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

Iraq - U.S. friendship deal talks late Feb. – spokesman

The negotiations on the long-term friendship and cooperation agreement between Baghdad and Washington would start during the third week of this month, the official spokesman for the Iraqi government said.

"The decision to start these negotiations came during a meeting of the political council for national security on Sunday evening under President Jalal Talabani," according to a statement by Ali al-Dabbagh's office as received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

"The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Vice Presidents Tareq al-Hashimi and Adel Abdul-Mahdi as well as some representatives of political blocs," read the statement.

"The meeting dealt with mechanisms of the friendship & cooperation agreement between Iraq and the United States. The agreement would enable Iraq to attain the people's interests in the economic, security and military fields as well as the political, diplomatic and cultural spheres."
Dabbagh also said that the council discussed security developments in Mosul and the government's plans to fight armed groups.

Mosul, the capital of Ninewa province, 402 km north of Baghdad, is witnessing preparations for launching a wide-scale security plan to track down gunmen of al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq following a blast a couple of weeks ago in the area of al-Zanjili, western Mosul, which claimed the lives of dozens of civilians.

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/eng...=2&NrSection=1

Sunni leader announces fresh bloc

The Sunni National Dialogue Front (NDF) leader Saleh al-Motlak said on Monday that his bloc would merge with the independents at the Iraqi parliament under the name "Arab Bloc for National Dialogue".

"The merging of these two blocs into one is an initial step towards merging with the rest of blocs in a way to replace the sectarian project with a new national one," Motalk said in a press conference held at Baghdad's conference hall on the sidelines of a parliamentary session on Monday.

The NDF has 11 out of a total 275 seats in the Iraqi parliament while the independents bloc, which used to be part of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), has nine seats.

The IAF, the third largest parliamentary bloc with 44 seats, has thus lost nine seats belonging to the independents while Motlak's fresh bloc would have 20 seats.

The largest parliamentary bloc is the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC) with 83 seats, followed by the Kurdistan Coalition (KC) with 55 seats.

Aswat Aliraq

Political motives behind delayed projects – PM

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Monday that there were political motives behind manipulation and delayed re-building projects, revealing his government's plans to appropriate additional funds by mid-2008 to sustain development projects.

"Implementation of projects should be given to honest companies and contractors who have the experience and loyalty so as to avoid manipulation in all fields for only some political motives," Maliki said in a televised speech from Wassit where he attended ceremonies to inaugurate Sheikh Saad Bridge that links the provinces of Wassit and Thi Qar.

The ceremonies were attended by Minister of Reconstruction and Housing Bayan Da Ziyi, Minister of Municipalities Riad Gharib and Wassit Governor Hamid al-Tarfa as well as other local officials.

Maliki hailed the projects carried out in provinces. He, however, said their implementation was not at the required level.

"The budget allocated for the province used to be re-funded to the state budget but last year has seen immense spending without realizing ambitions and so we urge the officials concerned not to re-fund one dinar of what is given to the province but rather channel all appropriations into projects and re-building," said Maliki.

He revealed the government's plans to appropriate additional funds for reconstruction projects.

"We have plans to inject more funds for projects but it all depends on the local administrations' efforts and work," he said.

Aswat Aliraq

Parliament accepts Sadrist MP's resignation

The Iraqi parliament accepted on Monday the resignation tendered by Sallam al-Maliki, a legislator from the Sadrist bloc, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, by a thin majority.

Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani cast the resignation to vote at a session on Monday but Mohsen al-Saadon from the Kurdistan Coalition (KC) said the application needs no vote and the speakership may endorse it.

Mashhadani replied that there were amendments to the law on members of parliament that required voting on resignation requests.

The voting occurred as 76 were for accepting the resignation while 61 were against it, considering Maliki, the former minister of transport, as a resigned member.

The Sadrists, a main component of the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC), have 30 out of the Iraqi parliament's 275 seats.

Aswat Aliraq

Oil pipeline southwest of Kirkuk detonated

Unidentified gunmen detonated a branch oil pipeline southwest of Kirkuk on Monday, setting it ablaze as fire brigades trying to control the fire, an official security source said.

"Saboteurs blew up a pipeline carrying oil from the Kirkuk fields to Baiji in a site near the al-Janana village, al-Riad district, (35 km southwest of Kirkuk), setting it on fire," the source, who is from the oil facilities protection department, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

Kirkuk, a city of mixed Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish, Assyrian and Turcoman population, lies 250 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Aswat Aliraq

European Union delegation examines needs of Iraq Ahwar region

A delegation from the European Union has examined the needs of Al Ahwar region in southern Iraq to discuss the possibility of investments in ports as well as health and educational sectors.

On the other hand, Saudi Petrol Minister Ali Al Nuaimi affirmed that the level of oil stocks that OPEC is seeking in the second quarter of 2008 relies on consuming fuel during the winter. Al Nuaimi added that it is expected for stocks to reach its average in five years by Spring.

European Union delegation examines needs of Iraq Ahwar region | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Swedish Viking Airlines to resume flights to Arbil and Sulaymaniya

Swedish aviation authorities allowed Viking Airlines to resume flights from Sweden to Arbil and Sulaymaniya airports, after nearly six months of ban following a suspected missile attack on a plane that was about to take off from Sulaymaniya airport.

For its part, the Swedish airlines company affirmed that it will resume flights soon to Arbil and Sulaymaniya.

Swedish Viking Airlines to resume flights to Arbil and Sulaymaniya | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Industry Ministry allocates $30 million to small industrial projects in Basra

Iraq’s Industry Ministry has allocated $ 30 million to small industrial projects in the private sector of Basra Province. A source from Basra Province Council said the allocation will be lent to owners of plants and industries at a rate between 15 and 25 million Dinars for each project according to its importance and the economic interest out of the project’s expansion.

Industry Ministry allocates $30 million to small industrial projects in Basra | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Update......

Iraq Oil Deals Near Completion
Officials from the world's largest oil companies have been meeting with Iraqi Oil Ministry officials to fix the terms of technical support contracts

Iraq's Oil Ministry, in talks with oil majors to boost production in crucial fields, may give long-term deals to firms that offer technical support.
This comes as Baghdad is preparing a first round, though somewhat cloudy in details, of bidding and negotiated contracts to improve its struggling oil sector.

Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told Argus Media on the sidelines of the OPEC meeting in Vienna that all deals would be fully transparent. Work would be carried out by Iraqi workers, he said. There are no legal controls, though, and without it and the re-establishment of the Iraqi National Oil Co. the country's oil sector is moving away from being nationally controlled.

Officials from the world's largest oil companies have been meeting with Iraqi Oil Ministry officials in Amman, Jordan, to fix the terms of technical support contracts. Such contracts, which are shorter-term deals, will "help Iraq fast track the purchase of necessary equipment and train the Iraqi people to install them," Shahristani said.

He said those companies will be favored in a bidding round for longer-term contracts on the fields -- some of Iraq's largest producers -- set for later this year, Argus reports. Another bidding round is expected to take place next year.

Iraq produced about 2.3 million barrels per day in December and intends to hit 2.8 million bpd in two years, a projection based on enhancing currently producing fields. Iraq's oil sector, the third-largest in the world, manages despite years of misuse by Saddam Hussein, U.N. sanctions and the ongoing war. It needs tens of billions of dollars of investment and Iraq's government chronically been unable to invest its own capital budget, lacking institutional capacity.

It has no official oil law, relying on a Saddam-era law and controversial laws of the Kurdistan region. A national oil law has been stuck in negotiations for a year, largely over disputes between the national and Kurdish governments over who controls and directs the country's oil strategy.

The Kurdistan Regional Government passed its own oil law and has signed dozens of contracts to jump start its own promising oil sector. Shahristani calls the deals illegal and said any company who signs with the KRG will be kept out of the rest of Iraq. Oil sales to Korea's SK Energy and Austria's OMV have been halted.

There is also no agreement as to how much access international oil firms should have to Iraq's oil, nationalized since the 1970s.

Along with the oil law, a law governing revenue, reorganizing the Oil Ministry and reconstituting the Iraqi National Oil Company were to be approved, as a package. All are far from approval.

Now Baghdad is moving forward on signing the deals, which are needed to some extent to bring new technology to the sector and training to Iraq's oil workers. But the workers have warned against controversial production sharing contracts or any that takes control of the oil, and too much the profits, from Iraqis.

"National expertise and resources are capable of enhancing production in the oil industry," Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of the umbrella Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, told United Press International during a visit to London in November, "if they are prepared to allocate more funding and spend the resources that already exist."

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report last month said it was unable to discern how much of the 2007 capital budget Iraq's government spent. It assessed the level of success after a dismal 2006.

The U.S. State Department said Iraq's central government spent 24 percent of its capital budget through July 15, 2007. The U.S. Treasury Department pegs it at 4.4 percent through August.

"The disparity between the different sets of data calls into question their reliability and whether they can be used to draw firm conclusions about the extent to which the Iraqi government has increased its spending on capital projects in 2007, compared with 2006," the report concluded.

Iraq's Oil Ministry, like the rest of Iraq, has seen a brain drain of qualified and trained technocrats. Many have fled the country, were purged during an ethnic cleanse or have been killed.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Iraq Oil Deals Near Completion

seaview, thank you for the hard work and posting. Seems as if we just keep getting round about good news with little or nothing happening to secure the future for the Iraqi man on the street. Forget the RV..May happen in our life time may not, but it is about the quality of life issue and Parliment just can't do anything to make it better. We see security beefed up, casualties tapering off, positive vibes coming out of Iraq. But where is it all headed? I wonder if corruption will truly rule the day. Have a Great evening. Warrior