After ending the call with Celia Miller, Simon put aside the information on the two projects of Rivni Nuclear Power Plant and Nokia Factory, and re-read the other two documents that he had just discussed with Celia.
The first came from the Rivni Municipality.
During Simon's last trip to Ukraine, he happened to chat with several senior government officials in Rivne Oblast about the achievements of China's reform and opening up, and casually mentioned the idea of establishing Rivni as a special economic zone similar to some in China. It was originally a casual chat during the cocktail party, but unexpectedly, it was remembered by the other party, and they quickly tried to take action.
The document in hand is the special economic zone plan that the Rivni city government drafted during this period and plans to submit to the Kiev authorities.
Not only that, some senior officials of the Rivne Oblast government also planned to go to China for an on-site inspection. When the documents arrived in Simon's hands, the inspection team had already set off.
Simon never had any intention of helping Ukraine develop its economy and prosper.
However, if this plan can succeed, it will be more beneficial to the layout of the Westeros system in Rivne Oblast.
Because special economic zones often mean a more open financial investment environment, it is easy for overseas capital such as the Westeros system to enter and exit. It can be said to come and go freely, and it also inevitably means strong import and export tariffs. Stimulating policies that are beneficial to foreign businessmen such as tax exemptions and exemptions.
On the other hand, although Ukraine's developed industrial areas are located in the southeast of the country, and the northwest belongs to backward traditional agricultural areas, Rivne Oblast actually has its own advantages. This northwest state is only separated from Poland by Warren State is a state that is geographically close to Western Europe and has a complete highway and railway transportation network connecting Western Europe. It basically meets all the conditions of a 'treaty port'.
The idea is great, but it is not easy to implement.
The entire Ukraine is now in a state of decline, waiting for rice to be put into the pot. Once the idea of such a 'special economic zone', which will inevitably greatly increase the attractiveness of foreign investment, is proposed, various parts of Ukraine will inevitably raise objections and even compete with each other.
Compared with the capital Kiev, compared with the city of Petrovsk, the base behind the Petrovsk Gang, which is the most powerful of the Ukrainian authorities, compared with Odessa, a large port city on the Black Sea in the south, and compared with the industrial town of Donetsk in the east, No matter how you look at it, Rivni, which is still just in need of development, does not have the qualifications to become a special economic zone.
Therefore, Simon’s reply to Celia was to ask the Rovne region government to delay submitting this plan to the authorities for at least a year.
Otherwise, even if the Kiev authorities adopt this plan, and even if more than one special economic zone is finalized, the possibility that it will fall on Rivni in the end is very small. Of course, it is also okay for the Rovne Oblast government to start taking various preparatory measures, such as going to China for inspections, etc.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, so it’s never wrong to prepare in advance.
Another document is the loan application from Ekaterina's father, Maxim Noskov.
Simon directly rejected the application when he was in Ukraine, and then rejected Maxim's request for an interview. Unexpectedly, the other party still did not give up and even approached Celia.
According to Celia's description, Maxim is obviously not a person who is good at persuading others. During the interview with her, the other party just introduced the purpose of each sum of money to Celia in detail, and listed a full number of items in detail. Half an hour later, Celia couldn't help but agreed somewhat inexplicably.
In fact, this amount of money is not much, involving a total of more than 100 individual farms and collective farms, and the cumulative amount is only about 25 million US dollars.
Celia learned that Simon had vetoed the loan application and secretly used her connections to help Maxim solve the matter.
Funding comes from the Netherlands.
The Netherlands, a developed country in Western Europe with a land area of only 40,000 square kilometers, has a population of more than 14 million. The population density is far higher than that of its neighboring countries. The compact land area is obviously unable to support food production for a population of 14 million. Therefore, the Netherlands is also the largest food producer in Western Europe. One of the importing countries.
During the former Soviet Union, the Netherlands was one of the important grain export target countries in Ukraine. It was always ranked among the top three Ukrainian grain exporters and brought hundreds of millions of dollars worth of foreign exchange to the former Soviet Union every year.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian agricultural production collapsed. As the 'breadbasket of Europe', it was once necessary to import food to meet the needs of the people. As a result, the Netherlands' food imports from Ukraine were also interrupted, and they had to spend relatively high prices every year to import food from North America and Latin America imports grain.
As the political situation in Ukraine gradually stabilizes, the Netherlands naturally wants to reopen this cheap source of food imports.
As one of the most profitable industries in Ukraine, the Westeros system will not let go of the grain export business in the country's layout. The Oldek Company headed by Sergei Komorov was established last year. A subsidiary company focusing on grain export has been established and the business has been successfully launched.
Using the contacts of the grain export company owned by Oldeker Company, Celia quickly obtained a loan of 50 million Dutch guilders, equivalent to US$29.5 million, from a Dutch bank interested in supporting Ukrainian grain production, which was more than what Maxim applied for. There are even more loans.
Because it is a support agricultural loan, it has a three-year term and an annual interest rate of only 4.5%, and it can be repaid directly with grain in the next three years.
After all, the resources of the Westeros system were used. Although the matter was basically finalized, Celia still talked to Simon first and said that if he insisted, the cooperation could still be cancelled.
Of course Simon wouldn't do that.
Moreover, Simon can probably understand Celia's thoughts, a sincere request from a middle-aged man who just wants to do something for the people in trouble around him, not to mention a person who does whatever he can and is a little emotional. It’s hard to say no.
Now that the Netherlands is providing the money, Simon has no reason to intervene.
Simon doesn't need to worry about whether the money can be realized. Since the Netherlands is willing to pay, they will definitely carry out relevant supervision, so they just agreed directly.
Girl A's voice came from the desk phone, reminding Frances Levison that Frances Levison had arrived. Simon retracted these thoughts and asked Alison to bring him in.
Some details of the Westeros System's investment in the Levison Group are still being negotiated. However, this matter is basically a certainty. Unless Simon himself goes back on his word, there will be no further changes. Simon and Francis Levison, the head of the Levison Group, agreed to discuss some future development ideas for the company today. Levison had just flown over from Florida in the morning.
In the plan, after receiving the US$1.5 billion from the Westeros Company as a stake, the Levison Group's tight capital chain will be completely alleviated. After repaying part of the urgent due debt, the remaining funds will be used for corporate operations. , primarily the development of the Levison Group’s reserve land in Miami.
The real estate industry in the United States has begun to recover.
Starting new project development now, starting from next year, when the market picks up, we can gain more market share before other real estate developers, and through this opportunity, a virtuous cycle will be formed in the U.S. real estate boom that will last for more than ten years in the future.
Because the real estate industry in the United States itself is very mature, coupled with the policy restrictions on the real estate industry, it is difficult for this country to have a large-scale real estate giant. Therefore, Simon's plan is for the Leveson Group to expand overseas.
Such as China, such as Eastern Europe.
Simon is certainly aware of the various barriers to protection in the real estate industry.
However, it is no longer a problem for the rapidly expanding Westeros system to break through these hidden industry restrictions through intricate interest relationships.
Just like China, even if Levison Group cannot participate in the battle in person, it is still feasible to enter the Chinese market through joint ventures. Levison Group's experienced real estate development and operation team can help overseas-supported joint ventures avoid many detours. China's memories Many real estate giants, such as the CBD model and other operating methods, are actually imitating overseas real estate companies.
The two chatted for an hour and a half before Francis Leveson took his leave.
The other party also wants to fly directly back to Florida.
Simon continued to handle some affairs until after six o'clock, Janet personally called to urge him, and then he went home from get off work. Even on the way back to Dume Point Manor, Simon was still reading a draft of the Communications Decency Act that had just arrived from Washington.
Just by using the word "weather", you can probably understand the content of this bill.
Mainly, the federal government is enacting legislation to regulate the adult-related content that is already quite prevalent on the Internet at this stage.
There are probably not many people, male or female, who have not been exposed to adult content on the Internet. However, probably not many people have considered how many interests are involved in this field.
Simon knew it.
According to the information in my memory, only the online part of the adult industry accounts for up to 20% of the entire Internet traffic, and the revenue brought by related industries has reached the level of hundreds of billions of dollars every year, no less than super giants such as Google or Amazon. The revenue volume of technology giants.
Although getting involved in it would have a very bad reputation, it is definitely a piece of fat that people are attracted to. Occasionally thinking about it, Simon had to admit that he wanted to cut a piece of cake out of it.
Of course, with Simon's current status, if he didn't want to be drowned in saliva, he could only think about it.
Many other people have no such scruples.
Therefore, in recent years, many related websites have appeared on the Internet, and even some video websites have appeared very early.
You must know that due to factors such as traffic costs, except for the small amount of video or live broadcast content launched by the Yigrit portal, professional regular content video websites have not yet appeared, including companies that have obtained relevant patent authorizations from Yigrit. Related projects can only be put on hold temporarily.
The adult industry figured something out first.
Even if it's just a very rough and low-resolution video, it's definitely something ahead of its time.
In Simon's opinion, this is almost the same as war promoting the development of science and technology.
Although it will never be involved, the Westeros system is still very active in quietly promoting relevant legislation. Because, an irrefutable fact is that related industries have indeed greatly promoted the development of the Internet. The reason why many Internet users choose to access the Internet is to find some free content.
Moreover, legislative regulations in related industries can also prevent companies such as Igret and AOL, which are network gateways, from encountering litigation risks.
For example, search engine business.
Simon will not be involved in related industries, but as an online search tool that aggregates and organizes Internet content, search engines will inevitably touch certain areas.
In the absence of formal legislation, this area is in a gray area. Once search engines provide relevant links, some people will inevitably make a fuss and initiate claims and lawsuits against relevant companies on the grounds of endangering young people. Once similar lawsuits appear, they are often Class action lawsuit.
This kind of thing actually started to happen to Ygritte last year.
Fortunately, the Google search engine has always been a marginal business of Igrit to outsiders. Although the usage has been rising rapidly, the attention has been very low under the operation of the Westeros system, and the relevant lawsuits have been properly handled. It did not evolve into a large-scale class action lawsuit.
Therefore, at this stage, the Google search engine owned by Igret has temporarily blocked or hidden relevant websites, and users often have to flip through several pages to find even half of them.
As long as the Communications Decency Act is passed and there are laws to follow, Google will no longer need to be secretive about this.
As long as you follow the rules, you don't have to worry about someone deliberately looking for trouble.
In fact, Simon has always believed that whether it is video games or certain content on the Internet, for teenagers, the main body of supervision should be parents.
This is the natural responsibility of parents, not the responsibility of content providers.
As long as parents with a little sense of responsibility pay a little attention to restricting their children on weekdays, all kinds of bad things will not happen.
In the memory of his previous life, whenever he saw reports of minors recharging tens of thousands to play games, and after the incident, parents asked the game company to return the money, blaming games for making minors addicted, Simon couldn't help but feel ridiculous, and he didn't do anything about it. Thinking that the problem is with gaming, the root cause lies with those hateful parents who are shouting about it.
How laissez-faire and indulgent do these people have to be to allow some seven-, eight-, eleven- or twelve-year-old children the opportunity to top up money on games
Entertainment is a normal need for everyone in modern society.
Whether it is movies, television or music games, they are all very legitimate. The more developed countries are, the more prosperous the related industries are. Why don't others clamor all day long that these things are poisonous to young people and should be banned
Because parents who are supposed to be responsible for supervising education have seriously neglected their duties, and after an accident happened, they blamed the game on the game. This is as absurd as blaming the murder weapon on the murder weapon.
It's the father's fault if he doesn't teach him.
Our ancestors have explained this simple truth thousands of years ago.
Therefore, whether it is Daenerys or Ygritte, Simon has never had many scruples in the fields of movies, TV, games, social networking, music, etc., as long as the content is produced within the scope of the rules.
Various national-level laws and regulations have been quite perfect, and there is no shortage of reminders. If there are still teenagers who are 'poisoned', then it is 'poisoned' and the parents who should be in charge will not care about it, and Simon will not worry about it. , and he never felt he had any responsibility.