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

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Economic Council in Kurdistan Region Discusses Plans of Banking System Development

Yesterday, Mr. Nechirvan Barzani, KRG Prime Minister headed a meeting of the Economic Council in Kurdistan Region. During the meeting which was also attended by Mr. Omer Fatah, KRG Deputy PM, plans of developing banking system and supporting banks in Kurdistan Region were discussed.

Suggestions to promote, best organizing of banking system and regaining citizen’s trust to the banks were presented in the meeting. The necessity to give more importance to the central Bank of Kurdistan Region was also stressed in the meeting.

The meeting also shed light on insurance companies issue; it was decided to hold a conference with the participation of experts and specialists in insurance companies sector.

PUKmedia :: English - Economic Council in Kurdistan Region Discusses Plans of Banking System Development

Al-Hashimi Discusses Cross Border Operations with Turkish Ambassador

Dr. Tariq al-Hashimi, Iraqi Vice President received in his office, Mr. Darya Qanbai, Turkey Ambassador to Baghdad .During the meeting Dr. Tariq al-Hashimi stressed that the Triple Agreement Memo, which was signed recently between the Iraqi Islamic Party and both PUK and DPK in Dukan is explicit and doesn’t consist of any secret appendixes, the three parties were equivalent gathered through a common vision concerning many political and general patriotic issues asserting that no side presented concessions to another one.

Bilateral relations between Iraq and Turkey, Turkish cross border military operations also discussed in the meeting. Turkish Ambassador emphasized Turkey’s desire to avoid any harm may occur to the innocent people during the military operations against the PKK in the Iraqi mountain areas.

Practical suggestions to remove the misunderstand due to various information concerning the results of the Turkish military operations in the Iraqi land, were presented by Dr. Tariq al-Hashimi who also asserted the necessity of previous coordination with Iraqi Government in Baghdad

PUKmedia :: English - Al-Hashimi Discusses Cross Border Operations with Turkish Ambassador

Northern Iraq building two Refineries with Canadian Firms

The autonomous Kurdish zone in northern Iraq plans to construct two refineries in a $300 million project with foreign oil companies.

Officials said the Kurdistan Regional Government would offer four production-sharing contracts to finance the construction of two 20,000-barrel-per-day refineries. They said the production-sharing contracts were worth $800 million.

The first refinery, located in Miran, was scheduled to be completed by 2010 in a joint venture with Canada's Heritage Oil. The second refinery, located at the Taq Taq oil field, would be constructed by Genel and Canada's Addax Petroleum and completed by early 2009.

The central Iraqi government in Baghdad said the latest contracts violate the nation's new petroleum law. But the Kurdish government has dismissed this amid plans to sign two additional production-sharing contracts worth $500 million with oil majors.

PUKmedia :: English - Northern Iraq building two Refineries with Canadian Firms

Parliament's session adjourned till Thursday

MP from the Kurdistan Coalition Mohsen al-Saadon said on Monday that the parliament's open session was postponed till next Thursday.

"Today's open session was held to discuss the parliament's budget and the second reading of the Japanese loan draft law," al-Saadon told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

For his part, Lawmaker from the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) Abdul Karim al-Sameraei said "the parliament could not approve the 2008 budget because we have not received it from the cabinet so far."

"The accountability and justice law could not be approved due to a lack of a quorum," he noted.

121 MPs attended toady's session out of the 275-member parliament.

"Fadhila parliamentary bloc demanded the government to present the 2007 final budget statement to know about the spending and profits this year," head of the bloc Hassan al-Shemri said.

Iraq's 2007 budget was USD 41 billion.

"The 2008 budget could be presented now, while the 2007 final budget statement could be presented four months later for bringing the corruptors to justice," he noted.

The Fadhila (Virtue) party announced last March its withdrawal from the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC).

The withdrawal came as an expression of a desire to end parliamentary blocs based on sectarian affiliation.

Aswat Aliraq

Trilateral MoU doesn't include "concessions", says VP

Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said on Tuesday that the trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Dukan by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Iraqi Islamic party does not include concessions.

"This came during al-Hashemi's meeting with the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad," al-Hashemi's office said in a statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"The Iraqi official described the memo as an open book, which does not include any secret attachment," the statement added.

"The three parties treated each other on equal bases," al-Hashemi said, underlining that no one presented any concession.

"The meeting pored over bilateral ties and Turkish military operations in northern Iraq," the statement noted.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had said last Monday that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Iraqi Islamic Party signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Dukan resort in the city of Sulaimaniya.

President Talabani said "today a tripartite MoU was signed between the two main Kurdish parties and the Iraqi Islamic part to boost ties among them and to foster Iraq's unity."

For his part, Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said the agreement will have important impacts on the political process, underlining "today is a historic day in the ongoing political process."

The Islamic Daawa Party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and the two main Kurdish parties formed a four-way alliance in mid-August that they claim aims at backing the current Iraqi government following the withdrawal of some political blocs from the cabinet.

Aswat Aliraq

Kurdistan speaker says disputes with central government "normal"

Iraq's Kurdistan Speaker Adnan al-Mufti on Tuesday described the region's disputes with the central government as "normal," a step described as an understatement of differences over the budget allocated for the Peshmerga forces.

"I believe disputes with the central government will be resolved in 2008 by means of negotiations…," al-Mufti said in statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

The budget allocated for Iraq's Kurdistan region represents 17% of the government's overall budget. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) seeks to allocate an extra sum from the Iraqi Defense Ministry's budget for Peshmerga salaries, currently paid through the regional government's share of national oil revenue.

On Sunday, the Kurdistan parliament unanimously approved a Peshmerga forces' service and retirement law submitted by the region's government.
The KRG's Peshmerga minister, Omar Othman, explained that the law was drafted in accordance with the Iraqi Military Service Law. "The Peshmerga forces are entrusted with protecting the region, but at the same time they are part of the Iraqi forces," Othman said.

The Peshmerga is the Kurdish name for a militia that fought the former Iraqi regime. It had turned into paramilitary forces to protect the region after former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein withdrew the Iraqi army from the three Kurdish provinces in 1992.

In 2006, two ministries were established to deal with the Peshmerga affairs in the region's government, one based in Arbil and the other in Sulaimaniya.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraq national unity government looming over

Islamic Party senior official MP Omar Abdul Sattar revealed that President Jalal Talabani will soon announce the formation of a national unity government on new basis determined by the political plan in Iraq, declining to report further details. However, Al Sattar explained that this announcement does not implicate the return of Accordance Front Ministers to the government but the formation of a wider government. He added that the Islamic Party will coordinate its stands with both Kurdish parties inside the Parliament and the government affirming that Kurdistan alliance bloc did not withdraw from the quartet alliance but is facing problems with the current government.

Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network | Iraq News | Iraq national unity government looming over

Work ongoing to build up Iraq refineries

Technical and architectural units in Naser State Company related to the Industry and Minerals Ministry have achieved 95% of the contract concluded with the State Company for central refineries. The contract stipulates to establish 10 fully equipped residences. An official source in the ministry said the company pursues work to complete the final stages of the contract estimated at 500 million Iraqi Dinars while work is ongoing to industrialize and equip the central refinery company at a cost of 144 million Dinars.

Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network | Economics News | Work ongoing to build up Iraq refineries

In a safer Baghdad, Iraqis party for 2008

On New Year's Eve Ridaa al-Azzawi squeezed into his pointy snakeskin boots, his tight black sweater and his snazzy corduroy flared jeans, hustled down to a Baghdad hotel ballroom and partied for peace.

2008 arrived in a less-violent Baghdad, and residents said it was the first real party they had seen in years.

While the city is still far from peaceful and many of the festive gatherings had a tentative feel, many said it was a happier occasion than they could have dared to hope just a few months ago.

"The security has changed and it took us by surprise. We're very happy. Especially us young people," said al-Azzawi, a 22-year-old student taking a break from dancing to a traditional Iraqi band in the ballroom of the Palestine Hotel.

"I haven't seen a happy place like this in so long. I wanted to see if I could maybe meet a few girls!" he said. "I only hope the Iraqi people can enjoy more happy times like this."

Salah al-Lami, 27, the singer who performed at the Palestine ballroom and then for another New Year's Eve crowd at the Sheraton Hotel across the street, said it was the first time he had sung before a live audience in four years.

"This will be the year that we take our freedom!" he told Reuters after singing through a boisterous set in front of a packed dancefloor.

"When I went up on the stage and started singing I felt like I was performing for my family."

Belly dancers also took the stage, and revellers showered a female singer with dinar notes, the Iraqi audience's ultimate sign of approval.

Reuters AlertNet - In a safer Baghdad, Iraqis party for 2008

Drug firms told to submit files in Iraq probe

THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has ordered the British drug companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and AstraZeneca to hand over confidential e-mails and files relating to dealings in Iraq under the UN oil-for-food programme.

The move is the latest in the SFO’s £22mn investigation into alleged corruption involving British firms operating in Iraq during the final years of the Saddam Hussein regime. Other companies targeted with similar disclosure demands include several British infrastructure firms.

In a statement, GSK said it did not believe its “employees or its agents in Iraq knowingly engaged in wrongdoing regarding the oil for food programme”, adding: “In fact, GSK went to considerable lengths to co-operate with UK government authorities responsible for the UK administration of the programme, and to impose anti-corruption measures when dealing with intermediaries in Iraq.”

AstraZeneca confirmed that a disclosure request had been received.
A third ***** firm, the US-based Eli Lilly, which has a British arm, has said that it too had been asked to supply documents to the SFO.

Last January, it was revealed SFO officials had returned from Washington DC with thousands of documents marking the start of a London-based criminal investigation.

This followed a 2005 independent report, commissioned by then-UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, into the oil-for-food programme.

As well as accusing UN officials presiding over the scheme of involvement in corruption, the report by Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, listed more than 2,200 firms around the world that may have been implicated in bribery payments beneficial to the Iraqi regime.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission launched its own criminal investigation. But the SFO said that it was only monitoring the allegations and that its small specialist investigations unit was expected to play a supportive role in a US-led inquiry.

The decision to launch an independent criminal investigation out of London was made one month after the SFO controversially abandoned its investigation into alleged kickback payments on a contract between the British arms manufacturer BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.

Shortly afterwards, the attorney-general secured £22mn of additional funding for the SFO, allowing it to pursue

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