Thread: Iraq/Dinar News Until 5/31/2007 7:15 PM CST..

Appologize if posted earlier.


Director of the Office of the Higher Committee for the implementation of Article 140 in Kirkuk inspecting the process of filling in forms for the return of the deportees to Whelan, Qadir Karam

Mr. Babiker friend Director of the Office of the Higher Committee for the implementation of Article 140 in Kirkuk and the members of the Article 140 in the governorate of Kirkuk Chirzad just Mr. and Mrs. Joan good field visit to hand over command of Whelan work running in article 140 and the process of filling forms and problems of committees and centers implemented or filled in the forms and on Monday, 05/28/2007

The delegation was received by the Chairman of the Board at hand for Whelan and administrator, and director of the Civil Status in Whelan and the Whelan officials in some of the problems encountered constituency committees delegation presented some proposals to develop solutions to those problems.

Beyond the delegation visited hand Qadir Karam was in the reception administrator, and director of the Civil Status and staff to the committees that operate in the implementation of article 140.

There was some queries and questions about the compatibility of personnel transactions or deported by the committee or the Civil Status.

The delegation presented a detailed explanation of certain clarifications on questions and questions. Reference was made to the suffering citizens or deported in hand on loitering or walking slowdown in transactions, it was pointed out that the reason was due to the lack of cadres of staff within the commissions for executing rule 140.

The discussion on the number of forms filled and the number of applications remaining to facilitate the distribution and filling in forms to reduce Zham happening in the committees and the Civil Status.

KRG, Kurdistan Regional Government

Sorry I just did a 16hr shift so please excuse what maybe a dumb question, Your post does it mean they passed 140?

U.S. and Iran agree to Iraq security plan

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528...q_us_iran_talks

"The next meeting will occur in Iraq in less than one month," Kazemi told an Associated Press reporter after his news conference at the Iranian Embassy.

Crocker earlier said the Iraqis planned to propose a second session and that the United States would decide upon a follow-on meeting when the invitation was issued.

"We will consider that when we receive it," Crocker told reporters in the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. "The purpose of this meeting was not to arrange other meetings."

Crocker described the session as businesslike and said Iran proposed setting up a "trilateral security mechanism" that would include the U.S., Iraq and Iran, an idea he said would require study in Washington.

27 May 2007
Kurdish Region of Northern Iraq is open for business


» Suleimaniah International Airport. Photo by Maj Juanita Chang

By Maj. Juanita Chang, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Erbil, Iraq - With a little assistance from a small military team and a few people from the Department of Defense, a group of international businessmen representing more than a dozen international companies spent a week traveling through the northern region of Iraq while on a mission to find opportunities for business and economic development.

The group traveled the relatively stable northern region of Iraq meeting with local business leaders, members of chambers of commerce and key governmental officials. All left surprisingly impressed by what they saw and experienced and some had already arranged for return trips to begin projects.

What they found was a part of the country that isn’t what you see on the news or in mainstream media. This truly is ‘the other Iraq,’ as the local public relations campaign touts, and it is open for business.

“I was very impressed with the enthusiasm, zeal and passion of the Kurdish people and their government,” said Subhas Sircar, regional vice president of Marine Middle East, Mediterranean and South Asia AIG MEMSA Insurance Company Ltd. “A lot needs to be done at the shortest time, and they would look forward to our support in their endeavors, to be partners in their progress.”

Many of the businessmen, who saw the huge potential for investment there, were already planning to return to the region before they even left.

Erbil, Iraq’s fourth largest city, with an estimated population of one million, is the capital of the Kurdistan Region and is booming with development. There are world class hotels, a 400-store mall, amusement parks filled with playful children and even a zoo.

The airport here demonstrates the same high level of security that we have come to expect in the U.S., with the same high-quality baggage screening and inspections and unimposing armed guards who keep a quiet but close watch over everything that is going on. Flights land daily with direct routes to popular hubs such as Vienna, Stockholm, Amman, Dubai, and Amsterdam and passengers exit and enter wearing designer business suits and talking on cellular phones. The state-of-the-art convention center is just down the road from the $300 million airport and across from the new Naz City Apartments, which are selling out at a price of $130,000 per apartment.

Members of the task force attended the grand opening ceremony of The Park Hotel Kempinski, a luxury resort hotel, also attended by influential members of the community, including Nechirvan Barzani, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

“Projects such as this are our response to the destructive activities of terrorists. Whatever they do, the terrorists cannot stop our progress,” said Barzani, referring to a bomb that went off in the city just two days prior. The bomb was the first to go off in the city since February 2004.

All throughout the region, leaders of business and industry praised the KRG for setting the conditions to attract more investors and international interests to the region.

The executives embarked on a journey to the Turkish border to see the point of entry for many import and export goods. This drive included a stop in the booming city of Dohuk.

Dohuk is a thriving city of an estimated 50,000 people. Businesses in Dohuk are flourishing and banks and markets buzz with commerce. The trip here included tours of a brick factory, water factory, a chocolate factory and lunch with Dohuk’s Governor Tamir.

The next day included a scenic three hour drive to Suleimaniah - Iraq’s sixth largest city with a population estimated around 750,000. After being greeted by Governor Dana himself, and having lunch with the Chamber of Commerce, the executives visited other businesses, including Asiacell communications.

In short, the Kurdish region is home to a tranquil security environment, effective government and economic promise.

Their economic success is due to some advantages of the region compared to the rest of the country.

The northern no-fly zone established shortly after the Gulf War continued until the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The operation provided the Kurdish population with humanitarian aid and reassurance of safe skies, and the ability to effectively get a dozen-year head start on redevelopment of their area.

The Kurds have also come together to work as unified group to achieve common goals.

With international airports at both Erbil and Suleimaniah, a secure security environment, solid infrastructure, economic development and eager business-minded residents, the northern region of Iraq is flourishing and open for business.




Blackanthem Military News

Iraqi Kurdish region to take charge of own security
AFP

May 28, 2007


SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq -- Iraqi Kurdistan's autonomous government will take charge of security in its mountainous northern region this week in a transfer of command from the US-led coalition, officials said.

At a ceremony Wednesday in the regional capital Arbil the commanders of the peshmerga - former anti-Baghdad guerrillas and now staunch US allies - will be handed responsibility for three northern provinces.

"This week, the responsibility for security in the Kurdistan region will be officially transferred from multinational forces to the peshmerga affiliated with the regional government," said Jabar Yawar, a Kurdish military spokesman.

The peshmerga are former Kurdish rebels who have been incorporated into the Iraqi and Kurdish armed forces in the four years since a US-led invasion toppled Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein.

Yawar said the decision was made during a meeting held in Baghdad between Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, and senior US military leaders.

The US military confirmed the handover in an invitation to the event sent out to local media.

"The Kurdish Regional Government will hold a transfer of security ceremony, to highlight the return of the entire region from the coalition force to the government of Iraq," the invitation says.

While turning regional security responsibility over to mainly Kurdish forces, the agreement requires them to coordinate with Iraqi state and US-led forces, according to Kurdish officials.

The US statement said "the Kurdistan Regional Government was deemed ready to assume security responsibility in the region."

The decision comes at a time of growing tension between Iraq's Kurds, who are pursuing greater autonomy, and the country's neighbors, principally Turkey, who oppose anything resembling Kurdish independence.

Turkey has long accused Iraq's Kurds of sheltering fighters from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and last week threatened to launch an operation in northern Iraq if local authorities fail to combat the group.

"Either you prevent illegal activities on your soil or if you are not powerful enough, the occupation forces there ... should prevent them," Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul said.

"If they cannot do it either, then we, who are the ones to suffer, will do it," he warned.

Public pressure on the Turkish government to step up the fight against the PKK mounted after an alleged PKK member blew himself up at a busy shopping center in downtown Ankara May 22, killing six people and wounding 121.

The PKK, regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, has fought for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Washington has warned Ankara against cross-border interference in northern Iraq, wary that such a move may destabilize a relatively peaceful region and fuel tensions between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, both staunch US allies.

Originally Posted by goldraker

U.S. and Iran agree to Iraq security plan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528...q_us_iran_talks

"The next meeting will occur in Iraq in less than one month," Kazemi told an Associated Press reporter after his news conference at the Iranian Embassy.

Crocker earlier said the Iraqis planned to propose a second session and that the United States would decide upon a follow-on meeting when the invitation was issued.

"We will consider that when we receive it," Crocker told reporters in the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. "The purpose of this meeting was not to arrange other meetings."

Crocker described the session as businesslike and said Iran proposed setting up a "trilateral security mechanism" that would include the U.S., Iraq and Iran, an idea he said would require study in Washington.

Great post Thanks now lets hope something really good develops from this and the Iraqi's can have peace.

Published: 28/05/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

Kuwait to deter dinar speculation
Reuters



Kuwait City: Kuwait moved yesterday to deter investors betting it would allow its dinar to appreciate after a currency policy shift last week, by closing a window banks used to lend short-term funds to the central bank.

A week after the oil exporter allowed its currency to rise against the US dollar, the central bank suspended the use of its one-month intervention rate, pushing more dinars on to the interbank market.

The intervention rate will not be used "until further notice," a central bank official, who declined to be identified, said.

The central bank gave no reason for the move.

The intervention rate was the main instrument through which the central bank took in short-term dinar deposits from banks in Kuwait.


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By taking itself out of the market, the central bank forced banks to trade among themselves to place short-term funds, dampening demand for dinars.

The one-month Kuwait inter-bank offered rate fell to 5.1875 per cent yesterday from 5.2500 the previous day, central bank data showed.

"The central bank has indicated that it would take necessary measures to make sure speculators don't benefit and this may stop any new inflows," said Randa Azar-Khoury, chief economist at National Bank of Kuwait.

"But this will hurt banks which need to invest excess liquidity."

Kuwait dropped its peg to the dollar last week and adopted a basket of currencies, allowing the dinar to appreciate 0.37 per cent against the dollar.

The central bank has held the dinar at $0.28806 since the May 20 policy shift despite speculation the appreciation was the first of many moves.

Kuwait broke ranks with Saudi Arabia and four other Gulf oil producers, which had pegged their currencies to the dollar to prepare for monetary union in 2010.

Kuwait's central bank said the dollar's slide over the past year was driving up inflation by making some imports more expensive.

Iran: Bank Sepah To Open Iraq Branch


28 May 2007
Bank SepahBank SepahBank Sepah
News | Profile | Officers
will soon open a branch in Baghdad, an economic official at Iran's Embassy in Iraq announced.

Ali Heidari told IRNA that Iraqi Central BankIraqi Central Bank has approved the establishment of a branch of the state-owned Iranian bank, the country's oldest financial institution.

The site for the branch has been specified and construction will begin immediately.

According to him, administrative procedures to launch a branch of Bank Melli IranBank Melli Iran are almost complete.

The official predicted that the branch, which is the first branch of an Iranian bank in Iraq, will officially open in Baghdad during the current week.

The two state-owned Iranian banks are among the first foreign financial institutions to open branches in the war-ravaged country.

Iraq's banking regulations oblige foreign banks willing to operate in that country to deposit 50 billion Iraqi dinars with its central bank.

Other Iranian banks including Keshavarzi, Eqtesad-e Novin and Tejarat have also applied to Iraqi authorities to open branches.

It is hoped that once Iranian banks are set up in Iraq, trade and economic cooperation with the neighboring state will expand.

© Iran Daily 2007

Visa International's Services May Serve to Create a Healthier Economic Environment in Iraq




Naser Abu Ghazaleh.27 May 2007
Amman, Jordan: Visa InternationalVisa International, recently took part in the IZDIHAR Iraq Private Sector Growth and Employment Generation Banking and Finance Conference. The event, organized by USAIDUSAID, was held last month at the Amman Intercontinental Hotel.


Mr. Naser Abu Ghazaleh, Visa InternationalVisa International's Regional Manager for the Levant, represented the organization at the two day event. As part of his participation in the event's proceedings, he gave a ten minute presentation about the benefits that electronic payment systems present to the Iraqi people and the products that are most suitable for the current financial and security situations in Iraq.


"Despite the turbulent security conditions seen in Iraq, reports issued by IZDIHAR show that most Iraqis still have a tendency to carry tens of thousands of dollars in their pockets. For those people, electronic payment systems may in fact present a more ideal solution. Work, however, still needs to be done in Iraq to spread awareness of the benefits that Visa InternationalVisa International provides for such a society. More people in Iraq need to know that through Visa InternationalVisa International they can access funds from anywhere in the world and this in turn means that they no longer need to carry large amounts of cash in a country where it is unsafe and unwise to do so. Furthermore, having more people use the services that Visa InternationalVisa International provides allows for more economic growth, especially since more people will automatically be brought into the banking system. With more people in the banking system, more funds are put in bank deposits and therefore more funds are taken out of the grey market and put to more productive use such as retail loans," said Mr. Abu Ghazaleh.


"The debit card presents itself as a card for individuals seeking a secure payment solution for their day to day transactions, since it is one that is linked to the cardholder's bank account. The prepaid card from Visa InternationalVisa International targets new customers who may not be eligible for a Visa credit card or a current account, enabling the banks to extend their cardholder base.. Both of these payment tools are sure to be received with high demand from different sectors in the Iraqi community, for the Iraqi population is diversified in nature, and we at Visa InternationalVisa International have payment products to cater to such a diversified demographic make-up. "


Ending his presentation on a high note, Mr. Abu Ghazaleh thanked Visa InternationalVisa International's member banks throughout the Levant. He stated "Without the help of our member banks, Visa InternationalVisa International wouldn't be doing so well in the region. They are our partners and together we hope to spread more awareness about our payment solutions and to highlight them as the secure and convenient payment solutions that they are. Visa InternationalVisa International's Levant office is also ready to provide the support needed for the Iraqi and regional banks who are interested in launching new electronic payment systems and offer assistance in terms of membership applications, identifying suitable vendors, product segmentation, and others."


It is important to note that IZDIHAR is a comprehensive, 3-year program designed to assist the Government of Iraq, and to expand the private sector so that more jobs are created for varying sectors within the Iraqi community. The program achieves this goal by developing a more market-friendly environment for economic growth. IZDIHAR is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAIDUSAID) and is implemented in partnership with the Iraqi private sector and government. Awareness conferences like this one are part of the many tools it uses to promote more economic prosperity in Iraq, and they serve as a perfect venue to showcase all what the Iraqi economic arena has to offer.


-Ends-

2 million to reopen plastic factory



By Basem al-Shaikh



Azzaman, May 28, 2007



The government has agreed to allocate $2 million to bring the idle plastic factory of Missan into stream.



The factory has been idle since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and its workers unemployed.



According to Adel Mhoder, Missan’s governor, the money should be sufficient to repair the factory and rehabilitate its annexes.



The Province of Missan, of which Amara is the capital, shares the largest area of border with Iran.



Located in lower south, Missan relied, apart from agriculture, on four major industries – sugar cane, vegetable oil, paper and plastic.



Production in these industries has grounded to halt since the U.S. invasion. Missan’s plastic company was known for its high quality products which almost met the country’s domestic needs.