’t this initiative supplant them in some ways?”
“We’re obviously still a huge proponent of GDIB, and this agreement won’t do anything to change it,” Chen said. “The reason we’re pursuing this rebuilding and investment effort bilaterally, instead of through the auspices of GDIB, is because developing our relationship with Huenya directly is a priority for Republic House. Given our close ties with GDIB, we’ll be able to cooperate with them on a range of lower-priority, lower-profile projects like road construction and sustainable agriculture, but the Laeral-Huenya Economic Corridor will be how we’ll spearhead the rebuilding effort of Huenya’s core infrastructure. GDIB will also be our main means of engagement when it comes to Manauia Island and the Netlcoatl Islands, which are more...auxiliary focuses.”
“Seeing no more questions,” Raoul said, “I’m going to dismiss this meeting. I have a virtual conference in a matter of hours with some Huenyan officials to formally propose the idea to them. Within the next few days, we can assign working groups and match you all up with Huenyan intermediaries. Republic House is confident in us, and I am too. Thank you for your work, everyone.”
*Énergie Nucléaire Laeralien, Laeral’s state-run nuclear power provider.
It was from Alexandre Herault, the president’s Chief of Staff. The president is 100% on board, the email read. You’ll have all the resources and support from Republic House that you need, plus meetings on Mondays and Thursdays for you and your team with the president and Ministers Misra and Jin as needed. Good luck with this, it’s something Liu is very interested in. With a smile, Raoul fired off a quick response to Herault and then sent out another email for the Trade Ministry’s top officials to meet him in his office in a matter of hours.
“I’ve just received some exciting news from the president,” Raoul Chen announced to his ministry’s top officials and negotiators, assembled in the main conference room with a view of downtown Laeralsford outside. “The Laeral-Huenya Economic Corridor, preliminary details of which you can see in your briefing packets, has been approved as a high-priority project by President Liu. Tanvi Misra and Jin Liqing, from the Foreign and Finance ministries, are expected to weigh in as well. The central idea of the project is a mammoth public-private venture, facilitated by the Laeralian government, which will work with partners on the ground to build transportation, energy, and manufacturing infrastructure to help Huenya rebuild from its civil war.”
There were looks of surprise and dawning realization all across the room as they understood what this project entailed. It wouldn’t simply be a trade agreement, or even establishing a joint economic zone. It meant helping Laeralian companies be at the forefront of an entire country’s rebuilding.
“The Laeral-Huenya Economic Corridor will involve both public investment from our state-owned firms and private investment from private corporations. President Liu is speaking with a roundtable of industry leaders tomorrow, but preliminary indications are that big business is salivating at the chance to get involved in a market that was entirely closed off to Laeralian business under the old Xiomeran economic model. As a ministry, we will be working with our counterparts at the Huenyan Trade Secretariat to fast-track these deals. Broadband internet, port expansion, highways and rail lines, the electrical grid, and heavy manufacturing are all on the table, depending on what our Huenyan counterparts say. We’re also directed to facilitate deals for our state-run companies. In particular, ENL* is interested in selling nuclear power infrastructure, which could be quite lucrative, and before you ask, I’ve been assured we’ll get regulatory approval for the export of reactors. While the exact details and numbers are still to be determined, early projections say that we could be talking about investment in the range of 50 billion marks.”
The room was hushed as Chen finished outlining the initiative. Finally, one of the trade ministry’s longest-serving career bureaucrats, a grey-haired Arrivée man whom ministry gossip insisted planned to die at his desk someday, raised his hand. “This economic corridor plan sounds enticing,” he said. “But what makes us think that Huenya will be interested in choosing us as a trade partner over an ally located in their region?”
“We have better relations with Huenya than most of their neighbors do,” Chen said. “In particular, their crown prince, Texoccoatl, was given sanctuary by our government last year, and so there’s plenty of goodwill in our relationship. The Jinyu Agreement legitimized their independence as a sovereign state, and it was President Liu’s doing. All indications suggest that the Huenyans are anxious for our investment, and gift-wrapping it all as the “Laeral-Huenya Economic Corridor” will only make it more appealing.”
“What about GDIB?” asked a Rén woman sitting by the door, referring to the Global Development Investment Bank. “Wouldn’t this initiative supplant them in some ways?”
“We’re obviously still a huge proponent of GDIB, and this agreement won’t do anything to change it,” Chen said. “The reason we’re pursuing this rebuilding and investment effort bilaterally, instead of through the auspices of GDIB, is because developing our relationship with Huenya directly is a priority for Republic House. Given our close ties with GDIB, we’ll be able to cooperate with them on a range of lower-priority, lower-profile projects like road construction and sustainable agriculture, but the Laeral-Huenya Economic Corridor will be how we’ll spearhead the rebuilding effort of Huenya’s core infrastructure. GDIB will also be our main means of engagement when it comes to Manauia Island and the Netlcoatl Islands, which are more...auxiliary focuses.”
“Seeing no more questions,” Raoul said, “I’m going to dismiss this meeting. I have a virtual conference in a matter of hours with some Huenyan officials to formally propose the idea to them. Within the next few days, we can assign working groups and match you all up with Huenyan intermediaries. Republic House is confident in us, and I am too. Thank you for your work, everyone.”
*Énergie Nucléaire Laeralien, Laeral’s state-run nuclear power provider.