Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 16/08/07 - 03/11/07

Higher demand for dollar, exchange rate still stable

Demand for the dollar was higher in the Iraqi Central Bank’s auction on Thursday, reaching $71.140 million compared to $57.365 million on Wednesday.

In its daily statement, the bank said it had covered all bids, including $2.590 million in cash and $68.550 in foreign transfers, at an exchange rate of 1,234 dinars per dollar, unchanged for the eighth consecutive session.

The 19 banks that participated in Thursday's session offered to sell $6.800 million, which the bank bought at an exchange rate of 1,232 dinars per dollar.

In statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the exchange rate in the local market is lower than that offered in Thursday's auction, discouraging traders to buy it from the auction.

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.

Higher demand for dollar, exchange rate still stable | Iraq Updates

Iraq sells 2.5 mln bbls Kirkuk oil to Exxon, Tupras

Iraq has sold a total of 2.5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude to U.S. major Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Turkish refiner Tupras (TUPRS.IS: Quote, Profile, Research) in a tender, an Iraq oil ministry source said on Wednesday.

Iraq will issue a new tender to sell up to 5 million barrels more of Kirkuk oil "very shortly", the source added.

The source declined to say how many of the 2.5 million barrels would go to Exxon and how many would go to Tupras. The oil is to be loaded at the Turkish terminal of Ceyhan before Oct. 5, he said.

Storage tanks in Ceyhan receive sporadic deliveries of Kirkuk crude by pipeline from Iraq's northern oilfields. Iraq has pumped around 7.5 million barrels through the line in the past month.

A vessel at Ceyhan was on Wednesday loading the last of around 4.6-4.7 million barrels of Kirkuk crude awarded in a previous sale earlier this month.

The next Kirkuk tender will be the third Iraq has issued in a month and the fifth this year.

Sabotage attacks have kept pumping along the route mostly idle since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The pipeline is Iraq's secondary export route, and when it is down the country relies on its main export terminal in the south at Basra to ship around 1.5 million barrels per day.

Iraq sells 2.5 mln bbls Kirkuk oil to Exxon, Tupras | Iraq Updates

Iran shells border areas in Arbil

Iran shelled areas near Arbil's borders with Iran with no reports of casualties, a Kurdish official said on Thursday.

"Iranian forces, with artillery, shelled some areas of Haj Omran in Joman district, Arbil," Abdul Wahid Kuani, Joman's district mayor, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Kuani added "three artillery shells fell last night onto a house without casualties, as its occupants had earlier fled the area as a result of the continued shelling."

"Four more shells landed in Mahi Khalan village near the borders with no casualties reported," the mayor said.

Arbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, is 349 km northeast of Baghdad.

Iran shells border areas in Arbil | Iraq Updates

Kurdish leader rejects Turkish incursions to hunt PKK militants

A leading member of the Kurdistan Coalition (KC) said on Thursday he rejects any agreement that allows Turkey to enter Iraqi territories to track down members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"The signing of such an agreement will override the sovereignty of Iraq," MP Mahmoud Othman said in statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"The Iraqi constitution does not permit such agreements…This will influence Iraq's stability and the Kurdistan region," he added.

Calling for the prior approval of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) before launching any military operation in the region, Othman indicated that his coalition rejects any military solution and will adopt a tough stance if the agreement is signed.

Refusing to categorize them as "terrorists," Othman said that the PKK is a Kurdish party that defends Kurds' rights in Turkey.

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bulani arrived in Ankara on Tuesday to discuss with Turkish officials ways to work out an Iraqi-Turkish agreement to fight the Kurdish separatist PKK in northern Iraq.

"Turkey has been practicing state terrorism against its Kurdish citizens for almost a century," Othman added.

CNN revealed on Wednesday an Iraqi-Turkish agreement that allows Turkey to fight PKK members in northern Iraq to counter terrorism.

"The agreement allows Turkey to hunt the PKK within Iraqi territories with the approval of the Iraqi government in Baghdad," Kurdish CNN said.

Kurdish leader rejects Turkish incursions to hunt PKK militants | Iraq Updates

Border closure costs Iraqi Kurdistan $1 million a day

Iran's closure of its frontier with Iraq is costing the autonomous Kurdish region $1 million a day, a government minister said on Wednesday, as trucks remained stuck at the border. "There are goods costing millions waiting across the border," Kurdistan Trade Minister Mohammad Raouf told AFP, referring to the Haj Umran frontier post near the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Irbil.

Efforts were now under way to redirect the trucks, many carrying frozen goods like chicken, meat and eggs, through neighboring Turkey into Iraq, he said.

"The Kurdistan region is losing $1 million a day because of the closure."
Iran said on Monday it was closing its frontier with Iraq in protest at the detention last week of Iranian national Mahmudi Farhadi by US troops.

The US military charges that Farhadi is an officer in the covert operations arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, accused by American commanders of helping Shiite militias involved in Iraq's bloody sectarian conflict.

Iran has made clear it regards Iraqi sovereignty as at stake over Farhadi's continued custody, after both the regional and national authorities of Iraq said he had been visiting with their consent.

Angry Kurdish merchants in Irbil said they were being forced to search for other sources of foodstuffs and electronic goods, the main items imported from Iran, possibly in Turkey or Syria.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, on Tuesday declared Farhadi's arrest "illegal" and again demanded his release.

"We have asked the US authorities to release the arrested man," Talabani told reporters.

"Arresting a person in Kurdistan is illegal because his security file was under the jurisdiction of the provincial government," he said.

Border closure costs Iraqi Kurdistan $1 million a day | Iraq Updates

Kurdistan Tries to Rebuild Economy

Billboards in Kurdistan's capital boast that luxury malls and hotels are on the way, but banking and insurance systems barely function. Cranes loom over building sites, but few government inspectors check the quality of construction.

This is economic development, on the fly. A sign at the office of a trade association sums up the freewheeling business environment in the part of Iraq controlled by a Kurdish administration.

"Please leave your gun at reception," it says.

While much of Iraq is a patchwork of factions at war with U.S.-led troops or one another, the Kurdish zone north of Baghdad is mostly peaceful. The relative stability is fostering development. But the Kurdish economy is weak, dependent on imports and prone to political uncertainty and concerns about transparency.

Some investors are diving into this poor region full of untapped oil wealth, taking risks that would be unacceptable in a Western-style business environment. They include Kurdish businessmen based in Europe and the United States, Turks, Persian Gulf Arabs and a smaller number of Europeans and Americans.

Sigma International Construction, a Chantilly, Va.,-based company, is building more than 350 luxury homes on the outskirts of Irbil. Right now, the "American Village" development is little more than leveled earth and shells of half-completed houses, designed with walk-in closets, back doors of sliding glass and fully equipped kitchens.

Jim Covert, Sigma's director in Kurdistan, said 80 homes had been sold in advance, and several regional Cabinet ministers were clients. The most expensive residence, the "Palace," sells for $580,000.

"People don't blink," said Covert, who employs Serb foremen and Bangladeshi laborers because they are more skilled than Kurdish workers. "People have money here and they have nothing nice to spend it on."

The same optimism is visible at construction sites across the city, though most of them seem a long way from the billboard images of gleaming office towers and five-star hotels bordered by lush lawns.

The regional investment board has licensed 51 projects with a total value of $5 billion since last year. But implementation is still in the early stages, with only about 20 percent of that money spent.

Two decades ago, most of Kurdistan's villages were systematically destroyed during Saddam Hussein's Anfal campaign against the Kurdish population. U.N. sanctions imposed on Saddam's regime also hurt the Kurds, even though they enjoyed a U.S.-backed safe haven after the 1991 Gulf War.

Although uneven, development since the fall of Saddam in 2003 has yielded real benefits in the territory of about 4 million.

The two main cities, Irbil and Sulaimaniyah, have new airports and are building roads, housing, malls and schools. De****e a recent outbreak of cholera in Kurdistan, many Irbil residents have access to clean water from a treatment facility built with help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

One new gasoline station in Irbil looks as good as anything in an American suburb or freeway stop. It takes credit cards, and has 16 pumps and a mini-market that sells potato chips, chocolate bars and other junk food from neighboring Turkey.

Hundreds of Turkish companies operate in Kurdistan, even though their government has threatened to stage a cross-border attack on a separatist rebel group of Turkish Kurds who have bases in remote parts of northern Iraq.

Another source of political uncertainty is Kurdistan's relationship with Baghdad, where disputes over drafts of oil and revenue-sharing laws have blocked progress toward a unified, central government. Kurdistan's leaders signed an exploration deal with Hunt Oil Co. of Texas after drafting their own oil law, and the national oil ministry quickly questioned its legality.

Nazaneen Muhammad Wusu, regional minister of municipalities, said international bank loans for Kurdistan have to be approved by the central government — a bottleneck on progress.

"Baghdad is not in a normal situation," she said. "They are more busy with security issues, political difficulties. We are suffering indirectly from the situation there."

Kurdistan is also on the national power grid, and suffers constant blackouts that force people to use private generators.

Kurdistan passed an investment law last year that allows foreign investors to get free land, as well as import materials and repatriate profits without paying tax. But the banking system is so basic that it is difficult to wire money out of the country, and insurance is virtually nonexistent; most car owners, for example, drive without it.

Foreign agencies are helping to build up Kurdistan's institutions, teaching basic skills such as how to use a computer. Still, a culture of transparency has yet to take hold, and business deals often rely on the power of personal connections.

"There may be some corruption here and there, we don't deny it," said Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the foreign relations department of the regional government. But he said Kurdistan was committed to an open business environment that could eventually make it an economic "gateway" to the rest of Iraq.

Kurdistan, however, lacks a strong industrial and agricultural base and is heavily dependent on imports of products such as milk and grain, a legacy in part of the U.N. oil-for-food program during Saddam's rule that delivered foreign products to Iraq.

For all their problems, many Kurds exude an optimism that is all but impossible to find elsewhere in the country.

"I think things will get better," said Ali Abdullah, an Irbil bookshop owner whose best-sellers are romance novels and books of Islamic teachings. "There's a lot of development in this city. It will have a positive effect on other businesses."

Kurdistan Tries to Rebuild Economy | Iraq Updates

Developing Wasit Public Company for Textile Industries

Director of Information at the University of Wasit said that the Faculty of Administration and Economics at the University is preparing to hold a symposium to discuss the scientific study of mechanisms for enhancing the performance of Wasit Public Company for Textile Industries.

Hamid Turki Abbas explained, "through coordination with the management of Wasit General Company for Textile Industries, a scientific symposium will be held under the slogan (hand in hand to build sophisticated national industry), on the 25th of September. Three working papers are prepared including several axes, the most important ones are: the industrial, technical, economic, accounting and the administrative axis."

He added that it is likely the symposium will be attended by, "researchers and spe******ts in engineering, technical and economic sciences from the university and its colleges, in addition to a number of experts working in the company, as well as professors from other Iraqi universities."

Wasit Public Company for Textile Industries is considered one of the most important companies in the textile industries of Iraq, which consists of two major factories: the first is for spinning, textile and supplying, the second is for weaving and stockings. The weaving factory began its actual production since 1966 and the textile factory began production since 1970 and recently they have been merged in what is known as Wasit Public Company for Textile Industries, and lately it has been included in one of the loans allocated to the Ministry of Industry.

The Director of Information at the University of Wasit said, "two committees have been formed for the symposium: one is preparative included a chairman and four members and the second is scientific included a chairman and three members." Noting that the two committees "worked on receiving portfolios of the researches presented in the seminar and examined them together with creating a correct scientific and academic vision that would contribute to the performance of the Company which have stagnated in the years that followed the war and threatened to stop because of lack of support and reliance on self-financing."

Abbas pointed out that the objective of the symposium is "to contribute to the development aspects in the field of cognitive science, industrial and statistical identification and access to the reality of the performance of the Company and how to organize their production according to available raw materials compared to the size of the request."

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=4619

2000 Compensation Cheques Signed

Yesterday afternoon, a delegation from the high committee of the implementation of Article 140 which comprised of Nermin Othman deputy chairman of the committee, Dr. Mohammed Ihsan KRG’s representative and some members of the committee visited Kirkuk city.

They met with Abdul Rahman Mustafa, the governor and head of Kirkuk office and Kirkuk representatives of Article 140 of (Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen).

In a press conference, Nermin Othman explained the purpose of their visit to Kirkuk: “We have come to observe closely how Article 140 works proceed in Kirkuk.”

She also announced: “So far, more than 2000 Cheques were signed to be cashed for compensation to the repatriation of the Arab settlers.”

”Compensation Cheques will be distributed on the Arab settlers next week”, she added.

Nermin Othman also referred to the Federal Government and the ministers’ extent of cooperation to the works of Article 140: The Iraqi government cooperates with our committee but things are going slowly because some concerned ministries like Interior and Commerce do not act as they should. Ministry of Planning in particular, is not cooperative in this issue.

She also said: “Our committee has no financial problems.”
Then Dr. Mohammed Ihsan congratulated the representative of the Article 140’s office for their achievements.

PUKmedia :: English - 2000 Compensation Cheques Signed

Iranian Government Asks to Hold a Joint Meeting

KRG representative in Tehran, Nazim Omer, concerning Iran-Kurdistan border issue, told Kurdistani Nwe: “The Iran-Kurdistan borders will be open next Thursday for those who faced trouble in returning to either countries.”

“KRG representative and Iraqi ambassador in Tehran keep on with their efforts to deal with this issue. Iranian Government asked KRG representative there to form a joint commission to discuss the problem and the members were identified. Now airline transportation is reopened,” he added.

“Of course, closing the border damages Kurdistan economy as well as for Iran’s,” responding to Kurdistani New he said.

On the other side, at 4.30 pm, the Iranian artillery bombarded Haji Omaran district and Bardi, Nazu, Kodo, Kaniqutaf and Waragurgu villages as well as Gridmandil Mountain yesterday.

PUKmedia :: English - Iranian Government Asks to Hold a Joint Meeting

Dr. Barham Salih Chairs a Meeting of the Economy Committee

Dr. Barham Ahmed Salih, the Iraqi deputy PM and head of economy committee, chaired a meeting attended by several high officials including Bayan Jabber Sulagh, Iraqi minister of finance, head of Baghdad municipality, deputy minister of interior, deputy commander of MNF-Iraq, several advisors and the commander of imposing law security plan, discussing the public services situation in Baghdad.

The commander of imposing law security plan showed the basic services in several areas of Baghdad needs after purging them from the terrorists and militant groups.

Head of Baghdad municipality explained the most significant activities and projects they are carrying out to improve services and reconstruction process within the frame work of the budget that the Iraqi government set with the support of US government to improve the deteriorating services in Baghdad caused by armed operations.

PUKmedia :: English - Dr. Barham Salih Chairs a Meeting of the Economy Committee