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

Iraqi Executive Council meets in Baghdad

Today the Iraqi Executive Council, which includes the Iraqi President and his two Vice Presidents and the Iraqi PM (3+1), discussed the new Iraqi government’s formation, emphasizing on the need for listening to most of political views regarding this.

The Representative of Kurdistan Region President, Roj Nouri Shawais, Head of the Iraqi Presidency office and Head of the Iraqi PM’s Office attended the meeting.

The council emphasized on the need for accelerating this dossier and giving ministry portfolios to active technocrats’ who are known of their patriotic loyalty.

The Iraqi budget, the process of ratifying it in the Iraqi Council of Representatives and amending several articles of the Accountability and Justice Law were also discussed during the meeting.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi Executive Council meets in Baghdad

President Talabani meets with Petraeus

Today the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Commander-in-Chief of Coalition Forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and an accompanying delegation, including Ambassador Marcy Reyes and other officials of MNF-Iraq.

Iraqi Vice-President, Dr. Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the Representative of the Kurdistan Region, Dr. Roj Nuri Shaways, and other officials attended the meeting.

Petraeus briefed President Talabani on the security developments and operations of the coalition forces in cooperation with the Iraqi forces, pointing the significant reduction in terrorist attacks and violence rendered to the efforts of the Iraqi armed forces, the coalition forces and the broad public support.

President Talabani emphasized on the significance of accelerating reviewing the cases and freeing the detainees who have not been proved guilty. The efforts made by political leaders and the Parliament to complete the budget law, and several political and economic issues were also discussed during the meeting.

PUKmedia :: English - President Talabani meets with Petraeus

Pressure mounts on Kurds for signing oil deals

Iraqi experts and politicians have slammed the Kurdish authorities for signing oil development deals with foreign firms without central government’s consent.

Former oil minister Isam al-Jalabi said those contracts were ‘illegal’ and had no constitutional base.

The deals, he said, violate the constitution which says: “Oil and gas are the property of the Iraqi people in regions and provinces.”

Jalabi is currently an international oil expert leading a consultancy in London and Amman.

The Kurds’ persistence to go ahead with the deals has turned numerous Iraqi factions from the whole range of the disparate political spectrum against them.

The resistance to the Kurds’ bid is being spearheaded by Oil Minister Husain al-Shahristani.

Another expert, Taher al-Bakaa, said Shahristani’s objection to the deals “comes within his ministry’s role and tasks” as stipulated by the constitution.

Opposition to the Kurdish oil move is growing particularly in parliament.

Abdulhadi al-Hassani, who heads the parliament’s oil and gas commission, urged the government to stand firm on Shahristani’s side.

“These deals must be stopped. Oil must be under the responsibility of the federal authorities (central government),” he said.

He warned that if Kurds were not stopped, the move would encourage other provinces and regions to do the same, leading to the country’s partition.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-02-04\kurd.htm

Huweija municipal council chief demands more allocations

Head of the Huweija municipal council called on the local government to increase its 2008 allocations to the district to enable it to go ahead with its development projects.

"Huweija's share of the local government's budget for 2008, which is 7 billion Iraqi dinars (1 USD=1,225 IQD), is not enough for the projects scheduled for 2008. That is why we call on officials from Kirkuk's local government and municipal council to increase the district's portion of the budget in accordance with its population," the council's head, Hussein Ali Saleh, told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI).

Saleh pointed out that the district, which lies 70 km southwest of Kirkuk, has a population of over 92,000, according to official statistics.

Kirkuk, a mixed city of Kurds, Turkmen, Christians and Arabs, lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Aswat Aliraq

Central committees within ministries to sign, review contracts

The Iraqi cabinet has decided to authorize ministries, departments not affiliated with a ministry and provinces to sign and review contracts through central committees presided over by a minister, department head or a governor, a government statement said on Wednesday.

"As part of its efforts for speeding up reconstruction work, the cabinet has decided to authorize the ministries to sign and review contracts," read the statement that was released by the cabinet's National Media Center and received by Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI).

"The cabinet will set up a committee within every ministry, province and department not affiliated with a ministry to ratify and review the contracts made by these bodies," the statement indicated.

The statement further revealed a maximum limit of $50 million for the contracts signed by the ministries of defense, interior, oil, trade, health, electricity, industry, financial resources and municipalities; and a $30 million ceiling for contracts concluded by other ministries.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraq moves ahead with oil contracts with multinationals

The Iraqi government has invited major multinational oil companies to take part in the development of its oil industry, refusing to wait for the passage of the contentious oil and gas law, the Financial Times said in a report.

"In a sign that the oil law the US has been pressing for is unlikely to be agreed by parliament any time soon, Hussain Shahristani, Iraq’s oil minister, said in an interview with the Financial Times that Iraq was now determined to push ahead with plans to raise production from a current 2.5m barrels per day to 6m bpd in five years," read the report."

"Speaking on the sidelines of a conference at Chatham House in London, he said major companies were registering to pre-qualify for oil development licences before the February 18 deadline. The process, he said, should lead next year to the award of the first contracts to develop oil fields across the country," according to the report.

"Oil giants, so far deterred from Iraq by violence and the absence of clear legislation, are showing keen interest in the pre-qualification process. It marks the first opportunity to tap into a country with the world’s third largest proved oil reserves and a largely undeveloped oil industry with low production costs."

"But the companies will no doubt require more legislative clarity and further improvements in security before committing substantial investment," the report indicated.

Quoting Jeroen van der Veer, the chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell, the newspaper wrote: "We are in the race so to say, we would like to work in Iraq but the petroleum law is not ratified so we don’t know the conditions. We would like to know the rules of the game.”

"While eyeing more long-term relationships with Iraq, major companies are negotiating technical support contracts to get their foot in the door and help raise production of several oil fields by 500,000 bpd this year.

These deals do not involve putting teams on the ground and are confined to offering arms-length technical and managerial assistance. The companies include Royal Dutch Shell and BP as well as US giants ExxonMobil and Chevron and France’s Total."

"The exact terms of the longer-term development contracts have not been decided yet, according to Mr Shahristani," the report said.

"The minister said a 'model contract' would be worked out, compensating companies for bringing in technology and financial resources while guaranteeing full government ownership and control of oil," it added.

"Mr Shahristani’s decision to bypass an oil law reflects the government’s frustration with the Kurdish regional government, which has been seeking more independence on oil policy, fuelling a protracted dispute with other parliamentary groups."

"The Iraqi cabinet approved the oil law a year ago but has since been unable to pass it through parliament, partly due to disagreements over the sharing of oil revenues between regions."

"The government in the Kurdish north, meanwhile, has passed its own oil law and has been signing exploration contracts with western companies, causing anger in the central government. Mr Shahristani has warned that these contracts are illegal and companies involved in the contracts could be blacklisted."

The report further quoted the minister as denying that the decision to push ahead with oil contracts "was primarily a tactical move designed to put pressure on the Kurdish bloc..."

Aswat Aliraq

Higher dollar demand, exchange rate down in daily auction

Demand for the dollar rose in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Wednesday, registering at $90.55 million compared to $68.910 million on Tuesday.

"The demand hit $12.80 million in cash and $77.975 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,210 Iraqi dinars per dollar, one tick lower than yesterday," according to the central bank's daily bulletin which was received by Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

The 15 banks participating in the auction offered to sell $100,000, which the bank bought at an exchange rate of 1,208 dinars per dollar.

Speaking to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, attributed the higher demand for the dollar in today's session to "the unexpected drop in the exchange rate," which he said encouraged banks to raise the ceiling on remittances and cash bids.

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

Aswat Aliraq

Korean cargo ship arrives at Basra port

A North Korean ship called Nasir carrying a varied cargo arrived at Basra's port of Umm al-Qasr, relations and media director at the State Company for Iraqi Ports said on Wednesday.

"On Wednesday morning, Umm al-Qasr Port received a North Korean ship called Nasir with a varied cargo," Abdul Kareem Sabri told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI), providing no details of the content of the cargo.

The Shiite province of Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has five commercial ports and two oil ports: al-Maaqal, established in 1916 by the British forces and handed over to Iraqi authorities in 1937; and Faw, a small port on the al-Faw Peninsula near the Shatt al-Arab and the Persian Gulf.

Aswat Aliraq

Kurdish PM to visit Baghdad soon – MP

A prominent member in the Kurdistan Coalition (KC) said on Wednesday that a high-level Kurdish delegation under Prime Minister Negervan al-Barazani will arrive in Baghdad in the coming two days.

"The delegation will include a number of Kurdish ministers and members of the political bureau of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to discuss some technical issues with the central government," Mahmoud Othman told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

He ruled out discussing Kurdistan's share in the 2008 budget, asserting that "this issue will be discussed in the parliament."

"The visit aims to solve some pending issues and to continue talks al-Barazani held with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a month ago," the MP noted.

Negervan al-Barazani had talks with the central government in Baghdad in mid-December 2007 to discuss outstanding issues, including oil contracts, but reached no concrete results.

"The delegation will discuss also Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution and oil contracts signed with some foreign companies as well as oil and gas draft law," Othman explained.

The government of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan signed a contract with a global oil consortium led by South Korea's national oil corporation KNOC, by virtue of which the latter received a concession to prospect for oil in northern Iraq.

According to KNOC sources, South Korea imported 42 million barrels of oil from Iraq in November 2007, three times the amount it imported from Iraq in a whole year in 2006.

Iraq is South Korea's largest oil supplier.

The government of Iraqi Kurdistan had signed 15 contracts to take part in oil production with 20 foreign companies despite the central government's objection and ahead of the Iraqi parliament's final endorsement on the new oil draft law.

Aswat Aliraq

Strengthening relations between Baghdad and Bucharest

Iraqi Finance Minister, Baqir Jabr Al-Zubaidi, discussed the bilateral relations between Baghdad and Bucharest with Mihai Stephan Stobaro, the Romanian ambassador in Baghdad.

During a meeting between the two sides in the Iraqi capital Baghdad last Thursday, The Minister of Finance confirmed the depth of historical relations between the two countries and the need to strengthen them especially in the economic area through the contribution of Romanian companies in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq's infrastructure, using the assets of long experience and expertise which those companies has in the field of building residential complexes in Iraq, and through the creation of economic links based on the interests of the two countries with the support of the Romanian government.

At the end of his work in Iraq, the Romanian Ambassador invited the Finance Minister to visit Romania in order to strengthen the financial, banking and economic cooperation between Iraq and Romania.

The Finance Minister expressed his deep appreciation and gratitude for the invitation from His Excellency the Ambassador to visit Bucharest to lay the foundations for strong economic relations between the two countries.

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