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

Joint Statement by the U.S. Embassy Baghdad and Multi-National Force-Iraq

U.S. Embassy Baghdad and the Multi-National Force Iraq command have issued a joint statement yesterday about the parliamentary actions to pass legislations. Below is the full text of the statement:

"We warmly congratulate the Government of Iraq and the Council of Representatives on the parliamentary actions taken today to pass enabling legislation for the 2008 Budget, a law on Provincial Powers, and an Amnesty law.

The passage of the 2008 Budget provides a basis for distributing resources for the needs of all Iraq’s people, and to promote sustainable economic progress. After many months of careful preparation, negotiation and debate, the Provincial Powers Law represents an important step toward framing the balance the Iraqi people seek between central government authority and the strengthening of local governments. In passing this landmark law, Iraqi legislators have reached an historic compromise. Finally we applaud the passage of the Government of Iraq’s General Amnesty Law, which may further encourage reconciliation and respect for the rule of law.

There is still much important work ahead for the people of Iraq and their government. There is also still more to learn about how this legislation will be implemented. Nevertheless, today’s legislative actions reflect a significant commitment to address important issues and find political bases on which to move forward."

PUKmedia :: English - Joint Statement by the U.S. Embassy Baghdad and Multi-National Force-Iraq

Iran Postpones Iraq Talks with US

Iran has postponed talks with the US on how to end the violence in Iraq, officials announced, a day before the meeting was to be held.

U.S. and Iraqi officials said Tehran had given no reason for its absence from the planned trilateral talks on Friday.

Three previous sessions have all ended in deadlock, with both sides blaming the other for the continued fighting.

The US accuses Iran of aiding radical Shia groups in Iraq, while Iran blames the violence on US presence in Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters news agency on Thursday: "Yesterday we were informed that the Iranians want to postpone this for some time, for some unknown reason."

No Progress

There was no immediate explanation from Tehran for the postponement.
A US embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad, Mirembe Nantongo, was quoted by AP news agency as saying: "We have been saying for weeks we are ready to sit down for talks. It is increasingly clear that Iran is not."

Senior officials from the US and Iran held talks in May, July and August last year in the highest level public contacts between the two countries for 27 years.

But all three meetings ended without progress, and violence in Iraq - while at a lower level than it was in 2006 - continues.

In November the US blamed Iranian-backed militants for a bomb attack on a pet market in Baghdad that killed some 13 people.

PUKmedia :: English - Iran Postpones Iraq Talks with US

Al-Maliki Requires Presidency to manifest its Stand on Ministerial Changes

The Iraqi government official spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh announced that the Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki required the presidency council to manifest its stand on the ministerial changes within a week to re-form an active cabinet that meets the requirements of the country.

“The Iraqi premier desires to form a new cabinet through reducing the number of the current ministries so that the best services and promises given to the Iraqis for 2008 will be addressed.” Al-Dabbagh added.

PUKmedia :: English - Al-Maliki Requires Presidency to manifest its Stand on Ministerial Changes

ISX opens with 35 million share double contracts

The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) opened its session on Thursday with three 35-million-share double contracts at a value of 1,050 Iraqi dinar (1 U.S. dollar =1,223 Iraqi dinars) per share.

The contract was concluded by Iraqi companies, which bought the shares from companies working under the Islamic Bank.

During the session, a foreign 500,000 share contract was also concluded at a value of 1,400 dinars per share.

The Iraqi Stock Exchange holds three sessions a week: Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Aswat Aliraq

Electricity minister urges foreign companies to rebuild Iraq's power grid

Iraq's minister of electricity called on foreign companies to help reconstruct Iraq's power system, dismissing any possible improvement in electricity without external assistance.

"Iraqi companies are only rehabilitating the power grid, but not rebuilding it," Minister Kareem Waheed told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI), citing security fears behind foreign companies' refusal to operate in Iraq.

"It is difficult to set a timetable for the return of stability in power networks without a prior security improvement in Iraq," the minister indicated, linking the power cutoffs in the capital to armed operations.

"The ministry is about to embark on six projects for the generation of electricity, five in Baghdad and one in al-Maseeb, Babel province," according to the minister.

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraq's 18,000km-long power grid has been suffering from the subsequent destruction of electrical dispatch centers by looters, rendering the Iraqi government unable to control the grid centrally.

Aswat Aliraq

Sharp decline in dollar demand in daily auction

Demand for the dollar dropped significantly in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Thursday, registering at $47.945 million compared to $134.65 million on Wednesday.

"The demand hit $11.440 million in cash and $36.505 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,210 Iraqi dinars per dollar, unchanged for the seventh session in a row," according to the central bank's daily bulletin which was received by Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

None of the 12 banks that participated in the auction offered to dollars.

In statements to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, described the decline in the demand for the dollar on Thursday as reasonable. "All urgent remittances were made during Wednesday's session," he said.

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

Aswat Aliraq

ISX index up by 0.057%

The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) index rose by 0.05% on Thursday compared to the previous session, which closed at 35.09 points.
Traded shares in Thursday's session exceeded 570 million at a total value of 1.064 billion dinars ($870,000) by implementing 321 contracts.

Non-Iraqi investors participated with over 340 million shares, totaling more than 501 million Iraqi dinars (1 U.S. dollar =1,223 Iraqi dinars) by implementing 49 contracts in the banking and agricultural sectors.

According to the daily analysis of the capital market, the banking sector's index, in which 14 companies traded, closed at 37.498 points; while the industrial sector, in which ten companies traded, ended at 11.15 points, higher than the previous session by 0.39%.

The statement concluded that 35 companies were traded in Thursday's session out of 94 companies registered in Iraq's stock exchange, of which 17 indexes went up, 4 dropped, and 14 maintained their previous price.

Aswat Aliraq

$17 million to rehabilitate Missan sugar plant

Iraq's Ministry of Industry has allocated $17 million from a $100 Iranian loan to rehabilitate a sugar factory in Missan, the general director of the General Company for Sugar in the province said on Thursday.

"A delegation comprising of Iranian experts in sugar industry will soon arrive in Missan to evaluate the damage in the factory in preparation for the rehabilitation process that is expected to return the factory to its structural capacity of 100,000 tons per year," Aqil al-Allaq told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI).

In early 2007, the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals signed a memorandum of understanding with its Iranian counterpart to activate a $100 million loan given by the Iranian government to support and develop the ministry's facilities.

The sugar factory in Missan started its production of pure white sugar in February 1970.

Amara, the capital city of Missan province, lies 390 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.


Aswat Aliraq

Yazidis reject approving 2008 budget – MP

A leading figure from the Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress said on Thursday that the Yazidis do not support the approval of the 2008 budget, underling that he did not vote for it.

“Unfortunately, we have not found a clear vision regarding the government’s steps to boost investments in the budget draft law,” Amin Farhan, head of the Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

“We also objected distributing oil shares mechanism on provinces. We believe that Kurdistan region got more than it deserves, which forced me not to vote for the 2008 budget,” Farhan explained.

Iraq's parliament on Wednesday passed three key laws that set legislations for provincial elections, allotted $48 billion for 2008 spending, and provided general amnesty to detainees in Iraqi custody.

Iraqi parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said at a press conference that “the voting took into consideration all blocs and their powers.”

He branded the session as an “Iraqi wedding ceremony.”

“Rows took place in the session, but we voted on the laws and will abide by them,” al-Mashhadani conceded.

Amin Farhan is the only Yazidi legislature in the parliament.

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), there are about 800,000 Yazidis all over the world. 550,000 of them live in Iraq and concentrated in the district of Sinjar, where the temple Lalesh is considered the holiest shrine for Yazidis, the district of al-Shaykhan (50 km north of Mosul), the district of Bueshiqa (15 km east of Mosul) and some other areas and villages in the provinces of Ninewa and Duhuk.

Yazidis are primarily ethnic Kurds and most live near Mosul, with smaller communities in Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Syria, and Turkey. The estimates of their population size vary, partially due to the Yazidi tradition of secrecy about their religious beliefs.

Yazidis worship seven angels, in the form of peacocks, who are subordinate to the supreme god who created the universe.

A couple of related incidents in the spring highlighted the tensions between Sunnis and Yazidis.

In April 2007, a Kurdish Yazidi teenage girl was brutally beaten, kicked and stoned to death in northern Iraq by other Yazidis in what authorities said was an "honor killing" after she was seen with a Sunni Muslim man. Although she had not married him or converted, her attackers believed she had.

The Yazidis condemn mixing with people of another faith.

A U.S. military official said the Sunni al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq sent members of the Yazidi religious minority death threats, called "night letters," telling them "to leave because they are infidels."

Aswat Aliraq

Passage of three key laws dominates Baghdad press

Baghdad newspapers on Thursday focused on the Iraqi parliament's passage of three contentious legislative items on the 2008 budget, general amnesty, and provinces not affiliated with a province.

The independent daily al-Sharq al-Iraqiyya newspaper published an opinion article by its Editor-in-Chief Abdul Rasoul in which he described the parliamentary approval of the law as a "new beginning" that indicates a good sign for the future.

"The parliament's belated vote on the budget came at a time when we most need funds to embark on programs and projects in a bid to counteract the negligence caused in previous eras," the author said.

The author explained that the general amnesty law can be a real start for national reconciliation efforts in the country and a new stage of real tolerance.

Yesterday, Iraq's parliament passed three crucial laws that set legislations for provincial elections, allotted $ 48 billion for 2008 spending, and provided general amnesty to detainees in Iraqi custody.

The Sadrists and some members of the Shiite Fadhila Party, the Iraqi National List (INL), the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC), and the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) withdrew from the session.

The U.S. administration has demanded the passage of a provincial powers law as one of 18 benchmarks for political reconciliation in Iraq.

The last time Iraqis voted for local officials was in January 2005, when nationwide elections ushered in representational government across Iraq for the first time in modern history.

Al-Muwatin, another independent daily, published an article entitled, 'Parliament between collusion and accordance,' by its Editor-in-Chief, Salam al-Haidari in which he raised doubts about possible collusion between Iraqi politicians to pass the three laws.

"Statistics released by the Ministry of Planning and Development say that Kurds constitute 13% of the total population. Why then would they be given 17% (of the budget)? How could a vote be taken on a general amnesty law that includes criminals and murderers? Doesn't that suggest that there is a bargain between these parties?" the author wondered.

Aswat Aliraq