Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 06/05/09 - 04/09/09

Pakistan to open embassy in Baghdad soon - diplomat

Pakistan's ambassador to Iran revealed on Thursday that his country would "very soon" open an embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

"The previous security conditions had blocked the idea but now the situation is very encouraging to open an embassy in Baghdad," Mohammed Abbasi told reporters during a visit to the holy Shiite city of Karbala on Thursday.

"We've discussed this matter with the officials of the Iraqi interior and foreign ministries, which means it is high time," Abbasi said.

He pointed out that that the Pakistanis who want to enter the Iraqi territories for religious visits and pilgrimage have been suffering in order to get a visa.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZA...20-%20diplomat

the Security Council is to abolish the sanctions imposed on Iraq

UN Security Council intends to raise the number of UN resolutions imposed on Iraq during the two meetings will be held this month. A Western diplomat of the "morning" for the success of diplomacy to persuade Iraq's large number of members of the Security Council,

Especially the permanent members, that Baghdad was committed to the implementation of most of the sanctions imposed on the country in accordance with Section VII of the Charter of the United Nations, because of Saddam's regime's invasion of Kuwait. In spite of the movement of non-Kuwaiti officials justified to prevent the exodus of money from Iraq, Section VII, but the diplomat, who asked not to be on condition of anonymity, said the council will cancel a number of resolutions, without revealing whether the file relating to Kuwait or other issues, adding say: It will be "There is a write-off of two or more.

The official Kuwaiti news agency revealed last week as adviser to the movement in the Kuwaiti Amiri Diwan Mohammad Abdullah Abul-Hassan to the members of the Security Council to prevent the lifting of international sanctions on Iraq, which is unacceptable, several deputies, asking to pay compensation to Kuwait due to Iraq's past policies and the confiscation of tens of kilometers from the territory of the country.

He expected a diplomatic resolution of the weight will keep Iraq under Chapter VII, but the bases and new mechanisms to enable then to get rid once and for all of these sanctions, noting that there are good American, British and Turkish to pay towards the reconstruction of Iraq to the role of regional and global levels.

It should be noted that Dr. Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had discussed with the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad Deria Qnbay, raising the question of Iraq from Section VII, in particular with Turkey to preside over the Security Council this month.

The western diplomat added that "the Council will deliberate on two meetings held in June in a detailed report of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the activities of (UNAMI), and the review of decisions by the Security Council imposed on Iraq under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, according to the fifth paragraph of the resolution Security Council 1859th was Ban Ki-moon has said in a report published in several sites yesterday, to a significant progress in Iraq in the political and security spheres, suggesting the application of Baghdad, international obligations, as may be allowed to derail the country's huge item VII.

Furthermore, there were Iraqi diplomatic dynamic is designed to calm the situation with Kuwait and contain the escalation, calling for dialogue and bilateral cooperation to resolve issues that reflect negatively on the development of relations between the two countries, despite the continuation of non-rationality of the votes of MPs, Kuwaiti officials. It should be noted that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded during a meeting last week, Kuwait's ambassador in Baghdad, the insured, "the resolution of outstanding issues between the two brotherly neighbors, through dialogue, which guarantees the rights of the parties," stressing that "the commitment to maintain calm and dialogue between the two sides could resolve the problems inherited from the era of the Alambad.

As part of a related new member of the Integrity Committee in the House of Representatives Mohamed Naji Kuwait re-claim the property seized by Iraq after 1991, indicating that the Kuwaiti government seized five Iraqi oil tankers and giant refused to surrender since that time on various pretexts.

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Atrushi: government loans from the International Monetary Fund harmful to the Iraqi economy

A member of the Finance Committee of the Kurdistan Alliance MP Sami Atrushi that the Iraqi government to find a way other than borrowing from the IMF because it is harmful to the Iraqi economy.

Atrushi said in a statement reported by news agencies that the loan and financial plans to the Ministry of Finance was taken from the International Monetary Fund the detriment of the Iraqi economy, despite the fact that the loan of $ 7 billion dollars in interest rate will be very few.

He stressed the need for a great coordination between the central government and parliament to find financial sources other than oil, called on the government to respond more to the issue of oil contracts and the development of the fields in the Kurdistan region because it will help to avoid Iraq to borrow any amount from any quarter.

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Mobius Says Money Supply to ‘Explode,’ Lift Markets (Update3)

June 4 (Bloomberg) -- The money supply is set to “explode” worldwide and boost emerging-market stocks as central banks pump cash into the financial system to counter the global recession, Templeton Asset Management Ltd.’s Mark Mobius said.

“Everyone is scared of deflation, so they are printing money,” Mobius, who helps oversee about $20 billion of emerging-market assets as E.xecutive chairman of Templeton, said at a press briefing in London. “It’s beginning to flow out, with greater confidence, into emerging markets.”

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a 22-country benchmark for developing-nation equities, surged 37 percent this year as central banks led by the U.S. Federal Reserve reduced interest rates and purchased assets to revive economic growth. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England today kept their benchmark interest rates at the lowest levels on record.

The Fed said its M2 gauge of money supply, which includes all currency held by consumers and companies for spending, money held in checking accounts and travelers checks, savings and private holdings in money-market funds, rose at a 9 percent annual rate in the week ended May 18, above the target of 5 percent the Fed once set for maximum growth. The central bank no longer has a formal target.

Mobius, voted among the “Top Ten Money Managers of the 20th Century” by the Carson Group, said emerging-market equities will rise faster than developed-country stocks and that Templeton is buying shares in Russia.

The nation’s benchmark RTS Index has jumped 75 percent this year, the second-best performing market worldwide after Peru.

Hedge Fund Bets

While the “longer-term trend is up” for emerging-market stocks, they may suffer a “correction” of as much as 20 percent in part because some hedge funds are selling shares in a bet they will decline, Mobius said.

“There has to be corrections along the way, that is the nature of the beast,” the 72-year-old investor said. “We continue to try to be as fully invested as possible in these markets.”

Commodities will gain and the dollar will weaken in the “longer term,” Mobius said. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB index has climbed 11 percent this year, rebounding from a 36 percent tumble in 2008. The dollar slid 2.2 percent against a basket of six major currencies this year.

Mobius said he may be investing in Iraq in a year and is looking to invest in Iran.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...Ilw&refer=news

Iraq has long way to go - US General

Gulf News spoke with the commander of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, about the future of Iraq as the deadline for US forces to withdraw from the country's main cities approaches in a few weeks.

Odierno says he believes Iraq will not slip back into sectarian warfare, but he agreed it still had a long way to go to ensuring security gains would not be lost. The following are excepts of that interview.

Gulf News: Do you truly believe Iraq has moved away from a sectarian war? Don't you feel all parties are waiting for the US withdrawal to resume the war for controlling Iraq?

General Ray Odierno: Iraqis peered over the abyss back in 2006 and early 2007 and do not wish to return to those dark days. Although there is still a long way to go, real progress has been made towards national reconciliation.

The establishment of Awakening Groups and local accommodations around the country have set a foundation on which to build. Nearly all groups are now choosing politics rather than violence to resolve their differences.

During the provincial elections, coalitions were formed with different groups in nearly every province requiring dialogue, negotiation and compromise.

It is unlikely that groups that instigated sectarian violence and engaged in frequent attacks reduced the number of attacks out of a desire to wait for [a] US departure. The people of Iraq have fundamentally rejected Al Qaida in Iraq and militants who terrorised the Iraqi people in their homes, neighbourhoods and at work.

What about Al Qaida in Iraq and the Iraqi Islamic State people, are they stronger or weaker today?

Al Qaida is much weaker today for two reasons. First, Al Qaida can find very little support within Iraq as the Iraqi people... have rejected their ideology and their methods.

Secondly, because our operations have degraded their capacity, they will still attempt to ferment instability in Iraq, but their capacity continues to shrink.

Also, Iraqi governance at all levels, while still requiring further development, is stronger and more capable than it was several years ago when violence was more widespread.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidGN...20US%20general

Al-Maliki may apologize to Kuwait

In the wake of the tensions brewing between Kuwait and Iraq, officials revealed that during the meeting held between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and the Kuwaiti Ambassador in Baghdad Ali Al-Mumen, the Kuwaiti demand to reach an agreement on the issue of compensations and border-conflict did not meet with success. Instead, the meeting focused largely on Al-Maliki's intention to present a formal apology to Kuwait on some negative remarks published in an Iraqi newspaper. One newspaper had reportedly described Kuwait as the 'little mouse.'

Furthermore, Labeed Abawy, Deputy Iraqi Foreign Minister said that his country will be taking necessary measures to solve the current dispute with Kuwait, while expecting a meeting to be held between the foreign ministers of the two countries to calm the situation and resolve the situation by holding dialogue.

Also, the Iraqi Minister of Defense assured that the comments made by some Iraqi MPs do not represent the Iraqi Government's official stance, reported Al-Watan.

Meanwhile, Khalid Al-Jarallah, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kuwait said that Kuwait is not against Iraq's move to avoid the seventh clause of the UN charter, and asserted that there are international obligations that need to be fulfilled. He emphasized that the problem was not perpetrated by officials in Baghdad.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZA...%20to%20Kuwait

Iraq deputy PM to quit to take up Kurdish region role

One of Iraq's two deputy prime ministers, Barham Saleh, will resign within days to lead the main Kurdish bloc in elections in the autonomous Kurdish region, an aide told AFP on Saturday.

Saleh has been seen by Western diplomats as one of the most progressive and professional members of the Iraqi government in which he has been a central part of a recent push to attract foreign investment to the war-torn country.

"After the election it was decided between the two parties that Barham Saleh will be the prime minister of Kurdistan," the aide told AFP. "He will present his resignation to the Iraqi government in the coming days."

The alliance is composed of the two dominant Kurdish factions -- the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in which Saleh is a leading figure.

Elections are due in Kurdistan on July 25 and Saleh's resignation from the Baghdad government will allow him to head the PUK's poll efforts, paving the way for him to become regional premier.

The Kurdish Alliance is strongly expected to win the vote. Saleh would replace Nechirvan Barzani, Massud's nephew and a member of the rival KDP, as regional prime minister.

The vote will mark the first time the Kurdistan regional president has been elected by popular vote. In 2005, Barzani was elected by the regional parliament.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is a member of the country's Shiite Arab majority. He has two deputies -- Saleh for the Kurds and Rafa al-Essawi for the Sunni Arabs.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidAN...0region%20role

Iraqi Parliament: Kuwait has improved its economy, relying on the Compensation Iraq

The independent MP Hussein al-Falluji of the Iraqi Council of Representatives said that the State of Kuwait to the economy of investments totaling b (40) billion dollars due to meet the amounts of compensation from Iraq for the past six years.

Falluji said the Kurdistan News Agency (Akaniwz) on Saturday that "there is evidence to suggest that Kuwait has improved its economy after the 2003 opening of the investments approved in the funding ratio of the compensation they get from the Iraqi government the amount (5%) from sales of Iraqi oil."

He pointed out that "the Iraqi Council of Representatives to call the symbols of Iraqi diplomatic realities of things to see and take the decisions of the House of Representatives in coordination with the government to deal with this crisis, depleted of money," he said.

Falluji said that "the Iraqi government and the House of Representatives during the past years, exhausted all means to end the outstanding issues and to deepen the relationship between Iraq and Kuwait, but the State of Kuwait did not heed to these movements and the efforts to restore bilateral relations between the two countries, which deals with Iraq as a hostile country."

Falluji took the federal government is part of the responsibility of the state of affairs through "the illusions of the House of Representatives and the public that Iraq, compared to the Framework Agreement signed with the Government of the United States of America will be lifted by the restrictions of Chapter VII."

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Follow-up to the investment budget

After we entered the threshold of the second half of this year, after which the tension in the stages of the preparation, approval and launch of the general budget of the State, including the investment that we see an urgent need now for the convening of the Conference of the Ministries of Planning and Finance to follow up the implementation of the range of rates and the investment budget of the ministries and departments not associated with the province and the period time away from the expected launch of the Ministry of Finance allocations to the investment did not exceed two months are not sufficient to conduct a review or assessment of the completed investment projects, but this conference, as we see it will be an opportunity to discuss the possibility of creating ideas and visions and therefore operational procedures to speed up the completion of the remaining items of the budget of the current year.

As will also be an opportunity to put forward ideas about the nature of the proposed projects for next year 2010 and the mechanisms that would implement the budget, schedule, and in particular the intention is to prepare plans for development of medium or long-term framework for the delivery of the strategic dimension of infrastructure in all sectors and themes Also, the conference will help the engaged in the preparation of public budgets and investment in the Ministry of Finance, and before them in the ministries of the State to develop accurate accounts of the nature of the essential needs of the ministries and provinces and then translated into facts and figures about the financial allocations and provide an appropriate time during the generosity of the Council of Ministers after the House of Representatives to discuss the merits and approved in time corresponds to the nature of the planning boards of the provinces and ministries to initiate and pursue the implementation of time to make a range of projects to take on the ground in light of the expressed desire by many Arab and foreign companies to invest in all parts of Iraq, and observers expect the high oil prices, which will impact on the preparation of the budgets of investment in the least ambitious in the the coming period in order to diversify the sources of the Iraqi economy and revitalizing the productive sectors is here, the invitation to convene a conference to follow up the implementation of investment projects at the present time will contribute to the activation of investment and the diagnosis of the obstacles to the smooth implementation and to develop effective solutions to address them and create an economic movement that can contribute to accelerating the implementation of the budget after it was previously the intention is to prepare a supplementary budget in the most investment.

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Gulf states to sign the Convention on the monetary union

Scheduled to witness the meeting of foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which will be held in Riyadh on Monday the signing of the Convention on the GCC monetary union.

The Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah, in view of the importance of the meeting in the arena of regional and international developments are important.

He will be at the next session of the Ministerial Council to review what has been on the strategic dialogues between the States of the Council and friendly countries and groups as well as topics relevant to the work and developments in the Gulf joint negotiations with countries and economic groups in the light of the follow-up to the Secretariat in this regard.

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