After finishing his call with Celia Miller, Simon set aside the documents related to the Rivne Nuclear Plant and the Nokia factory and began reviewing two other reports that had also been discussed with her.
The first came from the Rivne city government.
During Simon's last visit to Ukraine, he had casually mentioned the idea of turning Rivne into an economic special zone, similar to those in China, while chatting with a few high-ranking officials from Rivne Oblast. What he had thought was merely casual conversation during a reception had evidently been taken seriously. The officials had quickly begun working on the idea.
The document in Simon's hands was a draft proposal from the Rivne city government that they planned to submit to the Kyiv authorities, outlining the establishment of an economic special zone.
Moreover, several officials from Rivne Oblast had already embarked on a fact-finding trip to China. By the time the document reached Simon, the delegation had already departed.
Simon had never intended to help Ukraine achieve economic prosperity. However, if this plan succeeded, it would benefit the Westeros system's operations in Rivne Oblast.
Economic special zones often lead to more open financial environments, making it easier for foreign capital, like the Westeros system, to enter and exit freely. Additionally, these zones tend to offer significant incentives such as reduced tariffs and import-export duties, all of which would benefit foreign investors.
Though Ukraine's industrial heartland was in the southeast, with Rivne being part of the more underdeveloped agricultural northwest, Rivne still had certain advantages. It bordered Poland and had a well-developed transportation network connecting it to Western Europe, making it an ideal trade hub.
The idea was sound, but implementation would be challenging.
Ukraine was in a state of economic collapse, and a proposal for a special zone that would make foreign investment more attractive was likely to face opposition. Regions like Kyiv, the power base of the Dnipropetrovsk Clan in Dnipropetrovsk, the port city of Odessa, and the industrial center of Donetsk would all vie for such a privilege.
Compared to Kyiv or these other powerful regions, Rivne, still in its early stages of development, seemed far from being qualified as a special zone.
Therefore, Simon advised Celia to tell the Rivne Oblast government to delay submitting the proposal for at least a year. Otherwise, even if Kyiv approved the plan, the chances of Rivne being chosen as a special zone were slim. However, preparations such as the fact-finding trip to China were a good start.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and it was always good to be prepared.
The second document was a loan request from Yekaterina's father, Maksim Noskov.
Simon had already rejected the request during his time in Ukraine and had also declined Maksim's request for a meeting. Nonetheless, Maksim hadn't given up and had approached Celia.
According to Celia, Maksim was not particularly persuasive. During their meeting, he had spent an hour and a half meticulously going over every detail of the loan's intended use, and somehow Celia had found herself agreeing to it.
The amount wasn't particularly large, involving 100 or so individual and collective farms, totaling about $25 million.
Celia, knowing Simon had turned down the loan, had quietly used her connections to secure the funds for Maksim.
The money came from the Netherlands.
The Netherlands, with a land area of just 40,000 square kilometers and a population of over 14 million, had a high population density and could not sustain its population's food needs through domestic production alone. It was one of Western Europe's largest grain importers.
During the Soviet era, the Netherlands had been one of Ukraine's primary grain export destinations, often ranking among the top three, providing the Soviet Union with hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign exchange annually.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine's agricultural sector fell into disarray. Despite being the "breadbasket of Europe," Ukraine had to import food to feed its population, halting grain exports to the Netherlands. The Dutch were forced to buy more expensive grain from North and South America.
Now that Ukraine's political situation was stabilizing, the Netherlands wanted to reopen this affordable grain source.
Agriculture, one of Ukraine's most lucrative industries, was also a key part of the Westeros system's strategy. Last year, Sergey Komarov's Alderac company had established a subsidiary focused on grain exports, and business was already well underway.
Leveraging Alderac's connections, Celia had secured a 50 million Dutch guilder loan (about $29.5 million) from a Dutch bank interested in supporting Ukrainian agriculture, slightly more than the original request.
Because it was a subsidized agricultural loan with a three-year term, the interest rate was only 4.5%, and the loan could be repaid in grain over the next three years.
Having utilized the Westeros system's resources, Celia brought the matter to Simon's attention, offering to cancel the deal if he insisted.
Simon, of course, didn't object.
Moreover, he understood Celia's intentions. It was hard for anyone with a bit of compassion to refuse a sincere request from a middle-aged man who simply wanted to help struggling farmers, especially when it was something easily within reach.
Now that the money was coming from the Netherlands, Simon had no reason to intervene.
There was also no need for Simon to worry about whether the money would be used appropriately. Since the Dutch were the ones providing the funds, they would undoubtedly oversee the loan's disbursement and ensure the proper use of the funds.
As Simon was mulling over these thoughts, his phone rang. His assistant, Allison, informed him that Francis Levison had arrived. Simon set aside his thoughts and asked Allison to show him in.
Negotiations regarding the Westeros system's investment in the Levison Group were still ongoing, but the deal was more or less finalized. Unless Simon changed his mind, nothing significant was expected to change. Simon and Francis Levison, head of the Levison Group, had scheduled this meeting to discuss the company's future direction. Francis had flown in from Florida that morning.
With the Westeros system's $1.5 billion investment, Levison Group's financial strain would be relieved. After repaying some pressing debts, the remaining funds would be used for operations, primarily to develop Levison's land holdings in Miami.
The U.S. real estate market was already beginning to recover.
By launching new projects now, Levison would be well-positioned to capitalize on the improving market next year, gaining an edge over other developers and securing a larger market share during the decade-long real estate boom that was expected to follow.
Given the maturity of the U.S. real estate market and its regulatory policies, it was difficult for any single developer to become a true giant. Therefore, Simon's plan was for Levison to expand internationally.
China and Eastern Europe were prime targets.
Of course, Simon was well aware of the many barriers in the real estate industry.
However, with the Westeros system's extensive network of connections and influence, overcoming these barriers was no longer a significant challenge.
For example, even if Levison couldn't directly operate in China, entering the market through joint ventures would still be possible. Levison's experienced development and operations team could help local partners avoid many pitfalls. In fact, many of China's real estate giants had modeled their operations, such as the CBD concept, after foreign developers.
Simon and Levison talked for an hour and a half before Francis left to catch a flight back to Florida.
Simon then returned to his work until after six o'clock, when Janet called, urging him to come home. Even on his way back to the estate, Simon was still reviewing a draft of the Communications Decency Act that had just arrived from Washington.
The term "decency" gave away the content of the legislation.
The act aimed to regulate the widespread proliferation of adult content on the internet.
Few people, regardless of gender, had never encountered adult content online. However, not many considered just how much money was involved in this sector.
Simon, of course, was well aware.
According to his knowledge, the adult industry accounted for 20% of internet traffic, generating billions in revenue each year. In terms of financial impact, the online adult industry was on par with tech giants like Google and Amazon.
While being associated with it carried a bad reputation, the financial allure was undeniable. Simon sometimes found himself tempted to carve out a piece of the pie.
But given his status, he could only fantasize about it. If he didn't want to be publicly condemned, that is.
Many others, however, were not so restrained.
In recent years, numerous adult websites had popped up, including a few pioneering video-sharing sites.
Due to bandwidth costs, even professional content sites had yet to fully embrace video. Other than a few experimental video features offered by Egret, no major video platforms had emerged. Even companies with the necessary patents, thanks to licensing from Egret, had postponed their plans.
Yet the adult industry was already pushing the boundaries.
Despite the poor resolution and crude nature of the videos, they were, without a doubt, ahead of their time.
In Simon's eyes, it was reminiscent of how wars tend to drive technological advancements.
Although he wouldn't involve himself directly, the Westeros system had been quietly advocating for relevant legislation. The fact was that the adult industry had significantly contributed to the internet's growth. Many early internet users had connected online solely to access certain types of free content.
Moreover, legislation would help shield companies like Egret and America Online from legal risks.
For example, the search engine business.
While Simon would never enter the adult industry, search engines that indexed online content would inevitably encounter such material.
Without clear laws in place, these gray areas could lead to lawsuits. If search engines linked to adult content, they could be accused of
endangering minors, opening them up to class-action lawsuits.
Egret had already faced such lawsuits last year.
Fortunately, Google Search, one of Egret's smaller ventures, had remained relatively under the radar, despite its rapidly growing user base. The lawsuits were settled quietly without escalating into large-scale class actions.
As a precaution, Google temporarily hid or blocked adult websites, forcing users to dig several pages deep to find anything.
Once the Communications Decency Act was passed, establishing clear guidelines, Google would no longer need to obscure such content.
As long as everything was done by the book, there would be no need to fear opportunistic lawsuits.
In Simon's opinion, whether it was video games or certain types of online content, parents should be the ones responsible for monitoring what their children accessed.
That was a parental responsibility, not the content provider's problem.
Any parent who paid even minimal attention to their child's activities could prevent most of these issues.
In his past life, Simon had always found it ridiculous when parents complained about their children spending thousands on in-game purchases and demanded refunds while blaming the games for their children's addiction. The real problem wasn't the games but the irresponsible parents making the noise.
How could a seven or twelve-year-old rack up such charges unless the parents had been neglectful?
Entertainment is a normal part of modern life.
Whether it's movies, TV, music, or video games, they all have a rightful place in society. The more developed a country is, the more prosperous these industries are. So why is it that in other countries, people don't constantly cry out about these things corrupting the youth?
It's because, in those places, parents take their responsibilities seriously. Blaming video games for a child's behavior is like blaming a weapon for a murder.
"A child not taught is a father's fault."
Ancient wisdom had made this simple truth clear long ago.
As a result, neither Daenerys nor Egret had ever been overly concerned about producing content within the established rules. With comprehensive regulations already in place and ample warnings provided, if youths were still "corrupted," it was solely the parents' fault for neglecting their duties. Simon certainly wasn't going to take on that responsibility.
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