Gerard,
first of all, pursuing cooperations like this will always be very slow
as long as it's a completely volunteer-driven effort. I think Wikimedia
absolutely needs several people who can work on such matters full-time.
Of course, you could ask the organization you have spoken to if they
would be willing to fund the preparation itself (technical evaluation,
research, planning, negotiation).
However, I also think we will have a much better negotiation position
once Wikidata is past the prototype stage. Getting international
metadata for Wikipedia for free is indeed a fascinating prospect, but I
don't see it as an issue we need to address *right now*.
Best,
Erik