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

Significant jump for dollar demand at daily auction

Demand for the dollar was significantly up in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Tuesday, reaching $119.630 million compared to $67.120 million on Monday.

"The demand hit $3.350 million in cash and $116.280 million in foreign transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at a stable exchange rate of 1,198 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 15 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell dollars.

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

Aswat Aliraq

VP Al-Hashimi meets Japan’s Oil-Gas Director

Tariq al-Hashimi, the Iraqi Vice President met Sin Hosaka, the Director of Oil-Gas in the Japanese ministry of economy, trade and industry.During the meeting they discussed ways of joint collaboration to develop the Iraqi Oil-Gas field.Al-Hashimi called on the Japanese companies and businessmen to reconsider their stance towards the investment in Iraq especially after the security improvement. He said:”Time is passing; the Japanese companies and businessmen should review their stance towards investment in Iraq especially after the security development or they will lose the opportunity to compete in the Iraqi market.”

Mr. Hosaka promised to convey al-Hashimi’s views to the Japanese government and to think seriously in developing Oil-Gas sectors.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=4495&Itemid=1

EU Calls on Iraq’s Neighbor States to fulfill their Commitments

The EU Council of Foreign Ministries issued a statement after their meeting in Brussels yesterday. They welcomed the ministerial meeting of Iraq’s neighbor states which was held last month in Kuwait.

They emphasized the need for dialogue and collaboration between Iraq, its neighbors and its regional partners. The statement also stated:” the productive contact by Iraq’s neighbor states is very crucial to establish peace and stability in Iraq and the region.”

The council also urged all Iraq’s Neighbor States to carry out their commitments towards Iraq and to raise their diplomatic representation in Baghdad.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=4498&Itemid=1

America's 'Gift' to Iraq

believe in the Iraqi project. Ryan Crocker, U. S. ambassador in Baghdad, who knows the ways of the region, said something that I truly believe in. He said, "In the end, how we leave and what we leave behind will be much more important than how we came."

The debate thus far has been about how we came. Bush lied, people died, there were no weapons of mass destruction. There's no connection between al-Qaeda, which is religious, and the regime of Saddam Hussein, which is secular. We spent five years and we are now in year six of this debate about the origins of the war and the rationale of the war. We are done with this. We are in Iraq.

The U.S. smashed the Sunni-Tikriti hegemony and we created the Shia-led government. We hadn't really intended to create the Shialed government. The war wasn't about this. But once you destroy the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, then of course the Shia and the Kurds were bound to come into power, because in the end, this was a Shia country in terms of numbers, with a vast Kurdish minority in the north. So the U. S. has already midwifed, if you will, this country. And here, in the middle of this unbelievably difficult landscape of the Arab world, we've installed a binational government in many ways.

Here were the Kurds -- they absolutely were the most betrayed of people. All the nations of the region, all the great powers had betrayed the Kurds. And yet there is now a decent order in Kurdistan.

For the Sunnis, Americans came and stole their country. They believed Iraq was going to be theirs forever. Whenever I'm there I remind the Iraqis that there was no way this tyranny in Iraq could be overthrown internally. Saddam's regime was a reich of a thousand years. It was decapitated in 2003, and we've been watching the pain of Iraq, the disappointments of Iraq.

I look at Iraq and ask myself, does any man own Iraq? When I go to Egypt I know I am in Hosni Mubarak's country. When I am in Jordan I know I am traveling to King Abdullah's country. Who owns Iraq? Is it Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish president? Not particularly. Is it Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a son of the Shia middle class from the middle Euphrates? Not particularly. Is it his deputy, the Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Salih? Not exactly. Is it the Shia vice-president, the Sunni vice-president? So we have created this order in Iraq. And I think President Bush deserves immense credit for both launching this war with the approval of his country and the approval of the Congress, and then for doubling down and staying with this war in January, 2007, when the project was threatened.

Now the Shia, we always worry about the Shia. You know why we worry about them? Because we listen to the Sunnis too much. You have the King of Jordan saying, "There's a Shia crescent" -- stretched, he says, from Iran to Iraq to Syria and Lebanon. But there are no Shia in Syria. So the crescent breaks. But even after 9/11, and even after the attacks of al-Qaeda, which were Sunni attacks, from Sunni fundamentalists, we still believe -- we still believe, and we fear the Shia. We see them as kind of soulmates of the Iranian theocracy next door. When in truth, if you know Iraq and you know the traditions of Iraqi Shiasm, there's a big difference between Iranian Shiaism and Iraqi Shiaism. And the Arab-Persian divide is so deep and so integral to the way Iraqis think about Shiaism and about themselves.

The Kurds, for their part, that's an easier call. The Kurds love America, and are grateful for this war and are grateful for the liberty given them. They understand that there can be no Kurdish state, that America will not countenance a Kurdish state. But it will support Kurdish autonomy. So I think the Iraqi project is coming together reasonably well. And of course, Americans will vote on the Iraq war in November.

The American public will decide whether this Bush project of supporting liberty in the Islamic world is really worth it, or whether it's really kind of a fool's errand, to take liberty to strangers. Because, make no mistake about it, Bush has made this historic decision that the Arabs have the possibility of freedom in their DNA. And that's the message he has taken to them. And that's the message he has remained true to. And that's the message he will leave with on Jan. 20, 2009. This assertion that liberty can stick on Arab soil is a gift that Bush brought to the Arabs.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=4504&Itemid=1

General Directorate of Industrial Development examines 173 projects

General Directorate of Industrial Development an institution affiliated to Industry and Minerals Ministry examined 173 projects in different Iraq Provinces. A senior source in the directorate said that the directorate had also given founding licenses to 32 industrial projects that meet the conditions and transferred the ownership of 294 industrial projects. The same source pointed out as well that the directorate issued 94 recommendation letters to all Iraqi state real estates directorates and institutions to allocate some industrial landmarks for industrial projects.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Economics...-projects.html

General Directorate of Industrial Development examines 173 projects

General Directorate of Industrial Development an institution affiliated to Industry and Minerals Ministry examined 173 projects in different Iraq Provinces. A senior source in the directorate said that the directorate had also given founding licenses to 32 industrial projects that meet the conditions and transferred the ownership of 294 industrial projects. The same source pointed out as well that the directorate issued 94 recommendation letters to all Iraqi state real estates directorates and institutions to allocate some industrial landmarks for industrial projects.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Economics...-projects.html

Qatar oil Minister: Record Oil prices raise question marks

Qatar Oil Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ben Hamad Al Attiah told Alsumaria that record oil prices in the world and the sudden increase thereof raise a lot of concerns and question marks especially that they are exceeding the rates that OPEC had planned.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Economics...ion-marks.html

Press: International Compact with Iraq, cancellation of debts

A Baghdad-based newspaper on Tuesday focused on the participation of Iraq in the International Compact with Iraq Conference, scheduled to be held soon in the Swedish capital Stockholm, while another criticized Arab countries for their indecision over Iraqi debts.

The government-funded al-Sabah newspaper described in an editorial entitled 'International compact and Iraqi achievements' by its Editor-in-Chief Fallah al-Mashaal the International Compact with Iraq as a sincere attempt by the international community to rehabilitate Iraq and integrate it into regional and global economy.

The international compact document, which was submitted in Egypt's Sharm al-Sheikh conference last year, has placed certain obligations on Iraq in return for receiving political and economic support, al-Mashaal said.

A respect for human rights, the establishment of a democratic state, the realization of national reconciliation and high security levels, the eradication of terrorism and corruption, and the enactment of laws on investment and economic development were the obligations imposed on Iraq under the document, the author explained.

In his speech to the international community, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will outline the security and political achievements of his government during the past year, mainly the victory over terrorism and the establishment of the national reconciliation project, the author added.

Meanwhile, al-Taakhi newspaper, the daily mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Kurdistan President Massoud al-Barazani published an article entitled 'A friend in need is a friend indeed' by Ibrahim Zidan.

"Not so long ago, the Iraqi mass media reported about the Republic of Serbia's forgiveness of Iraqi debts," Zidan said. Praising the stance of the Serbian government, which he said has been a genuine friend to Iraq, the author criticized some Arab and Muslim states, which he said "shed crocodile tears over Iraq while taking part in the killing of its people."

Some Arab and Islamic governments still refuse to wipe off Iraq's debts to them, the author said.

Aswat Aliraq

Swedish premier expects 'small steps' at UN-Iraq summit

Stockholm - Host country Sweden expects the Iraqi government to report "small steps" at summit this week that Baghdad is to co- chair with the United Nations, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Tuesday. A year ago the International Compact for Iraq (ICI) was launched at a summit in Egypt, and the meeting Thursday near Stockholm is a follow-up to that effort.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki along with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were due to attend, barring last minute scheduling changes.

Speaking to broadcaster TV4, Reinfeldt said issues to be assessed ranged from matters "close to people" like sanitation, access to water and electricity and respect for human rights, to "fundamental tough issues like access to oil riches."

The one-day meeting would be the first follow-up conference during the five-year ICI process, Reinfeldt said underlining the need to strengthen national reconciliation in Iraq.

The Swedish premier was slated Friday to hold bilateral meetings with al-Maliki and other Iraqi officials.

Sweden did not contribute forces to Iraq during or after the US military campaign that in 2003 swept Saddam Hussein from power. But it has other ties with Iraq - for instance receiving some 140,000 Iraqis over the years.

Sweden is also due to "step up its presence in Iraq" by opening an embassy in Baghdad, Reinfeldt said.

Iraqi ambassador to Sweden, Ahmad A Bamarni, said that "more than 90 delegations" were expected to attend which signalled the importance Iraq had for the international community.

Iraq was slated to ask for assistance, both economic and technology, "to help us build a democratic society," Barmani told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"From our side our commitment is to do our best to fight corruption, advance reconciliation and distribution of national resources," he said.

During the past year some progress had been achieved he said, noting that "violence and terrorist acts had reduced 65 to 70 per cent."

He attributed this to "our forces are now capable to fight the terrorist organizations" and that the population was "cooperating with the Iraqi forces" as well as the insight among various groups that violence was no solution to Iraq's problems.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/s...aq-summit.html

UN new project about Iraq Kirkuk issue

The United Nations plans to initiate in the name of UN Chief special envoy to Iraq Steffan De Mistura three part project that will be submitted to Iraqi political powers about disputed regions mainly about Kirkuk issue. The first part is centered on homogeneous regions while the second includes some regions on account of demographic distribution of inhabitants. Meanwhile, the third part is about Kirkuk issue.

As a result, controversial parliamentarian stands were voiced regarding the new project as some parties consider it as a way of interference in Iraq’s internal affairs while others stressed the necessity of benefiting from United Nations expertise.

If this project is applied, it would point out to failed internal steps to solve disputed issue of constitutional article 140 despite that normalization had made real headway.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News...kuk-issue.html