Bier Qassem Conference (5486)

[BananaZebra]

OFFICIAL OOC TL;DR:
Link to the Treaty of Rome (Foundational Treaty of the European Economic Community) from which several articles are borrowed or modified: https://www.ab.gov.tr/files/ardb/evt/1_ ... ng_eec.pdf

Principles (pg. 1 - 6)
Member States will strive to share similar economic policies to promote the common economic development and interests of the whole Community. This includes elimination of tariffs and customs duties; establishment of a common customs tariff on non-Member States; freedom of movement of goods, persons and capital; common agricultural and transport policies; ensure healthy competition; establishment of a Majatran Social Fund; and the establishment of a Majatran Investment Bank. The Common Market will be established over a period of 15 years divided into three 5 year phases. The Council will approve transition from the first to second phase, but the transition from the second to third is automatic.

Foundations of the Community (pg. 6 - 7)
The Community will be based on a customs union, with no tariffs or other equivalent charges on imports or exports among member states. Products from a non-Member State that enter through a Member State for trade with other Member States will be treated as goods originating within the Community.

Customs Union (pg. 7 - 19)
To achieve the customs union MS will eliminate their tariffs gradually over the period of the 15 year period mentioned above (Articles XII & XIII; pg. 8 - 11 for specifics). This applies to fiscal charges as well (ie charges of special interest on foreign investments). MS can reduce tariffs more quickly than required. MS will also remove all quotas/quantitative restrictions on trade among other MS. MS can seek exemptions, if they believe a MS or non-MS is abusing the Common Market (see: Articles XIX, XXIV & XXV).

Agriculture (pg. 19 - 21)
Members will co-ordinate agricultural policies to maintain high supply and low price among member states.

Free Movement of Peoples (pg. 21 - 24)
There will be free movement of peoples, and the Council may make decisions to help transition to this (Articles XXXI through XXXIII; pg. 22 - 24). The Community will seek to encourage cross-training and worker exchange programmes.

Right of Establishment (pg. 24 - 27)
Nationals of any MS will have the right to establish themselves in any MS and be treated as a national of that MS.

Capital (pg. 27 - 28)
MS now have to award loans and credit in a non-discriminatory manner with regards to all nationalities and all MS; they are encouraged to invest in one another liberally. If a loan is placed within one MS by another, that MS cannot use that loan to grant a further loan to another MS or a non-MS nation. The loan must be used for its intended purpose.

Majatran Investment Bank (pg. 28 - 35)
The Bank will have a Board of Governors, appointed by the Council. The BoG will set credit and interest rates, and release reports on budgetary matters complete with reports before the Commission and/or Council on the state of the overall economy of the Community and of each of its Member States. The Bank will co-operate with MS' private and public financial institutions, as well as with foreign institutions which share similar goals to the Community. Public and private entities may petition the Bank for loans, the process described in Article XLVI (pg. 31).

Transport (pg. 35 - 39)
MS will adopt similar transport policies and regulations to promote international travel and ease of transport between MS, as well as to ensure development of infrastructure within the Community. MS will ensure co-operate between transport organizations both public and private with those of other MS, and will ensure non-discriminatory practices in regard to nationality of passenger and of the transport carrier itself.

Competition of Enterprise and Trade Dumping (pg. 39 - 48)
MS will ensure the healthy competition of enterprise, and in regard to the provisions of this section, MS can petition the Commission/Council to investigate alleged infringement(s) of a private or public enterprise on the Common Market, and further pursuant to these provisions may enact punishment on the MS or non-MS accused of the infringement(s). Furthermore, trade dumping (as defined by this section) will not be allowed and may be subject to the investigation and punishment mentioned before.

Aid Granted by Member States (pg. 48 - 51)
MS are encouraged to grant aid to other MS, and the Commission will issue reports/suggestions to MS on potential aid to be given or received. There are some forms of aid that would violate the Common Market, such as those intended to boost production of a good within the CM to distort its price and the competition within that market so as to cause harm to other MS or to benefit one MS exclusively.

Fluff, God somebody should've stopped my yapping, literally 3 pages of nonsense (pg. 51 - 54)
Chihuahua noises

Common Commercial Policy (pg. 54 - 56)
MS will strive to co-ordinate with the Council/Commission to establish common commercial policies, and to find among themselves beneficial policies that will promote growth in the whole Community.

Majatran Social Fund (pg. 56 - 59)
There will be a MSF to help alleviate issues of abnormal standard of living in a specific geographic area, re-train employees, promote elimination of under-employment, exchange workers among the MS to alleviate un- and under-employment, and to provide for the general welfare of the Community and its MS.

The Commission and the Council (pg. 60 - 62)
The Commission will enforce the Articles of this Treaty, creating its own reports and regulations as required and allowed and following the regulations of the Council where applicable. It will issue general reports on the economy of the Community and activities within it. It will be composed of 4 members chosen by the Council to be independent; the number of members may be amended by unanimous vote of the Council. Commissioners serve 10 year renewable terms. Only two nationals of the same MS may serve on the Commission at once. The Council consists of one member per MS.

Treaty link:
Charter of the Majatran Economic Community (MEC): Treaty of Bier Qassem

The conference will take place RP-wise in 5486, with the hopes of signing the treaty around 5488/89. Majatran nations are highly encouraged to send delegations, and non-Majatran nations are similarly encouraged to send observing delegations.

CURRENT DELEGATIONS:

Participating:

Republic of Badara
- Saif al-Ghanem, Prime Minister
- Rahim Soleimani, Minister of Finance

Homeland State of Beiteynu
- Ephrem Montefiore, Minister of Finance (@Nick)
- Liam Beison, Head of the Olami Trade Association (@Greek)

Republic of Deltaria
- Milos Tomasek, Prime Minister (@Zhdanov)
- Stefan Skolojan, Minister of Defence (@Zhdanov)

Kalopia
- Layla Nasr, Minister of Foreign Affairs (@albaniansunited)
- Alban Krasniqi, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport (@albaniansunited)

Observing

Republic of Gaduridos
- Tobías Dávalos, Minister of Foreign Affairs (@Weim)

Republic of Hobrazia
- Beso Iona, Minister of Foreign Affairs@NightStar130

Kingdom of Hutori
- Joseph Herald, Hutorian Ambassador to Badara (@Vesica)
- Kimberly Westwind, the Assistant Deputy Minister for International Trade for Majatran Affairs(@Vesica)

United Kingdom of Lourenne
- Alexis Vivaldi-Vandam, Minister of Foreign Affairs (@Louis)

Commonwealth of Mordusia
- Victor Archibald, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Dual Republic of Narikaton & Darnussia
- Jeff von Rechner, Dual-Republican Diplomatic Corp(@Mbites)

Saif al-Ghanem, Prime Minister of the Republic of Badara:

This conference will serve as an opportunity to discuss the future of Majatra, and our economies. The Republic of Badara is hereby proposing the creation of the Majatran Economic Community (MEC) to greater unite the nations of Majatra and improve the economic situations in each of our nations while being more competitive globally by standing as a united bloc.

It will serve as a conference to debate the Treaty of Bier Qassem, a draft of the Charter of the MEC. This charter is open to amendments, as suggested by potential member states, and may be modified later by further treaties.

[_nicolo_02]

Ephrem Montefiore, Minister of Finance, Homeland State of Beiteynu:

The Homeland State will be represented by the undersigned and Mr. Liam Beison, Head of the Olami Trade Association.

OOC: MOFIN is me (@TheNick) and Head of Olami is @greekidiot

[BananaZebra]

Saif al-Ghanem, Prime Minister of the Republic of Badara

We would like to welcome those delegations in attendance, and remind them that this draft before them is not yet complete and is open to change and addition.

We welcome the delegations to express any concerns they may have with the treaty, and hope they can be resolved.

The Badaran PM coughs as he flips the page in his welcome speech, continuing to greet the delegations as the arrive in the hall, a sleek modern conference room set in the middle of a glass sphere, in a building owned by Badara's minister of finance.

The building is a sphere with walls made of windows, with the bottom ten floors serving as rooms for the building's staff and the top floor serving as a conference auditorium; seats line the bottom half of the sphere in a ring of chairs set out for the various delegates and their supporting staffs. The delegations funnel to the middle of the room where they break off in differnet directions, climbing to take their place in the rings that seemed to float above the main floor and listen to the PM.

Above was a dome of glass, the Badaran sun shining down on the assembly.

The PM speaks once more.

First and foremost I would like to address the concerns of potential for abuse of this institution, weaponization of it by a member or non-member state to force their agenda unto us all. This has been a problem in the past, most assuredly, and I wish to assuage any present fears that potential member-states may have. This treaty includes several articles, notably...

The PM pauses to wet his thumb and flick through the pages of the large document before him, skimming multiple pages at once

Articles 19, 24, 25, and 61 through 69.

We invite those invited to reference these articles as a preface to their concerns, and am more than open to any amendments or suggestions from prospective members.

Observers may make observations as well, but these observations must be proceeded by a request to speak directed at my colleague Badara's Minister of Finance, Rahim Soleimani.

The floor is open to any who wish to speak, simply place the button provided at your desk to alert Minister Soleimani that you wish to do so, and he will add you to the existing queue or allow you time to speak.

OOC: Participants and observers can message as they please, and I will address them as I get to them as if they were in chronological order from one another; ie. comment A, comment B, commenct C references A, comment D, comment A responds to comment C would play out as A, B, C, A, D to keep it chronological in that the response comment from A needs to come before the one from D to make sense, but I will do that so just feel free to message away!

[NightStar130]

The delegation in attendance representing the Hobrazian Republic, an observer state, led by minister of foreign affairs Beso Iona arrive and take their seats in the conference room.
Beso Iona, Minister of foreign affairs of the Hobrazian republic

We would like to apologise for the late arrival, we hope that this will be a successful conference and look forward to enhancing our strong relationship with the Majatran region.

[Drax]

Prime Minister Milos Tomasek, Republika Deltarska:

Certainly appreciate the vast amount of work done by Jumhurat al-Badara on the matter before us.

It seems to Republika Deltarska that the fundamental controversial question is whether we want to mutually impose a tariff on non member states.

[GreekIdiot]

Liam Beison, Head of the Olami Trade Association of the Ministry of Finance, Homeland State of Beiteynu

We echo the statement from the Prime Minister of Deltaria. Badara's proposal for the MEC seems like it will thrust the entire continent into a new golden age. Please allow us to review and assess the finer points of the proposal so we can be of valuable feedback assistance.

[NightStar130]

Beso Iona, Minister of foreign affairs of the Hobrazian republic

Our main concern with this treaty is on the topic of a common tariff being imposed on non-member states, we are concerned that this will harm our trading relationships with individual states. In addition we propose the creation of an MEC culture fund, this would support arts, heritage sites and tourism in the region, other than this we believe the MEC is the future for the Majatran region.

[BananaZebra]

Prime Minister Milos Tomasek, Republika Deltarska:

Certainly appreciate the vast amount of work done by Jumhurat al-Badara on the matter before us.

It seems to Republika Deltarska that the fundamental controversial question is whether we want to mutually impose a tariff on non member states.

Saif al-Ghanem, Prime Minister of the Republic of Badara

We thank the delegations from Beiteynu and Deltaria for their input.

With regard to the concerns of the Deltarian Prime Minister, we agree that a common tariff is indeed perhaps the most controversial article of this Treaty; it was due to this that it was drafted with protocols to exempt nations from this common tariff for valid reasons, but we do understand the basis of the concern and would be willing to further modify or remove the articles in question should the objection persist, especially if it is echoed by others in this Conference.

As pertains to Mr. Beison of the OTA, we thank you for the statement of trust in this Treaty and look forward to ushering Majatra into a new age of unity, progress, stability, and hope the MEC can be the catalyst for our continent's emergence on the global scale, as one. We, and I personally, believe this Treaty will do wonders for not only the economies of its Member States, but will also make great strides in the endless but noble war we as humans wage on the ills of this world; poverty, disease, starvation.

We would also like to apologize for a potential miscommunication of our envoys to Yishelem; there is not, at present, any true "nation-to-org" provision within this Charter; the Commission shall be authorised only to issue reports on the state of the Community's economy, and issue to the Council and its Member States recommendations and guidelines of how they could improve their trade within and without the Community, relay requests from one Member State to another in regard to a mutually beneficial trade possibility and help to mediate it, and to try to attract foreign trade and investment; however these reports shall not be binding unless a resolution should be passed by unanimous consent of the Council, with all Member States present. Abstentions count as "nays." The Commission is not authorised to unilaterally seek out or arrange trade deals between the Community and third countries; nor between two Member Nations.

There will be no possibility of past abuses. This organization will not be one of punishment, one of control; this organization shall simply exist to make greater the nations of Majatra, and to enable all Member Nations to pursue with ease expansions of their economy, foreign investments, and trade.

This organization is dear to Badara, and we would rather pull the plug and burn it all to the ground than see it be abused as a tool for imperialist ambitions.

That is a promise, my friends.

[BananaZebra]

Beso Iona, Minister of foreign affairs of the Hobrazian republic

Our main concern with this treaty is on the topic of a common tariff being imposed on non-member states, we are concerned that this will harm our trading relationships with individual states. In addition we propose the creation of an MEC culture fund, this would support arts, heritage sites and tourism in the region, other than this we believe the MEC is the future for the Majatran region.

Saif al-Ghanem, Prime Minister of the Republic of Badara

With regard to Minister Iona of Hobrazia, again we concede that this is the most controversial article.

As for the culture fund, I hereby second Minister Iona and hereby propose the following amendment to Part Three, Chapter 4 - The Majatran Social Fund;

ARTICLE LXXXVI
In order to foster, among its Member States, a sense of shared heritage, cultural exchange, and the development of the fine arts within the Community, the Social Fund shall also;
(a) arrange and fund, in conjunction with the willing Member States, cultural expositions in the various States to promote the exchange and understanding of cultures;
(b) promote a Majatran Museum Exchange Programme (MMEP) to allow for greater ease in loaning artifacts and installations of significant cultural, artistic, or archaeological value between the museums of different Member States;
(c) arrange and fund increased curriculum opportunities surrounding foreign languages within the Community;
(d) pursuant to (c), foster the exchange of educational professionals between nations with a living stipend to allow such persons to travel with ease between Member States for the purpose of tutoring students of their host State in their native language; and
(e) create and fund the Majatran Association of the Arts (MAA), which shall strive to collect, distribute, and translate works of art, literature, and music within Member States to allow for their consumption in other States.

[NightStar130]

Beso Iona, Minister of foreign affairs of the Hobrazian republic

We thank the Prime minister for this amendment to the social fund, we support this treaty which will bring growth and prosperity to the Majatran community.