Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 01/01/08 - 14/04/08

Cheney Officially Invites Barzani to Visit US

Today the President of the Kurdistan Region, Massud Barzani, met with the U.S. Vice President, Dick Cheney, and an acompanying delegation in Erbil.

Barzani welcomed Cheney and his companying delegation during a reception ceremony where many senior officials attended. Barzani appreciate the historic visit, thanking President Bush’s administration for librating Iraq from the Baath dictatorship regime and expressing his respect to the victims of the US army in librating Iraq.

The President of the Kurdistan Region also reiterated his commitment to the Iraqi constitution and his full support to the Iraqi political process and the alliance with the US in fighting against terrorism.

On his part, U.S. Vice President in addition to expressing his happiness to visit the Kurdistan region and the progress the region witnesses, he invited the President of the Kurdistan Region officially to visit Washington and meet with President Bush. Cheney stressed reinforcing special bilateral relations between US and the Kurdistan Region.

"We are certainly counting on President Barzani's leadership to help us conclude a new strategic relationship between the United States and Iraq as well as crucial pieces of national legislation in the days ahead," U.S. Vice President, Dick Cheney said.

PUKmedia :: English - Cheney Officially Invites Barzani to Visit US

Update.......

U.S. counts on Kurdish president to endorse several laws - Cheney

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday that the United States depends on Kurdish President Massoud Barazani to reach an agreement between the Iraqi and U.S. governments and endorse the important laws, necessary to support national reconciliation.

"The United States counts on al-Barazani to help us to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government," Cheney said in statements after his meeting with Barazani in the city of Arbil.

He invited President Barazani to visit the U.S.

Cheney arrived in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, on Tuesday morning to discuss recent political developments with Kurdish officials.

The U.S. vice president arrived in Baghdad on Monday on an unannounced visit during which he met with U.S. military commanders, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and other Iraqi officials.

The visit coincides with the 5th anniversary of the U.S. forces' invasion of Iraq and falls within a regional Middle East tour by Cheney he began with the Sultanate of Oman. He is also scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Turkey.

Cheney's last visit to Iraq was in May 2007.

U.S. President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a joint letter in November. The "Declaration of Principles" appears as a mutual "expression of friendship."

According to this declaration, the United States will assist Iraq into being granted membership in the World Trade Organization. The two countries will engage in scientific and cultural exchanges.

It also includes a provision that promises to maintain security assurances and commitments to Iraq to deter foreign aggression against the country that violates its sovereignty and integrity of its territories, waters, or airspace.

Last January Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari said that Iraqi will ink a long term security, political, and economic agreement with the U.S. in mid-July 2008.


Aswat Aliraq

Demand for dollar down in daily auction

Demand for the dollar dipped sharply in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Tuesday, registering at $78.260 million compared to $131.060 million on Monday.

"The demand hit $9.720 million in cash and $68.540 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,208 Iraqi dinars per dollar, unchanged from yesterday," according to the central bank's daily bulletin which was received by Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

None of the 14 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell dollars.

Speaking to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that remittances significantly dropped during the session leading the overall size of demand to significantly drop."

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

Aswat Aliraq

ISX index down, closes at 38.16

Iraq's Stock Exchange (ISX) index decreased by 0.8 % to settle at 38.16 points at the closuring of Tuesday's session.

Shares of 39 companies were traded during today's session, where 811 million shares were transacted at a value of over 1,429 billion dinars (1$ equals 1221 dinars) achieved through the implementation of 339 contracts.

Non-Iraqi investors participated in today's session through the implementation of 58 contracts on the sectors of banking, agriculture, services, industry, and hotels. The traded shares reached more than 222 million worth more than 252 million dinars, and the number of companies traded was 26.

The banking sector achieved the highest circulation in terms of the number of shares traded and in terms of trading volume as well.

The services and industry index increased by 0.153% and 0,529% respectively, while the insurance and agriculture index remained unchanged from the previous session, and the banking and hotels sectors dropped.

According to the daily analysis of the capital market, the banking sector's index, in which 15 companies traded, closed at 38.55 points, while the industrial sector, in which 12 companies traded, ended at 11.400 points.

The statement concluded that 39 companies were traded in Tuesday's session out of 94 companies registered in Iraq's stock exchange, of which 11 indexes went up, 14 dropped, and 14 maintained their previous price.

Aswat Aliraq

Kut Chamber of Commerce prepares for economic conf.

Kut Chamber of Commerce is preparing to hold an expanded economic conference to encourage the private sector to take part in mapping out and implementing economic programs, the head of the chamber said on Tuesday.

"The chamber prepares to hold the biggest economic conference in Wassit with the participation of experts, university professors from the faculty of Administration and Economy in Wassit University, as well as a number of traders and heads of commercial companies," Jassem al-Aati told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

"The conference aims at encouraging the private sector to participate in putting and implementing economic programs in the province in cooperation with the local government and contributing in implementing the investment projects," he explained.

He did not specify when the conference will be held.

The Kut Chamber of Commerce has 5,326 members representing all commercial fields.

Kut, the capital of Wassit, is 180 km southeast of Baghdad.

Aswat Aliraq

Sadrists withdraw from reconciliation conference

parliamentary bloc of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew from a conference aimed at reconciling the nation's sectarian groups, a sign of the deep schisms still facing this country.

"Our attendance and withdrawal were to confirm our stance with reconciliation but not with a ceremonial conference offering no radical solutions", Nassar al-Rubai, a representative of Sadrist bloc, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

He added "invitations to the parliamentary bloc were sent a few days prior to holding the conference."

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) Saleem Abdulla said his list boycotted the conference due to not having received official invitations and not addressing the decisions reached in the first conference held in 2006.

"The IAF will not attend the second reconciliation conference as we did not receive an official invitation."

"Invitations were sent to IAF figures that would not turn up," he added.
Iraqi state minister of national dialogue said "the preparatory committee for the conference sent out invitations to all parliamentary blocs early."

The U.S. is pressing the Iraqis to achieve national reconciliation, warning that progress toward that goal is necessary to guarantee long-term U.S. support.

The conference comes after visits by Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain to tout security gains and stress Washington's commitment to fighting gunmen in Iraq.

Aswat Aliraq

350 out of 700 invited figures attend reconciliation conference

Tahseen Al-Shaikhlee, responsible for the second National Reconciliation Conference, said that the preparatory committee addressed invitations for the conference to 700 figures, in addition to heads of parliamentary entities, but only 350 figures attended.

The conference started on Tuesday at the Convention Center in Baghdad, and will last for two days. It aims at activating the role of different forces in the political process for a positive participation in the national reconciliation, to build Iraq, and to support the governmental efforts in the security field.

"The conference's objectives are: the former regime should not be restored, avoiding violence, believing in the unity of Iraq, respecting the national constitutional constants, respecting human rights, and timetabling the withdrawal of Multi-National Forces (MNF) from Iraq," Al-Shaikhlee explained.

He added "the conference held four workshops today in this regard."

From his side, Iraqi minister of national dialogue stressed "there should be a timetable for the MNF to withdraw from Iraq, but there should also be a link between training and arming Iraqi forces, and this withdrawal."

Concerning Sahwa (Awakening) Councils' participation in the conference, Akram Al-Hakim said the "Anbar Rescue Council attended the conference."

Aswat Aliraq

Well, that pokes a hole in any upcoming rv - Sorry - but......

Reconciliation is all parties' life buoy – PM

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Tuesday that reconciliation is all parties' life buoy and represents a top priority for the government in the current stage.

"The reconciliation initiative would help tell the enemy from the friend as it indicates who stands in favor of the people's interests and who stands against them," Maliki said in an inaugural speech before the political powers conference on national reconciliation in Baghdad on Tuesday.

"Reconciliation is not as some understand. It is not a matter of win-or-lose calculations. Reconciliation has realized many successes although many parties cast doubts over it," he said.

"Dialogue has rapidly become a feature characterizing the current stage and rendered a failure the schemes of the skeptics who wanted to have reconciliation as a way to bring back the one-party system," said Maliki.

The Iraqi premier pointed out that reconciliation helped form 29 Sahwa (Awakening) councils and 13 others pending formation, adding those councils offer support for the government organizations.

"Reconciliation helped contain more than 50,000 armed men and now serve in the pro-government Sahwa councils."

The Sahwa councils were set up in a number of Iraqi provinces like al-Anbar, Diala, Ninewa and Salah al-Din with the aim of mustering political and local tribal powers to fight armed groups, particularly al-Qaeda network, in those areas.

These councils are usually led by tribal chiefs or notables in the provinces.
The Sahwa tribal fighters managed to flush out armed groups from a number of areas once considered strongholds of gunmen for years.

"Some 78,000 of the former army were brought back to serve in the current army, 21,000 of them were referred to retirement upon their own wish. The enactment of the two important laws of justice & accountability and general pardon had an effective role as to tell the good Baathist from the bad Baathist," said the premier.

"More than 3,500 suspects and convicts so far have benefited from the general pardon law. Reconciliation helped defuse a civil war in Iraq that was about to erupt after the bombing of the two holy shrines in Samarra."

The two tombs of Imams Ali al-Hadi and Hassan al-Aaskari, figures highly revered by Shiite Muslims, came under attack by gunmen who blew up the shrine's golden dome in February 2006, sparking waves of sectarian violence that pushed Iraq close to the brink of a civil war.

In June 2007, the shrine came under a second bombing attack that destroyed its two minarets, sparking angry demonstrations in several parts of Iraq and prompting the authorities to impose a curfew in Baghdad and Samarra for three days.

Maliki said the situation in Iraq "needs more joint work to build on the successes achieved thanks to the reconciliation process."

"The second stage of reconciliation is one of reconstruction, to which the government allocated large sums from this year's state budget of $48 billion."

He deplored the approach adopted by some political powers in the country.

"Some political powers have pursued a policy of threats and ministers withdrawal, which enormously harmed national reconciliation. But for the sense of patriotism of the rest of the ministers who ran their own ministries and those of the quitting ministers, unfavorable outcome would have been in place."

Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesman for the Iraqi government, had a few days ago said the national reconciliation conference would be held to activate the role of the different powers in the political process for more positive contribution to the national reconciliation initiative.

In June 2006 Maliki announced an initiative to achieve national reconciliation involving the holding of conferences for political and tribal powers as well as non-governmental organizations.

The first conference was held in December 2006.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraq Parliament puts off resumed sessions

Iraqi List member Osama Al Nujaifi told Alsumaria that his list will not participate in the national reconciliation conference held today despite having received an invitation. Al Nujaifi described the conference as a media campaign for the Iraqi Government.

On the other hand, Iraqi Parliament put off the resumption of sessions after the end of the legislative recess until March 25 as most members of Kurdistan Alliance are taken by Nawrouz Spring holidays on March 21. Parliament was expected to discuss key issues in its coming session including Oil and Gas Law, non-affiliated provinces law and the law of provincial elections in addition to parties’ law.

Iraq Parliament puts off resumed sessions | Iraq News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Iraq and Syria seek industrial cooperation

Industry Minister Fawzi Al Hariri discussed with his Syrian counterpart Foad Issa Al Jouni industrial cooperation between both countries and means to promote this field. They discussed means to revive signed contracts between Iraq and Syria and means to increase production between Syrian and Iraqi firms in the areas of food, medicines and textile. Al Hariri stressed the importance of cooperation to upgrade economic and industrial cooperation confirming that his country seeks partnership in both private and public sectors in Syria and is interested in investments in different industrial fields. Iraqi industrial delegation presided by the Industry Minister is due to participate in meetings of Arab Union for textile industries to be held in Halab.

Iraq and Syria seek industrial cooperation | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network