Western Union Summits

The Western Union's leaders (heads of state and/or government) often gather for spontaneous summits, agreed upon only days or a couple of weeks in advance and in a different location each time, where they discuss key issues and make important decisions that affect their countries, their organization and, depending on what topic is proposed, entire Antarctica. This page provides a list of all Western Union summits, with some described in greater detail than the others, implying they are among the more important ones.

2018 Economic and Business Forum
The 2018 Western Union Economic and Business Forum is a summit of Western Union political, economic and business leaders that took place in Margate City, Margate from 14 to 19 May 2018. Entrepreneurs from all across Antarctica took part in this summit to discuss the topic of investing in Western Union nations and to discuss the prospect of companies moving their headquarters to the Western Union, as well as for discussing new innovations and ways to improve the economy.

Heads of state and government from all over the Western Union participated in this summit, and Sealien president Christina van Guilera participated in this summit as well, even though he country is not a Western Union member. Notable people that participated in the summit include Slender, the Magonian emperor and business magnate, and Filip Mikulec, the CEO of Agrocorp. The summit was a major success, and during this crisis the Western Union Commission negotiated with President McClark on how to end a crisis as a result of the Winsburg Framework.

At this summit, Commission president Ludovica Carvillia brought up the topic of adopting the Circum to the member states. Only the United Provinces and Candvia agreed to switch and Acadia, Emperorlands and Dragonstone said they would consider it, while all other member states rejected and stated that they will not be adopting the Circum, and that only when they are fully ready they might consider it. Duck Island has been the most persistent of all Western Union member states in their choice to reject the Circum, with President Fat Duck stating that 'Duck Island might never be ready to adopt the Circum, and that the people aren't willing to give up their awesome duck coins either'.

Event
This event was a huge success from the beginning as businessmen from all over Antarctica,as well as either heads of state or heads of government from every single member state, attended the forum.

Day One
Every political leader gave their speech in which they talked about further progress and further incentivizing businesses to move to the Western Union. There were talks of further increasing cooperation between the member states on key economic issues. President Simon McClark of the United Provinces announced his nation would completely switch to green energy alternatives by the end of the decade, and this was welcomed with an applause from various business leaders and several other Western delegations.

That evening, some key business leaders and all 12 heads of state / government of the Western Union gathered for a formal dinner at the luxurious palace in the wealthy Lhangi district of Margate City. The dinner brought the leaders closer to the entrepreneurs and everybody shared laughs. Fine and top quality Margatian cream soda was served for this occasion, a type of cream soda only available to the wealthiest of the wealthiest of Margatians and penguins. Among the people attending that dinner was Slender, who had to leave early as a result of a sickness.

A five-star hotel near the center of the city was reserved for all of the people in attendance at this forum. This is the hotel where they all decided to sleep the nights in, and it offered a great customer service and very warm saunas and hot tubs underground.

Day Two
Everybody in the hotel was woken up around 6:45 AM. President McClark, according to SRT (Snowinian Radio-Television, the UP state-owned media), took a warm shower and went down to have a breakfast with President Frederick Mueller of Margate, whom he shared a toast with butter and some coffee with. The two discussed the Winsburg Framework, and have reportedly agreed on many issues regarding the framework. It was 8:10 AM when this breakfast finished, and with nothing else to do until around 11 AM, they decided to play golf together. That's when Presidents Brant Esser of Acadia and Penguino Lagois IV of Tropicalis joined in.

They played several rounds of golf. Once the finished, they had a chat on the benches, which reportedly was about various informal and trivial stuff. They later headed towards the Telok Bunga Integrated Resort to meet Slender. He confirmed that last night's sickness is over and that he is able to resume with the meeting. Being that he was not only a businessman but also the emperor of Magonia, the four presidents talked to Slender about creating a trade deal between the Western Union and Magonia. The emperor enthusiastically agreed, and they agreed the details of such a trade deal would be discussed later.



Around 3 PM, Frederick Mueller and Maria Creslana (Prime Minister of Candvia) held a widely anticipated press conference in the Presidential Palace in Margate City. Mueller talked about Margate's ever increasing friendship with Candvia and called Candvia a brotherly nation and Creslana "the greatest Candvian in history". Creslana then jokingly called Mueller the greatest Candvian in history as well, implying he is a great friend of Candvia and her people and that he is therefore a Candvian as well. Creslana also extended to Mueller an invitation to visit Candvia and meet King Paul II as part of a state visit.

Around 6 PM, President Mueller welcomed The Globalist, the President of Munijoch, at the Margate City-Lhangi International Airport. Around 7:30 PM, they arrived at the same palace as yesterday for a formal dinner with just the leaders of the 12 member states + Seal Islands, Magonia and Munijoch, the three "distinguished guests", out of whom the Seal Islands leader Christina van Guilera arrived a day before the forum as part of a state visit to Margate.

Day Three
The biggest day of the forum. It was the day each Western Union leader would privately meet with the business leaders. This lasted throughout most of the day - from 10 AM through to 5 PM, with a lunch break between 1 PM and 2 PM. McClark, however, was interviewed by the United Provinces news organizations that evening and he announced he will be "making a major announcement on Saturday", and stated that the United Provinces will be adopting the Circum as their sole official currency this weekend.

Among many things, the Finipino Armed Forces, along with Dew's Point, unveiled a new line of stim darts that would be exclusively sold to member states of the Western Union. In comparison to the last versions of the stim darts, these would be smaller and circular in shape, meant to lock into the skin upon contact. Due to the design shift, this would cause an increase in potency of the stimulant, leading to the current versions having a longer effectivity.

Day Four
This day was relatively relaxed as there was no meeting among business leaders. Instead, businesspeople from all around the Western Union attended a conference at one of Margate City’s casino resorts. Several startup founders pitched their startups to investors in it. It is estimated that over 4 billion CPC was raised in this conference alone for over 85 startups all over the WU.

2018 Pontilex Summit
The 2018 Pontilex Western Union Summit took place from 2 July to 6 July. All Western Union leaders were scheduled to attend. Major issues were discussed at this summit with as many as 15 proposals in total, mostly by the United Provinces, Candvia and the Emperorlands.

Kermit and Orange Juice


Duck Island's government proposed that a Union-wide ban on Kermit's entry and a ban on the production, sale and drinking of orange juice be instated. They explained that Kermit is a puppet controlled by Chill57181 (nobody knows why he was chosen for this accusation) bent on taking over Antarctica, who, in addition to that, is also an orange juice-drinking Neo-Naughtzee. This motion was immediately laughed at and mocked, but it got significant attention within the Western Union due to the powerful influence of a certain young, rather insignificant man on the policies of member states such as Duck Island and Acadia.

Acadia, surprisingly, became the first nation to declare its support for Union-wide orange juice regulations, though it demanded that licenses on who can produce and drink orange juice be instated instead. Acadia's proposal was widely mocked, and a caricature (seen on the left) was created that mocks that proposal. The president of the United Provinces Simon McClark, however, turned down any hopes or fears these proposals would pass by stating that his country 'would veto it', with the Finipines, Tropicalis, Candvia and the Emperorlands following suit in expressing their opposition to this 'insane, illiberal proposal'. The Margatians vetoed these two proposals as well, with President Mueller famously saying “We Margatians shall drink whatever we want, whenever we want and however much we want”. Additionally, he also derided the proposed ban on Kermit in an exclusive interview, claiming that it is the most preposterous proposal ever in this summit and possibly in the entire organisation’s history, along with the orange juice restriction proposal.

Renaming the Union
The idea of possibly renaming the Western Union came to light again as the United Provinces proposed it be renamed to the Circular Union. However, Duck Island was quick to promise to veto the proposal in fear of the Circum eventually being forced onto all members, to which the United Provinces responded by denying the name is a result of the currency's creation, instead explaining that the former name of the Western Union was the Circular Powers.

More opposition came to this idea as most people did not actually like the name, with Tropicalis stating they are fine with the current name. This sentiment is also shared by the Margatians, despite how geographically incorrect it is.

Culture Protection Act
The United Provinces, with sponsorship from Candvia, proposed that an organization called WESCO (Western Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) be established that would promote education, science and culture in the Western Union and also protect cultural monuments, national heritage and heritage sites. Additionally, under this act, WESCO officials would be sent to various cultural monuments and heritage sites in the Western Union nations and put them under the protection of this organization, with various punishments should those monuments and sites be damaged or their care violated. WESCO would also gather a list of intangible cultural heritage elements in each country, including traditional dances, music, arts and more that are in need of protection.

Proponents agree that the culture of each country should be protected by international treaties and the Western Union and that such traditions and beliefs are part of the history of the Western Union member nations, while opponents believe that the current levels of protection of national heritage is good enough and there is no reason for the Western Union to interfere. This proposal is strongly backed by Candvia, which is very protective of its culture and wishes to see it protected on an international level. It is also backed by the Margatians.

Small Business Act
The United Provinces proposed that the Western Union work on introducing tax cuts for small businesses and increase agricultural and industrial subsidies to small businesses and farms in hopes of achieving higher economic growth and in hopes that such moves would help small corporations grow and therefore also create new jobs in the countries. The Republic of Margate is in favour of this proposal as it can grow its economy.

Trivia

 * This is the largest Western Union-exclusive summit in history, with officials and leaders of all 12 member states ending - the first time they are gathered at such a summit.