Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 24/01/201 - 23/07/2011

Fahdawi expected to discuss Biden in his upcoming visit to the country, the U.S. withdrawal and the federal

Predicted MP Khalid Fahdawi center coalition to discuss the U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, in his upcoming visit to Iraq, a U.S. withdrawal from the country and the issue of federalism.

He told all of Iraq [where] on Tuesday that "it is expected to discuss the Biden during his upcoming visit to the country after renewed federalism applied recently to claim that theorists of federalism and division in Iraq."

He Fahdawi "as is also expected to discuss Biden's withdrawal from Iraq amid U.S. turmoil and changes in the Arab region, which will probably have repercussions on the Iraqi situation."

The MP for the coalition of the center "position of the mass refusal to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after the planned withdrawal date of the end of this year, under any pretext."

The parliamentary sources announced a planned visit by Vice President George W Joe Biden to Iraq in the coming days.

The U.S. combat troops pulled out under the Convention of the cities, villages and towns of Iraq on 30 June 2009

http://www.alliraqnews.com/index.php...6125&Itemid=86

Full Details of Iraq’s DFI Transfer from UN


Further to the recent news regarding the transfer of control of the Development Fund for Iraq from the UN to Iraqi control, full details of the final meeting of the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB)‘s last meeting in Amman, Jordan, on 30th June, are attached below.
Please click here to download the IAMB’s press release;

And click here to read the final report of the IAMB.

http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/201...nsfer-from-un/

Creation of Iraq national oil company not essential

The creation of a new Iraqi National Oil Company to run the OPEC member’s energy sector is not essential and might confuse the work of the oil ministry, Iraq’s oil minister said Sunday.

Iraq’s cabinet approved a draft law setting up a new national oil company in 2009, but the legislation has languished amid political turmoil and a change of government in the war-battered nation.

"If this law was passed, then I ask ’What would it add to Iraq’s oil sector?’ I say nothing," Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi said in an address to parliament’s oil and energy committee. "Our companies are doing the same job. No need for establishing this company."

The long-awaited creation of the Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC), which would revive a state-run firm established in the 1960s and merged into the Iraqi Oil Ministry in 1987, had been a central plank of Iraq’s plan to turn around its struggling oil sector to take advantage of its vast mineral wealth.

A package of legislation including a modern hydrocarbons law, a revenue-sharing law and a law to restructure the oil ministry has sparked fierce debate and disagreement between political parties for years.

The semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region has been moving aggressively to develop oil and gas reserves in its territory, clashing with the central government over who has the authority to sign oil contracts.

Amendments to the draft oil law are being reviewed by the cabinet’s energy committee before it refers the legislation to parliament.

Luaibi criticized the duties of INOC described in the draft bill, which include entering into exploration, drilling, development and production contracts, as well as contracts for shipping oil and gas.

"If we have two organizations with the job of marketing oil, then this will definitely create problems," he said.

Thamir Ghadhban, the top energy adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, defended the bill and said reviving INOC was vital for the development of the energy sector.

"The establishment of an independent National Oil Company is very essential to develop Iraq’s energy sector, with the oil ministry to ... formulate oil policy," Ghadhban said

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index...20110705104511

A joint venture to implement the free trade zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and Iraq

revealed a government source Kuwaiti joint venture between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Iraq to establish a joint free trade zone on the borders of three countries, and the dialogue is based heavily and fast to prepare for this project.

The source told Al-Dar Kuwaiti: The free zone will be established on an area of 585 km 2 between the areas of patchy and Salmi on the Iraqi border, pointing out that the aim of establishing dotted is to serve the province of the States Persian Gulf, as well as Yemen, Iran and Turkey.

He said the region is an important tributary of free trade in the three countries, and keep pace with the economic development of the region, and can be used to the long term. He pointed out that the idea, proposed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, is expected to be an important factor for the exchange of trade between the countries in question.

He continued: The next stage will see the start of official talks between the three countries to agree on the implementation of this idea on the ground, and provide all the facilities necessary for this region in terms of the cost of the project establishment and approval of its system and take advantage of it, pointing out that the three countries have the desire to establish such a gigantic project, which is expected to impact positively on the economies of many other countries.

http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?nam...onomy&id=40580

Economist: infrastructure is able to withstand the next investment

sparked an economist subject is very important and the most important challenge in blocking the implementation of investment projects, the giant in Iraq when it is selected for the three challenges he considered the main obstacle and said economic expert Hassan al-Asadi: that Iraq's infrastructure in its current state is not able to afford the significant investment the next, especially regarding the means of external and internal, pointing out that this challenge was a companion of the plan explosive as the period after the nationalization of oil and inflation, the budget, where as the infrastructure was unable to bear such projects Fdamt treated 7-year promise that experience useful to benefit from its mistakes to overcome obstacles to the implementation of future projects.

He In an exclusive interview for economic morning about the problem of investment challenges that the environment is safe, which must be met is the biggest challenge for foreign investors and pointed out that local investors prepared by the less a challenge and as a result, most of the projects carried out now is by Iraqi investors.

and said to encourage the investment we have to work in parallel with the creation of roads and internal unable to afford the investment and upcoming projects in order to be ready already.

Asadi explained that this problem is visible in large and when there are any religious event or a military parade and prevent the trucks in this day find in today's second great difficulty in transportation especially on the highways and you can imagine the volume of economic losses, so what if it started companies building projects inevitably will be the phenomenon casting a shadow over the execution time and accrue to the economic losses requires efforts from now on the implementation of infrastructure projects in parallel with other projects.

Another challenge for the least inferior to his predecessors, goes on-Asadi said: so far the preparation of regulations and instructions to implement the Investment Law No. 13 of 2006 integrated enough.

and said maybe this subject naturally because we are new to the Covenant in the investment, but should focus efforts in order to proceed to invest in Iraq, larger
and called for the need for a realistic consideration of the investment today and through the promotion of an Iraqi investor as a viable security challenge and obstacle to enter the foreign investor and this treatment requires scrutiny scientifically new each local investor and you'll find a good percentage of Iraqis could do nothing.

He said: The truth is that Iraqi investor lacks the capital if the Iraqi state to guarantee some of the projects investment they know the extent of the success of this project from any foreign bank. He hinted that the Law No. 13 of 2006 which Maiwkd this guarantee, as the article (9) of paragraph (8) stipulates that the State encourage Iraqi investors and that by giving them soft loans with long-term coordination with the Ministry of Finance and other financial institutions that the investor will run local labor commensurate with the size of the loan.

He said as the State can be imposed on the Iraqi investor specialized construction to provide foreign expertise in construction and this is what he needs really Veseljo foreign expertise and Alaqah the Iraqi experience and contribute to developing Iraqi expertise and access to the degree of rivalry with them in the future.

and on the question on the implementation of projects on credit confirmed al-Asadi said there are many of the leading global investment firms have a desire to invest in Iraq once guaranteeing them the government that this project or that the country needs and there are banks, large international ready to fund the Iraqi projects, but wants guarantees of a particular government.

He touched on in his talk on the importance of investment in the housing sector and the implications of this bug absorb unemployment and human capacity development in this regard and will be displayed in threads to come.

http://www.alsabaah.com/ArticleShow.aspx?ID=10155

Kurdistan Parliament Speaker: Present Iraqi situation is not ready for US Forces withdrawal from Iraq

Iraq’s Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Kamal Kirkuki believes that the present Iraqi situation is not ready for US Forces withdrawal from Iraq by the end of the year.

There are still many pending issues while relations between Al Iraqiya and National Alliance are unstable, Kirkuki said noting that security ministries are still pending as well.

Kurdistan wants consensus between the different political parties in the central government over either the extension of US troops term in Iraq or their withdrawal from the country, Kirkuki said.

He called not to restrict the decision on a specified party, a source told Alsumaria.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News...from-Iraq.html

Industry Ministry invites foreign investments, companies to invest in country

Iraq's Ministry of Industry & Minerals has invited international investors, companies and financers to share in the investment opportunities in the country, through the rehabilitation and modernization of a number of its companies, being part of its private investment for 2011.

"The investment opportunities cover the state-owned Nasr Company for Mechanical Industris, the General Ur Company for Engineering Industries, the Baghdad Furniture Plant, the Ready-Clothes Plant in Najaf, the Medical Cotton Plant of the General Company for Ready-Made Clothes in Mosul," the Ministry stated, in a statement by its Assistant Director-General for Investments Department, Amer Abdul-Razzaq.

Abdul-Razzaq also said that the other state-owned companies were: "the Medical Cotton Plant, belonging to the General Company for Cotton Industries in Baghdad, seven Plants for Glass & Syramic, Medical Bottles Plant, the Samarra Medicines Plant, the Intoxicating Injections Plant in Babel, the Nineveh Medicines Company, the Paper Plant of Missan and Basra, the Najaf Tyres Plant, Ibn-Majid, Al-Faris, al-Ikha'a Companies, Phosphates Plant in Anbar, belonging to the General Company for Geological Survey & Mineralization."

Abdul-Razzaq pointed out that the "Ministry had called on investors to share in the administration and increase of productive capacities of the said companies," confirming "its readiness to present all detailed information and necessary facilities for the said companies to visit the said plants, in order to get the necessary information, provided that concentration would take place in presenting offers on the technical , developing and financial potentials."

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZA...est_in_country

Iraq's foreign workers fret over labor crackdown
One of the legions of foreign laborers in Iraq, Bangladeshi mechanic Rajauol Abdul Haq managed to provide for his three children back home despite his meager pay and long, hard hours at a Baghdad auto repair shop.

Now his life as a migrant worker in Iraq could come to an abrupt end after the government's decision to start deporting foreign workers to create more job opportunities for Iraqis as their country rebuilds after years of war.

Haq, 34, came to Iraq a year ago after mortgaging his house to pay a $5,000 fee to an employment agency to bring him to Baghdad, where he earns $300 a month and shares a room with three other Bangladeshis.

"I am living a nightmare. At any moment the Iraqi authorities could arrest me and deport me. I haven't raised the cash for the mortgage. If I return now, I will lose my house," Haq said at a garage where he was repairing a car.

Thousands of foreign workers came to Iraq after the 2003 invasion as employees for foreign companies contracted by U.S. forces, mostly working inside U.S. military bases. After 2007, private Iraqi employment agencies imported thousands more.

But with the official unemployment rate at 15 percent and another 28 percent in part-time jobs, the government plans to deport illegal foreigners. Many of the private agencies stopped work after Iraq halted visas for foreign workers on January 1.

With Iraq trying to pull back from years of war, snagging a scarce job is increasingly a priority for many Iraqis.

"We have started developing a mechanism to deport foreign laborers who entered Iraq illegally," Aziz Ibrahim, general director of the labor office at the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, told Reuters in an interview

THOUSANDS OF ILLEGALS
No one knows how many illegal workers entered Iraq or stayed after working for foreign firms that left when their contracts expired, but Ibrahim estimates the number in the thousands.

The government is only issuing work permits to workers at foreign firms that hire at least 50 percent Iraqis for their work force, officials said.

Firms importing labor must pay $5,000 for each worker to a fund to help jobless Iraqis with loans and benefits.

Thousands of foreigners, mainly from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and some African nations, work as cleaners and laborers in restaurants, shops, hospitals and hotels.

Fairouz Jubidali, a 19-year-old Bangladeshi who came to Iraq in 2009 through a Bangladeshi job agency, said he paid $4,500 to obtain work for three years. He earns $300 a month cleaning, stocking and selling at a Baghdad food store.
He says he was duped.

"I was deceived by the agency. They did not tell me that I would go to Iraq," he said. "I thought I was going to Gulf states. When my contract expires I will leave Iraq because the situation is not safe."

Foreign workers complain they are subjected to humiliating conditions and employers sometimes withhold or delay pay. They have no recourse because they are working illegally.

Recently, 30 Sri Lankans working for a Lebanese firm building housing in Maysan province went on a hunger strike, and some threatened to hang themselves if they were not paid for two years' work

ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS
Anger over power outages, food ration shortages, corruption and government ineffectiveness is heating up the political climate in Iraq as it tries to shake off the legacy of years of violence, sanctions and economic decline.

Despite its huge untapped oil and gas reserves and steadily rising oil output and revenue, 23 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, the planning ministry said.

Ibrahim Jameel, the shop owner who employs Fairouz Jubidali, said deporting foreign workers will not solve joblessness.

"It is impossible to find Iraqis who accept this kind of work with such pay ... most unemployed Iraqis are university graduates," he said.

Economic analysts played down the possible impact of the government's measures for unemployed Iraqis. Foreign workers are less costly than their Iraqi counterparts.

"It's not a major change or solution to unemployment because they are not competing for Iraqi jobs," said Salam Smeism, an economist and Iraqi bourse board member.

But central government officials defend their measures against foreigners as necessary to ease chronic unemployment.

"Providing jobs for Iraqi unemployed is our duty. All these measures are to solve the unemployment crisis," Ibrahim said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7652WE20110706

Legal Roadblocks for Iraq’s Oil?

UPI reports that lawmakers in Baghdad have been asked to ban future oil contracts until a federal law on the energy sector is passed.

Adnan Janabi, chairman of the Iraqi Parliament’s Oil and Energy Committee, called on legislators to ban future oil contracts until they can pass a federal hydrocarbon law.
The country’s Oil Ministry has 12 service contracts signed with foreign energy groups; those contracts came through three international licensing rounds that went ahead despite Iraq not having a federal hydrocarbon law.

Baghdad said the contracts are legitimate under a constitution enacted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that says only Cabinet approval is needed. Janabi, however, said there are various interpretations of the law, though he reportedly said that all oil contracts need the approval of Parliament.

The Kurdistan Regional Government in 2007 passed a unilateral oil and gas law in order to dole out contracts to foreign oil companies despite warnings from Baghdad that the contracts would be considered illegal

http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/201...for-iraqs-oil/

Caro: Iraq can not do without the U.S. presence

confirmed the mass of the People's Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian, Thursday, that Iraq can not do without American military presence in the moment.

The MP said the parliamentary bloc, Luis Caro, in an interview that "the issue of extension of the U.S. presence in Iraq or not determined by political blocs large, being the decision-maker now, but the reality on the ground indicate that Iraq can not do without the American presence in at least coming period. "

This comes at a time in which he revealed the source's (twilight) for the existence of a general trend in most of the political blocs to keep the Navy and the U.S. air strike in Iraq is far end of the scheduled withdrawal date of 2011.

Caro said that "the major political blocs facing some sort of lack of trust among themselves when discussing the issue of extension of the U.S. military presence, where each block throw the ball the other stadium."

Asked U.S. officials Iraqi politicians in more than one occasion determine their position on the possibility of requesting the extension of the presence of U.S. troops in the country, but that Baghdad has not announced its official position to this moment, despite the suggestion of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to the possibility of requesting political blocs, the extension of U.S. troops

http://www.shafaaq.com/sh2/news/iraq...-08-02-04.html