Thread: Archive Latest News - Dinar Think Tank - 27/08/08 - 15/01/09

Governor reveals German intentions to invest in Basra

Basra governor on Sunday said that a number of German firms have shown their willingness to invest in the province, revealing plans by the German government to open a consulate in Basra.

"Some German companies have expressed their readiness to come to Basra and to gain investment and trade contracts to set up projects in the province in different fields," Mohammed Musbah al-Waili told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq­- (VOI).

On July 22, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrived in Germany on a European tour that also included Italy and the Vatican.

The Iraqi premier urged the German government to open two consulates in Basra and Arbil and a university in Baghdad. He also called on German companies and investors to participate in investment and development projects in Iraq.

Basra is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer. It has the seven main Iraqi ports. The first built in Islam 14 A.H. (After Hegira), the city played an important role in early Islamic history.

The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells. The city's oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock.

A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname "The Venice of the Middle East" at least at high tide.

Aswat Aliraq

Just don't mention the war....

KRG officials promote Kurdistan at US Democrat and Republican conventions

A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) saw firsthand both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain accept their party’s nomination for President of the United States.

At the Democratic and Republican Party conventions the delegation, led by the KRG’s Head of Foreign Relations, met key leaders of both parties to build on the bilateral ties between the Kurdistan Region and the United States.

The KRG’s Head of Foreign Relations Minister Bakir said, “We in the KRG consider these conventions an important opportunity to observe American politics and share the Kurdistan Region's ambitions for a democratic, pluralistic and federal future in Iraq.” He added, “It is important to see examples of democracy in progress and to witness the basic political mechanisms of a federal system in action. These conventions show how democracy requires the involvement of people from every community. It also shows how political parties can compete but still have the same ultimate goal of a better, stronger government.”

Throughout both conventions the delegation informed party leaders and officials of the positive developments in the Kurdistan Region. They also strengthened participation and support among members of the newly formed Kurdish-American Caucus within the US House of Representatives. The American system of fedralism and democracy is one of many successful examples around the world that the KRG is eager to observe and learn from.

The delegation attended various lectures, speeches, receptions and discussions on the next administration’s potential policies in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The Democratic Party met in Denver, Colorado, from August 25 to 28 while the Republican Party met in St. Paul, Minnesota, from September 1 to 4. Elected officials from across the political spectrum joined business leaders, the media and community activists to celebrate the nomination of each party’s presidential and vice presidential candidate.

Mr Qubad Talabany, the KRG Representative to the US, said, “The atmosphere at the conventions creates an intimate and unique opportunity to meet a variety of US policy-makers and officials, to solidify and expand our friendships and alliances and to learn how we can improve cooperation while understanding what each party’s policies and outlooks will be in the foreseeable future.” Mr Talabany added that the conventions were all the more interesting and historic for their selection of candidates. “To witness the US democratic process is an invaluable lesson for our emerging democracy in Kurdistan,” he said.

PUKmedia :: English - KRG officials promote Kurdistan at US Democrat and Republican conventions

Dollar demand down in daily auction

Demand for the dollar was dramatically down in the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) auction on Sunday, registering at $20.905 million compared to $109.370 million on Thursday.

"The demand came down to $9.905 million in cash and $11 million in foreign transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,182 Iraqi dinars per dollar, unchanged for the 4th session in a row," an official source from the bank told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

None of the seven banks that participated in the session offered to sell dollars.

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

Aswat Aliraq

Iraqi financial delegation visits Kurdistan region

A high ranking delegation from Iraqi Ministry of Finance including the ministry’s general inspector, the managers of taxes and customs organizations and a number of experts visited Kurdistan region to meet the officials of KRG finance Ministry.

They discussed the ways of unifying the laws and instructions of customs and taxes. The delegation also held several successful meetings regarding the customs incomes for year 2007, where the amount was 163 billion and 895.822.251 IDs for all Iraqi provinces including 70 billion 425.957.000 IDs from Kurdistan region.

The delegation also paid visits to the border gates of Ibrahim al-Khalil and Bashmakh, and the airports’ customs.

A joint memo was signed between the customs organization of the federal government and customs directorate in Kurdistan region to unify the measures.

The delegation also visited the taxes directorate and presented suggestions to reorganize the mechanisms of calculating the custom prices and taxes.

The delegation and KRG ministry of finance agreed on exchanging the visits between the regional and federal governments’ employees and participate in the seminars inside and outside Iraq to develop and unify the tax work system.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi financial delegation visits Kurdistan region

KRG works to improve private sector

George Mansur, Kurdistan region minister for civil society affairs met a delegation from Kurdistan Center for Economic Development. They discussed the ways of developing the private sector in Kurdistan region and strengthening its abilities to attract the investors and to build an economic base for a modern civil society.

The delegation briefed the minister on their center cadres and aims, which includes experts in the economy and administrational fields and intend to cooperate in building the region’s organizations on a developed criteria. The delegation also expressed its wish that their projects to be sponsored by minister Mansur.

PUKmedia :: English - KRG works to improve private sector

Kuwait to discuss war payment in historic Iraq visit

Kuwait's prime minister will travel to Baghdad this week in the Gulf state's first high-level visit to Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded his tiny neighbour in 1990, an Iraqi government official said on Sunday.

Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah will meet his Iraqi counterpart, Nuri al-Maliki, during the visit, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The leaders will discuss reparations for Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, debts and borders, he said.

Iraq's al-Bayan newspaper said Sabah would meet other officials during the visit. Neither the Iraqi official nor the newspaper gave a date for the trip.

Precise travel arrangements for visiting leaders are usually kept secret for security reasons.

As Iraq seeks to rebuild after five years of bloodshed, its government is hoping for reconsideration of the percentage of its oil exports earmarked for a Geneva-based fund set up to settle post-conflict damage claims from the invasion of Kuwait.

Under U.N.-imposed peace terms after the war, Iraq must pay 5 percent of oil income in compensation to Kuwait and other countries. Iraq was driven out of Kuwait in 1991 by a U.S.-led, U.N.-authorised coalition.

Some $24.4 billion (13.8 billion pounds) in compensation claims had been paid from the U.N. fund as of April, but more than $28 billion remains to be paid, according to the fund's website.

Kuwait has said that any changes to the reparations scheme must be decided by the U.N. Security Council.

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein, Washington has been pressing its Arab allies to forgive Iraqi debts and to restore high-level diplomatic ties.

In August, Jordan's King Abdullah became the first Arab leader to visit Iraq since 2003, and other regional countries are taking steps to resume full relations.

On Sunday, Iraq's national media centre reported that Saudi Arabia would soon open an embassy in Iraq, but did not say when.

Baghdad is also seeking forgiveness of loans Kuwait made to Iraq during its 1980-1988 war with Iran. Yet many Kuwaitis are still bitter about the 1990 invasion.

The United Arab Emirates recently waived all of Iraq's almost $7 billion obligations.

PUKmedia :: English - Kuwait to discuss war payment in historic Iraq visit

Kurdistan Region Parliament to discuss Khanaqin’s crisis tomorrow

The Parliament of Kurdistan region will hold its opening session tomorrow. Regarding this issue, Tariq Jawhar, the media adviser of the Speaker of the Parliament exclusively told PUKmedia correspondent “The Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament will highlight in his speech the latest developments in the political field under the recent changes occurring in Iraq.”

“He will also talk about the passing of article 24 of the Elections Law for the Provincial Councils by the Iraqi Parliament and the events that followed”, Jawhar added.

The Parliament of Kurdistan region will also discuss the crisis of Khanaqin in tomorrow’s session.

PUKmedia :: English - Kurdistan Region Parliament to discuss Khanaqin’s crisis tomorrow

Iraqi deputy premier: Kurds are committed to the Iraqi constitution

Kurds are committed to the articles of the Iraqi constitution and are serious in succeeding the Iraqi political process, providing a prosperous life for the Iraqi people, Deputy Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and member of the Kurdistan Region negotiating delegation to end Khanaqin issue , Barham Salih said on Sunday.

“What has recently happened in Khanaqin is not in the interest of the Iraqi political process .We are trying to address this issue through dialogue, and mutual understanding according to the Iraqi constitution .All of us should deal with this issue because it is not in the interest of the stability and people of Iraq,” he told attendees in a special party held for honoring some students from University of Saladin, Erbil Medical College, and university of Kurdistan.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi deputy premier: Kurds are committed to the Iraqi constitution

Iraqi Cabinet approves initial gas deal with Shell

Iraq's Cabinet approved an initial gas agreement Sunday between the Oil Ministry and Royal Dutch Shell to invest in a joint venture to tap natural gas in southern Iraq, a government statement said.

The agreement calls for establishing a joint venture between the state-run South Oil Co. and Shell to exploit the fields, the statement added without any other details.
In June, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told parliament that Iraq was expected to finalize a deal this summer that would enable it to exploit flared associated gas for domestic use and exports.

Shell had approached the Oil Ministry in December with its plans and since then meetings have been held outside Iraq, mainly in Damascus, Syria.

Shell is expected to invest US$3 billion to US$4 billion over five years to gather at least 500-600 million cubic feet of flared gas per day from the southern fields.
The state-run South Oil Co. is expected to control 51 percent of the venture, while Shell would hold the remaining 49 percent.

The agreement provides for construction of a number of liquefied natural gas facilities, the statement said.

According to Iraqi oil officials, Iraq loses approximately US$40 million worth of natural gas each day because it is either re-injected into wells or burned due to a lack of sufficient infrastructure to exploit it for consumption or export.

The agreement would be Iraq's second major hydrocarbon deal since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Last week, the Cabinet approved a US$3 billion deal with China to develop the Ahdab oil field in southern Iraq.

Under the contract, China National Petroleum Corp. will develop the field for 20 years. It's expected to produce up to 25,000 barrels per day after three years, and eventually reach 125,000 barrels per day.

The ministry also said it was negotiating with Shell to conduct output tests for the Akkas gas field in western Iraq, which has estimated reserves of more than 2.15 trillion cubic feet.

The field, which has five wells that are ready to be interconnected, could produce up to 50 million cubic feet a day as a first stage and could be increased to 500 million cubic feet a day, it said. Gas would be pumped through Syria and Turkey to consumers in Europe.

Shell is also negotiating a one-year service contract with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to develop Missan and Kirkuk oil fields. It is one of at least five contracts Iraq is negotiating with oil majors to boost its current output of 2.5 million barrels per day.

Iraq has the world's third-largest oil reserves with an estimated 115 billion barrels. It also sits on an estimated 112 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, according to the ministry.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi Cabinet approves initial gas deal with Shell

Canadian Ontario region parliament calls for promoting relations with Kurdistan region

The Speaker of the Kurdistan Region Parliament, Adnan Mufti, on Sunday met with the lawmaker of the Ontario Region Parliament of Canada, Charles Macdonald, and an accompanying delegation in Erbil today. They discussed the latest developments in Iraq, the Kurdistan region and ways of promoting bilateral relations between the parliament of Kurdistan and Ontario regions.

The delegation submitted a letter from Ontario Region Parliament to the Speaker of the Kurdistan Region Parliament.

Charles Macdonald expressed his delight for visiting the Kurdistan region, and expressed the readiness of Ontario Region Parliament to establish relations with the Kurdistan region, officially inviting Mufti to visit Ontario region.

Adnan Mufti expressed his delight for the delegation’s visit to the Kurdistan region and their invitation, calling for establishing relations between both parliaments.

Adnan Mufti briefed the delegation the history of the Kurdistan Region Parliament, pointing out those laws which were issued by this parliament particularly the investment law in the Kurdistan region. Mufti said that the investment law provides facilitations to foreign investors, indicating that Canadian companies can invest in the projects of rehabilitating the Kurdistan region.

PUKmedia :: English - Canadian Ontario region parliament calls for promoting relations with Kurdistan region