Thread: Archive - Latest News Think Tank - 15/01/09 - 04/05/09

Budget depends on the ratio of 85% of oil imports

Tusk said the United Iraqi Alliance on Ali al-Adeeb, said the budget is important for the state because government spending is on the way.

The writer said in a statement to Radio Dijla to budget depends on the ratio of 85% of oil imports and budgetary sphere found $ 50 a barrel as reports of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

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President of the National Authority for investment to meet the representative of the World Bank and is responsible for the development of the private sector

Met with the head of the National Authority for Investment Professor Thamir Ghadhban and Mr. Vice-President Mr. Salar Mohammed Amin, a representative of the World Bank and is responsible for the development of the private sector Dokls Mr. Pierce was a series of research activities carried out by the body to activate the role of the private sector as the basic foundation for the success of investments in Iraq, and a search in a number of advantages offered by the investment law, which calls for activating the role of the private sector to build and open the country to a market economy and the transfer of expertise and knowledge of technology to Iraq, has also been research on the importance of addressing the legal obstacles to the private sector to play a role in moving the Iraqi economy.

So, with the participation of the National Authority for the investment series exhibitions and conferences promoting investment inside and outside Iraq, including an exhibition of agricultural and industrial products for the period from March 2-6 next place in Arbil. The conference will be an extensive body of investment bodies in the provinces next month to implement the joint coordination between the bodies and the National Investment for the development of investment plans for the promotion of investment in inside and outside Iraq.

Saida and offline, the National Authority for Investment and cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and on the side in addition to the use of the Golan in the development of basic design for the area around Baghdad International Airport, which in turn will provide many job opportunities in all economic sectors to advance the progress and advancement of economic reality in the country and highlight the importance of investing in the Iraqi economy.

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Ali Baban: Ration Card, a heavy burden on the Iraqi government

Said Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation Ali Baban said the ration card is a heavy burden on the Iraqi government. Baban said on the sidelines of the second day of the Conference of Development Alternatives that financial allocations for the provision of items of the ration card has reached six billion dollars in the year two thousand and eight could go up to ten billion U.S. dollars last year, which represents a heavy burden on the Iraqi government ...

He pointed at the same time that the government has allocated huge funds for the provision of items of the ration card in the past five years, even if the money invested to support the agricultural sector was able to provide eighty percent of the vocabulary card based on the product by the domestic sector and the creation of alternative development as well as oil. "According to as saying."

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Zubaidi confirms Iraq's desire to develop relations with the European Union

"The Minister of Finance Bayan Jabr said Iraq was keen to develop relations with the European Union, stressing the importance of the contribution of European companies in the reconstruction.

The source said the Ministry of Finance, said on Saturday Zubeidi received a delegation from the European Union, headed by Ambassador Crocker, Ben Lee, the meeting was to review economic and financial relations between Iraq and the European Union, especially the ongoing negotiations on the Convention on trade and cooperation between the two sides.

Zubeidi also expressed Iraq's desire to develop relations with the European Union, especially in the area of support for the efforts of the Ministry of Finance of Iraq to develop the financial management reform in Iraq and the importance of the participation of European companies in the reconstruction process through the building of hospitals and rehabilitation of power plants and oil and the creation of housing complexes.

On the other hand, Ambassador Crocker, to me that the States of the Berne Union, the European solidarity with the Iraqi people and that they will work hard for the reconstruction of Iraq and the integration of its economy, the global economy.

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Amery: Adoption of new laws during the next legislative

Seeking to security and defense committee in Parliament to approve new laws during the next legislative term.

He said Hadi al-Amiri, Chairman of the Committee that the law is the law of military service and retirement of the Ministry of Defense and other internal security forces, and law and the Ministries of Defense and Interior, in addition to the Law on the Ministry of National Security and intelligence agencies to combat terrorism, as well as a legal corporate security and weapons possession.

The near completion of the file-Amiri appointments in the senior leaders of the Ministries of Defense and the Interior in accordance with the Constitution, noting that the parliamentary committee will ask the Government to provide these names.

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Iraq's Basra ready for 'best year in decades': aid boss

This year should be oil-rich Basra's best in decades, with foreign companies queuing up to invest there as long as Iraq's government lets them, the province's reconstruction boss told AFP.

The number of firms visiting the southern port city, Iraq's third-largest, is now 20 a month, compared to two in the same period six months ago, said Keith Mackiggan of Britain's Department for International Development.

The victory of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's allies in January's provincial election and the imminent arrival of a new administration in Basra will trigger an upturn in the area's fortunes, he said. "Our job is going to get much easier in 2009 because it could not get any more difficult after the last local government," said Mackiggan, whose team is based within the sprawling military camp near Basra airport that is home to the British army and diplomats. "Maliki will have a say in who runs this place and after stabilising the security situation he now has the incentive of national elections at the end of the year to deliver. If he doesn't he won't do well at the polls," he said.

Recent international investment visits coordinated by Mackiggan's team have included Schlumberger and Baker Hughes, two of the world's biggest oil and gas infrastructure groups. Global courier DHL has also been in town, along with hotel operators, steel pipeline production companies and legal firms from Britain. Having moved to Basra in September, Mackiggan was confronted with "an atmosphere of hopelessness" typified by poor public services and admits he was not optimistic. Infrastructure is woeful, with few of the city's one million residents enjoying clean water, while power cuts are constant and unemployment hovers around 40 percent. Many areas consist of stench-ridden, sewer-filled canals and vast tracts of rotting rubbish piled waist high along the potholed and dust-filled roads that lead to slums. Mackiggan's team has helped train 2,700 engineers, planners and finance specialists to fix the problems but has seen local politics stop them from doing their jobs.

The previous provincial government was beset by rivalries among three main Shiite factions -- the former rebel Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, the smaller but influential Fadhila party and the radical but popular cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "Programmes were not approved because of political reasons," said Mackiggan, describing how 32 signatures needed from warring parties made reaching an agreement impossible. "We called them the government of sidewalks because that is all they had time to change when they realised there was an election coming up."

The prime minister's State of Law coalition, however, secured an absolute majority in Basra in January's polls. With 20 out of 35 seats, it should now be able to push through the funding for key improvements. "The political log-jam should now be cleared and Maliki has the incentive of the national elections to do that," Mackiggan said. The improvement in Iraq's security in the past year has made international companies less wary of the country's recent past and more optimistic about its future, sparking investment visits.

Construction projects, religious tourism -- from Iran in particular -- and greater traffic of goods through the nearby port of Umm Qasr are all factors in securing future economic growth. "This is an Aladdin's cave and what has been a trickle of visits is going to become a flood," Mackiggan said, acknowledging that companies still have to put their money where their mouth is and that government flexibility is needed. "Converting investment proposals into contracts is the biggest task," he said. "There is some reticence in the national government and that has to be overcome." But the oil ministry's announcement on Thursday of a joint venture being signed with a British company to set up an drilling company, Iraq's first such deal, signals that such barriers are starting to come down.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidAN...A%20aid%20boss

President Talabani meets with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

President Jalal Talabani on Saturday, Feb. 28, met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei in Tehran.

Ways of promoting all aspects of bilateral ties between Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran was the key issue of their meeting.

Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the importance of developing relations of friendship between the peoples of the two countries in order to serve the common interests of both sides.

President Talabani expressed his delight towards the development of the relations between the two neighboring countries referring to the deep rooted ties between them.

The President also expressed his gratitude to the Islamic Republic of Iran for supporting the Iraqis during the struggle against dictatorship and appreciated its current support to the New Iraq and the political process. He thanked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his hospitality and warm reception.

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National Authority for Investment to develop the basic design of the area around Baghdad International Airport

The National Authority for the investment that it is working in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and stakeholders as well as drawing on the U.S. side in a basic design for the area around Baghdad International Airport, which in turn will provide many job opportunities in all economic sectors.

A statement of the receipt of a copy of the NOAA radio that the body will be a series of exhibitions and conferences promoting investment inside and outside Iraq, including an exhibition of agricultural and industrial products for a period of 2-6 this month, primarily in Arbil.

The statement added that the conference will be an extensive body of investment bodies in governorates to develop investment plans for the promotion of investment within and outside Iraq.

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Iraq and Iran sign a memoranda of understanding

Iran and Iraq signed memorandums of mutual understanding in the fields of industry, electricity, housing, trade and diplomatic affairs. This was announced by the Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Mohammad Majid Al-Sheikh, adding that the memorandum of understanding was the result of a visit to President Jalal Talabani to Tehran.

The President Talabani and the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei stressed during their meeting last night on the need to turn the page on the past and start new relationships that would serve the interests of both countries.

Sheikh said in a statement quoted by Aswat al-Iraq, said President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Iran, as expected, resulted in the signing of several memorandums of understanding between the Iraqi ministers and Iranian counterparts.

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The interest in supporting the productive sectors of the economic advancement

The process of the advancement of the productive sectors of great importance in view of its role and its importance in the diversification of financial resources and the reduction of excessive dependence on oil revenues alone.

Planning Minister Ali Baban, often focused in his speech at the Conference on Development Alternatives Alydharorp in Iraq to strive for the advancement of the Iraqi economy and begin a new phase, commensurate with the orientations adopted by the government today.

Where a promising strategic plans to support all the productive sectors and industry.

Baban stressed the need for economic change its philosophy through the open space for the private sector to take its role to promote economic reality in the country, calling on banks and private companies to merge to form large-scale enterprises providing services to citizens and be capable of implementing large-scale projects in Iraq ..

He urged the government to work with all Iraqi ministries and to find alternatives to the development of the revitalization of industry, agriculture and trade, along with the oil industry, warning of excessive reliance on oil revenues, in the future it will not be able to provide financial and imports by other sectors.

Baban said the country is in a state of recession and inflation at the same time. This is an abnormal condition, and the reason is due to the different perceptions of the Ministries of Finance and Planning, as the financial stresses that the causes of inflation is the liquidity, while the perceptions of the planning to the low level of production, and rising interest rates, which disrupt the productive process. The Ministry of Finance and the ideas of non-sponsored one, with the central bank is always much support for his ideas, despite the existence of obstacles in its work. And work to find solutions to building a sound economic base serves the country at the end of the day. Called for the integration of small firms, banks and insurance companies in the country among the institutions to create a giant that can compete with international companies.

He explained that the non-attendance of many of the investors .. Is mainly because most of the infrastructure in the State, as well as the need for an excellent banking system and good road networks, noting that the Ministry of Planning is facing problems in economic decision-making for the existence of three levels of difficulty, the most important is the theoretical level, as the tasks that the ministry develop a strategic and policies for the advancement of economic, as well as difficult to persuade officials of these policies as well as bureaucratic and difficult to overcome the conflicts of laws, and fear of bearing responsibility. At a time when the ministry of the package of proposals that should be provided to promote the private sector that the State can not play it alone.

He called the Iraqi national forces to grant the economic importance of the dialogue by the superiority of political dialogues, which constitute a basic pillar of the country's future in light of the continuing decline in oil prices in the global market and the adoption of Iraq's oil as the sole income-.. especially that the global economic crisis has badly damaged this year's budget, but The abundance of money from oil sales during 2007 and 2008, helped in part by Iraq to provide money to support the operating budget large and small investment.

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