Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 15/04/08 - 26/08/08

Turkey allows Iraqi oil export restart after payment

Turkey allowed Iraq to restart around a fifth of its oil exports on Tuesday after halting the flow for a day pending the payment of a $100 million debt.

Iraq pumps around 430,000 barrels per day (bpd) of its nearly 2 million bpd of oil exports through its northern pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

Turkish state pipeline operator Botas ordered the restart to loadings from Ceyhan on Tuesday after Iraq paid half the debt, a senior Botas source said.

"Iraq has an outstanding debt to Turkey long overdue," the Botas source said. "Yesterday Botas notified Iraq officially that if the debt is not repaid all loadings will be stopped, and Botas stopped loadings yesterday. After this payment, Botas ordered loadings to start again."

An Iraqi oil official said earlier the flow stopped due to a court order from a small Turkish court pending the settlement of a claim. The Botas official was unaware of any court order, but said that some Turkish companies had filed cases against Iraq in Turkish courts to recover debts.

Baghdad relies on oil revenues as its only source of hard currency. At current oil prices, the value of one day's oil exports through the pipeline line is about $52 million.

"It is ridiculous to stop an operation worth billions of dollars for a few million dollars," the Iraqi oil official said.

.........................

Business Feed Article | Business |

Demand for dollar drops in daily auction

Demand for the dollar was down in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Wednesday, reaching $114.525 million compared to $177.280 million on Tuesday.

"The demand hit $25.485 million in cash and $89.045 million in foreign transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,192 Iraqi dinars per dollar," 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.

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

Aswat Aliraq

Iraqi Deputy PM: Voting to Provincial Elections Law is Unacceptable

Iraqi deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, said that voting to the provincial elections law by the Iraqi lawmakers is unconstitutional and unacceptable.

“If this issue remains unsolved, Iraqi president Mam Jalal will be bound to veto it,” Barham Saleh said.

“Despite a signed agreement between Kurdistan Alliance Bloc and other blocs to reach a compromise, their stance to vote to the bill today made their credibility suspicious.”

“Kurdistan Alliance Bloc (KAB) strongly objected to this unconstitutional drive and it takes all constitutional measures to respond it. The real response is the insistence of KAB on implementing the content of article 140 as a least constitutional commitment of Iraqi government to the people of Kurdistan,” Barham Saleh added.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi Deputy PM: Voting to Provincial Elections Law is Unacceptable

Presidents Talabani and Barzani Discuss Elections Law Issue

In a phone call yesterday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani discussed the subject of issuing the law of Provincial Councils Elections at the Iraqi Parliament in the absence of Kurdistani Alliance and Kurdistani Islamic Union blocs and in illegal way.

They also discussed the Kurdish political leadership stance towards these developments.

Concerning this issue, it was decided that President Massoud Barzani will visit Baghdad as soon as possible to discuss the issue with President Talabani and to take the necessary steps to face this crisis.

PUKmedia :: English - Presidents Talabani and Barzani Discuss Elections Law Issue

Kurdistan Parliament to Hold an Extraordinary Session

Adnan Mufti, speaker of Kurdistan Parliament called the Members of the Parliament to attend the extraordinary session that will be held today at 12:00pm. The session will discuss the subject of issuing the law of Provinces’ Councils Elections in Iraq, which was issued yesterday by the Iraqi Parliament.

PUKmedia :: English - Kurdistan Parliament to Hold an Extraordinary Session

Banking Performance between Private and Government

Strikingly, in banking, private banks to submit their performance in high rates compared to those governmental progressing slowly, apparently .. This refers to the proportion of deposits that banks are increasing their rates when compared with the growing civil incidents in the State banks, and also refers to bank credit rates, rates of introduction of technology banking, in addition to the development of skills of workers in banks, civil actors to perform sophisticated banking and preparing budgets in accordance with accounting standards International Modern .. The Movement of Iraqi market for securities trading to the highest ratios in terms of the number of shares in the banking sector when it reached 82.9% of the number of shares traded in the last meeting last week ..

The number of participants in the capital by banks and foreign financial institutions, seven participations in private banks, which rose to 32 after the bank was not exceeding the 12 banks in the year 2002, these and other indicators for us to acknowledge the fact evolution witnessed by the private banking sector, and calls us Also to stop the performance of banks over the fact that government is still Reclining on a legacy routine despite the relentless pursuit of the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank to develop the work of this transnational banks to increase capital and training of cadres and introducing modern banking technology in their work, but the reality points to hold the branches of these banks methods Performance outdated as we approach the globalization of banking whenever the security situation, progress towards stability ..

Strange that all studies and research presented by researchers involved in the banking sector stresses the need for attention factor (time) to keep abreast of developments bank, but no indication of this interest on the ground even though we are about to engage in the globalization of banking like it or not ..

We talked about the restructuring of banks, the government has been the subject of direct five years ago, but the direct results of this have not yet shown, introduction of banking technology did not appear in the services provided directly to the public - like the ATM example, or credit card - not in Working tools such as banking Profiles lagging electronic clearing work in one way or another, either for the capital of these banks have announced an adjustment for capital, some of them and still others working capital is approaching the figure set by the Banking Act No. 94 of Iraq in 2004 that made reducing Near the capital of any bank b (50) billion dinars ..

In the case of slack management does not appear that it is the right direction, as it requires further review, particularly in administrative functions (with experience as they call!) And whom we hold in respect, but they were cut from the world and only the culture of our book, the book .. As for dealing with the public good, the scenery of retirees who stand in lines to wait in the sun before the doors of government banks, sing any comment someone has died before the door of a branch of the Rafidain Bank - last Sunday - which is expected role and standing under the flames of the sun.

http://www.almadapaper.com/paper.php...page&sid=47267

Iraqi Presidency Office Issues Statement Over Provincial Elections Law

Iraqi Presidency Office issued a statement regarding the provincial elections law which was passed yesterday in the absence of Kurdish blocs and several other Iraqi lawmakers.

The statement explained that as soon as President Mam Jalal took his responsibility, he intensified all his efforts in a bid to establish the national unity based on the principles of consensus and respect for all the key components of Iraqi community.

Meanwhile, it said that the provincial election law was passed without the willingness of the second component which is Kurd. “This conduct is at odds with the national accordance and put the constitution into risk, consequently it may have negative impacts on what we have done and what we hope for,” the statement said.

The statement called on the Iraqi parliament to revise the law and correct such constitutional mistake.

“President cannot accept the law voted for by 127 lawmakers which do not constitute half of the parliament members. He believes that Presidency Council does not overlook it pursuant to the constitution and the political process which was guided by the principle of consensus,” the statement added.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi Presidency Office Issues Statement Over Provincial Elections Law

US Forces May be Based in Iraq's Kurdistan Region

US forces could be stationed permanently in Kurdistan as part of a long-term security agreement, top Kurdish political sources revealed to Gulf News.

The Iraqi government and head of northern Iraq's regional Kurdish administration, Massoud Barzani, along with the leadership of US forces in Iraq have started to suggest that American forces be permanently based in Kurdistan.

These ideas are welcomed by Democratic US Presidential candidate Barack Obama who believes the survival of US combat forces in Kurdistan does not pose any real danger to the lives of US troops and therefore it would be appropriate to redeploy US troops there in the future, added the sources.

Iraqi and US negotiations continued in Baghdad to conclude a memorandum of understanding to sign this agreement, which will allow the US military to stay permanently in Kurdistan, and Iraqi and US negotiators agreed to focus these negotiations on the issue of determining a timetable for the agreement.

There are currently no military airports or airbase installation in any of the three provinces in Kurdistan and these may need to be established. It may take two to three years to clear US forces from Iraqi cities.

Protection

"A permanent US military presence in the Kurdistan region is welcome and is necessary to defend Iraq from internal and external risks and is important to protect the region, but this presence must be within an Iraqi-Kurd-American agreement," Jabar Al Yawir, spokesman for the Protection Forces of the Kurdistan Region, told Gulf News.

"Permanent US forces remain in the Al Hurria Air Base in the province of Kirkuk and the Al Gizlani Air Base in Mosul, close to the Kurdistan Region, but this will not be a solution because such a permanent presence in those cities is fuelling the armed resistance. I therefore believe that the relocation of US forces inside the region is the solution," Emad Al Hamadani, an Iraqi army officer told Gulf News.

While US and Kurdish sources denied any intention of building a US air base near the town of Halabja in the governorate of Sulaymaniya, near Iran, some independent Kurdish sources said if the US decides to establish a permanent presence in the Kurdistan Region they will certainly be closer to the Iraqi-Iranian border.

"Kurdish leaders are among the most prominent US allies in Iraq and the region, and with this permanent US presence not one neighbouring country would dare to threaten the sovereignty of the region and its federal experience, and the Kurdish population will not to take up arms against the presence if this happens, because much of them are have a message of thanks and gratitude for the Americans," Abdul Razzaq Al Saadi, a strategic analyst told Gulf News.

PUKmedia :: English - US Forces May be Based in Iraq's Kurdistan Region

Talabani and Abdul Mahdi Formally Reject Iraqi Provincial Law

On Wednesday the United Iraqi Alliance Bloc inside the Iraqi Parliament convened to discuss the Iraqi provincial law which has been passed by the Iraqi Council of Representatives on Tuesday in absence of the Kurdistan Alliance Bloc, the Islamic Union, and other Iraqi lawmakers. The United Iraqi Alliance Bloc called the Iraqi Vice President, Adil Abdul Mahdi, to reject the law formally.

Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, and the Iraqi Vice President, Adil Abdul Mahdi, in a separate meeting also on Wednesday rejected the Iraqi provincial law formally. Both Talabani and Abdul Mahdi now are waiting for the view of the Iraqi Vice President Tariq al Hashimi about the law.

PUKmedia :: English - Talabani and Abdul Mahdi Formally Reject Iraqi Provincial Law

Kurdish Parliament Speaker: Provincial Elections Law is Coup against Constitution

Today the Kurdistan region parliament held an extraordinary session discussing the Iraqi provincial elections law which was yesterday passed by the Iraqi parliament.

Speaker of the parliament, Adnan Mufti, said the voting procedure, which was secret ballot, violates Iraqi constitution. He also considered the law as a coup against Iraqi constitution.

The speaker expressed doubt whether the quorum was met during the Iraqi parliament session. His deputy, Kamal Kirkuki, then said the law ruins relations among Iraqi components.

PUKmedia :: English - Kurdish Parliament Speaker: Provincial Elections Law is Coup against Constitution