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

Jordan sees latest developments in Iraq destabilizing region

Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir met Saturday with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari and expressed Amman's concerns over the latest developments in Iraq. "Bashir expressed Jordan's concerns over the current situation in Iraq which threatened to undermine stability in the region," an official statement said.

The Jordanian minister referred to the latest flare-up of suicide bombings in Iraq and the ongoing confrontation between Iraqi troops and militias of radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern Basra area.

Bashir "underscored the importance of the Arab role in supporting Iraq's unity, sovereignty and stability" but said that "solutions should emanate in the first place from inside Iraq aloof of foreign interventions."

He referred to the reported Iranian meddling in internal Iraqi affairs that prompted US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to call on Arab countries recently to step in to contain the Iranian role by opening diplomatic missions in Baghdad.

Bashir promised Zebari that the Hashemite Kingdom would continue to host more than 500,000 Iraqis until circumstances permitted them to return home.

Jordan sees latest developments in Iraq destabilizing region : Middle East World

Kuwait's FM says Country looking to open Baghdad Embassy

Kuwait is looking to open an Embassy in Iraq for the first time since Saddam Hussein invaded his tiny oil-rich neighbor in 1990, the country's foreign minister said Sunday.

Kuwait closed its embassy in Baghdad after Iraq's invasion and the ensuing 1991 Gulf War, which saw U.S.-led forces intervene to throw out Saddam's army and end Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait.

Sheik Mohammed Al Sabah told reporters that Kuwait is looking to buy a building in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone to house the new Embassy.

A new Kuwaiti ambassador to Iraq would be named after Baghdad selected its ambassador to Kuwait, Sheik Mohammed said. The Iraqi Embassy in Kuwait, which reopened after Saddam was ousted following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, is currently led by a charge d'affaires.

But Sheik Mohammed downplayed comments made Saturday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said Iraq's neighbors have no excuse for withholding diplomatic and economic support for the Iraqi government.

The foreign minister said he does not "need a foreigner to tell me the importance of opening an embassy in Baghdad."

Rice was in Baghdad on Sunday and is scheduled to travel to Kuwait to attend a key meeting about Iraqi security Tuesday.

Washington has tried for years to rally Arab support for post-Saddam Iraq, both for the boost that regional acceptance would give the fledgling democracy, and as a bulwark against spreading Iranian influence in Iraq and elsewhere.

Arab diplomats say they want long-term stability in Iraq, but see little sign that the country's Shiite-led government will fully include Sunni Muslims in political power and oil wealth.

Tuesday's meeting in Kuwait involving Iraq's neighbors and world powers will discuss ways to help Iraq secure its borders and improve internal security and stability.

Sheik Mohammed said foreign ministers from Iraq and its neighbors will meet Monday evening ahead of the larger meeting, which will also be attended by representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the Group of Eight industrialized nations and all Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.

Kuwait's FM says country looking to open Baghdad embassy - AP Wire > World | Bakersfield.com - Kern County news, events, shopping & search

Iraq wants neighbours to forgive debts: Report

Iraq's government spokesman, in comments published on Saturday, called on Gulf states to forgive billions of dollars owed from loans and upgrade their diplomatic representation in Baghdad.

"Russia forgave 12 billion dollars of Iraqi debt. We have not seen similar moves from our neighbours," Ali al-Dabbagh told Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas ahead of a gathering in Kuwait.

"We must abandon the past and part of it is cancelling Iraqi debt," said Dabbagh, adding that most of the debt stemmed from the former regime of Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.

Gulf states, especially OPECOPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, agreed several years ago to forgive a substantial part of Iraqi debt, estimated to total tens of billions of dollars, but Iraq wants this to be translated into action.

Foreign ministers of Iraq neighbours, along with Egypt and Bahrain, plus five UN Security Council permanent members and other Group of Eight nations, are to meet in Kuwait on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Iraq.

The conference is the third of its kind following the first meeting in Egypt in May and Turkey in November.

Dabbagh also urged Iraq's neighbours to upgrade their diplomatic representation in Baghdad to the level of ambassadors.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday that Washington was still waiting for Saudi Arabia to send an ambassador to Baghdad as part of increased US efforts to involve Arabs more in rebuilding Iraq and helping "shield" it from what she called Iran's "nefarious influences."

Iran, which is vehemently opposed to the US military presence in Iraq, said it will attend the meeting, though it has not made clear at what level.

Iraq wants neighbours to forgive debts: report

Japan to build largest hospital in the cityof Halabja

The Japanese ambassador of reconstruction projects in Iraq revealed on Wednesday that the Japanese government decided to build the largest hospital in the city of Halabja southeast of Sulaymaniyah and according to international standards.

Anu Sutee Karimato said, "This project is the first of its kind implemented by the Japanese government among its projects in Kurdistan region, and it would be announced of during the next week," without clarifying more details on the duration and cost of the project.

Japan to build largest hospital in the city of Halabja

Lower demand for dollar at daily Auction

Demand for the dollar was down in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Sunday, registering at $83.800 million compared to $93.045 million on Thursday.

"The demand hit $10.940 million in cash and $72.860 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at a rate of 1,204 Iraqi dinars per dollar, stable for the 9th session in a row," according to the central bank's daily bulletin and received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

The 17 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell 4.210 million dollars, which the bank bought all at a rate of 1,202 dinars per dollar.

Speaking to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the demand relatively dropped as it still higher than its levels, noting that the demand decreased by the demand for cash only.

He added “A hike in the demand for the dollar in tomorrow’s session as Mondays usually witness lowering the dollar exchange rate against the dinar at the daily auction.”

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction on Sunday through Thursday.

Aswat Aliraq

IAF submitted nominees' names to rejoin the cabinet – President Talabani

President of the Republic Jalal Talabani said on Sunday that the "subtle obstacles" that prevent the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF – Sunni parliamentary bloc) from rejoining the cabinet were removed, and the IAF submitted its nominees' names to occupy empty ministerial posts.

Talabani explained in a press conference in Baghdad "the subtle obstacles that prevented the IAF from rejoining the cabinet were removed."

"The brothers in the IAF submitted their nominees' names in order for the premier to choose from among them," he added.

"Two names were submitted for each open post," Talabani said.
In August 2007, the IAF, which held 44 out of 275 parliamentary seats, withdrew from Premier Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet.

IAF has five ministerial positions, in addition to the post of deputy premier.

President Talabani described this development as an "important step, and very important to fulfilling national unity and reconciliation."

"Negotiations are underway with the Iraqi National List (secular parliamentary bloc), and al-Fadila Party (Islamic Shiite), to convince them to rejoin the cabinet," he noted.

Talabani did not refer to any attempts or negotiations with the Sadr movement in this regard.

Aswat Aliraq

Rice pays unexpected visit to Iraq

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday arrived on unannounced visit to Baghdad and met Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki upon her arrival to the Iraqi capital according to the official Iraqiya TV.

Rice’s visit came only a day after the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to declare “open war until liberation” if Maliki’s government did not stop “targeting" Sadrists.

Aswat Aliraq

VP to attend Basra Reconstruction symposium in U.K.

Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi received an invitation on Sunday to attend a symposium in London later this month to urge investors in Britain to contribute to the reconstruction of the southern Iraq province of Basra, according to a release by Hashimi's office.

"Hashimi received in his office on Sunday morning the British ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Prentice, to discuss political and security developments in Iraq, particularly in Basra," read the release received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

"Prentice expressed optimism over the current conditions in the city after recent security operations there," it added.

Hashimi and Prentice also stressed the importance of preventing foreign interference in Iraq's internal affairs, considering the fact that these interferences had a major effect on deteriorating security conditions in Basra, it read.

Armed confrontations have flared up late last month in Basra, Iraq's second largest city and oil hub, between government forces and Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militias. The clashes coincided with angry upheavals in several southern provinces, where Sadr supporters spread.

The clashes broke out hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a plan codenamed Saulat al-Forsan (Knights' Assault), which he said targeted the elimination of armed groups in Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Aswat Aliraq

ISX index up by 0.320%, closes at 37.620 points

Iraq's Stock Exchange (ISX) index increased by 0.320 percent to settle at 37.620 points during Sunday's session.

Shares of 24 companies were traded during today's session, where 277 million shares were traded at a value of over 500 million dinars (1$ equals 1221 dinars) achieved through the implementation of 129 contracts.

The banking sector achieved the highest circulation in terms of the number of shares traded (85 percent), as well as in terms of trading volume (87 percent), followed by the service sector, while other sectors shared the remaining traded shares.

Non-Iraqi investors participated in today's session through the implementation of six contracts in the banking and industrial sectors. The traded shares hit more than seven million, valued at over 10 million dinars.

According to the daily analysis of the capital market, the service and industrial sectors' index increased by 0.126 percent and 0.173 percent respectively while no the indexes of other sectors did not fall today.

Aswat Aliraq

Oil majors forced to accept tough terms

From Iraq to Ecuador, international oil companies have swallowed their pride and agreed to contract terms they would have walked away from a few years ago.

Oil prices have risen more than five-fold since 2002, emboldening OPEC and non-OPEC energy producers alike to demand a greater share of record revenues and tighten national oil company (NOC) control over the world's biggest reserves.

U.S. crude has hit a new record at $117 a barrel.

"Producers are becoming more assertive in dictating terms, forcing companies to contemplate contracts that in the past they would have preferred not to take on," said Julian Lee, senior energy analyst at London's Centre for Global Energy Studies. "It's a standard reaction from oil producers to high oil prices."

OPEC-members Kuwait and Iraq are negotiating oil service contracts with oil majors such as Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell. In Ecuador, leftist President Rafael Correa has forced international firms to swap deals that gave them a share of oil output for service contracts.

The same kind of deals are on the table for the private sector in energy reform plans in non-OPEC Mexico, desperate to find new reserves in its deepwater to compensate for falling domestic output.

International oil companies (IOCs), facing shareholder scrutiny on the rate they book new reserves to replace what they pump, prefer production sharing contracts (PSCs) that offer them a slice of oil output and encourage them to take on exploration risks.

But as PSCs become scarcer, majors are being forced into competition with service giants such as Halliburton and Schlumberger. National oil companies (NOCs), especially those from energy-hungry Asia, are also in the hunt.

"Kuwait and Iraq are interesting arenas for how the relationship between IOCs and NOCs is changing," said an oil major executive involved in the contract negotiations.

"We are facing competition from service companies and from Asian NOCs. This is taking international companies outside their traditional comfort zone."

Majors complain that service contracts with a flat fee give them no incentive to showcase what they do best.

Kuwait, Iraq and Mexico are all looking at adding performance incentives to service contracts to whet the majors' appetite, without signing away rights to oil reserves.

NOC TRANSFORMATION

National oil companies competing on the international stage, such as Brazil's Petrobras and China's PetroChina, have also changed their business model and are becoming more like IOCs.

"They mostly play by the same rules when it comes to international opportunities," said Bob Fryklund, vice president of industry relations at consultancy IHS. "It makes sense for NOCs to morph towards IOCs. The line between the two has become blurred."

NOCs can leverage government-to-government diplomacy to gain the edge over IOCs in international competition, Fryklund said. Governments have forgiven debt and pledged to take part in big infrastructure projects as they look to get their NOCs access to foreign reserves.

As NOC and IOC competition grows, both types of companies are being forced to become niche operators in areas in which they have experience and expertise, Fryklund said.

Majors are still ahead of the game in deepwater plays, unconventional oil and gas and heavy oil, he said.

But in technology, where majors have long held the lead, NOCs have mostly caught up, Fryklund said.

There are still opportunities in oil producing countries, such as in the refining sector in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But the openings are potentially less lucrative than upstream opportunities in the past, Fryklund said.

"You can get access," said Fryklund. "But is it going to turn you a profit?"

Oil majors forced to accept tough terms | Special Coverage | Reuters