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

Iraq and Egypt sign a Memorandum of Understanding

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit signed a Memorandum of Understanding at AL-Tahrir Palace in Cairo to promote bilateral strategic, security and commercial cooperation.

The signing of this agreement marks the beginning of a new historical phase at the level of the relations between the two countries.

The Memorandum aims at boosting relations between military and security establishments of both countries and setting up a council for businessmen in order to uplift cooperation in commercial and investment fields which allow Egypt to contribute in Iraq reconstruction, Zebari pointed out.

Iraq-Egypt relation is among the pillars of Arab common cooperation, Aboul Gheit said.

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

Al-Bayati told the Tigris: There is division within the Parliament about the election law

MP from the United Iraqi Alliance Abbas al-Bayati said there was a division between the political blocs in the House of Representatives on the list system, thereby hindering the adoption of the electoral law and the work of the Office to prepare for the legislative elections.

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Abbadi told the Tigris: Article 45 of the 2009 budget year to prevent the government from issuing treasury bonds

The Chairman of the parliamentary economic Haidar Abadi, Article 45 of the 2009 budget year to prevent the government from issuing treasury bonds, which facilitate the work of the government.

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Maliki expressed Iraq's readiness to accede to the Convention on gas, Eastern Europe

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's desire for Iraq in the best relations with all nations of the world, particularly in the area of investment sectors, oil and gas.

expressed his speech at the gas Eastern Europe, held in Ankara, Iraq's willingness to accede to the Convention on Europe's gas, which will in the Eastern Conference.

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Maliki participates in Ankara to sign the agreements on the Nabucco pipeline project for gas

In the restoration of a growing regional role of Iraq, in the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Ankara meeting of the European Union, the United States and neighboring countries to sign up to conventions on the Nabucco pipeline project for natural gas.

At the conference, Maliki has announced the possibility to take over Europe about five ten billion cubic meters of Iraqi gas via Turkey, but without specifying a time frame, it was not immediately clear whether Iraq will be the sale of gas through the Nabucco line.

Source in the Office of the Prime Minister Maliki said that the participation comes at the invitation addressed to him by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to participate in the conference. The same source revealed that one of the files to be discussed by Maliki in Ankara is the files of water and Turkish investments in Iraq, in addition to cases of terrorism and ways to develop bilateral relations between Baghdad and Ankara. The Iraqi delegation included the formal addition of both Maliki and Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, the number of advisers in the government.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh had said the eve of the conference, said Iraq could extend the European Nabucco pipeline gas in one day, but it will not sign the agreement on the Nabucco as the domestic consumption is a top priority at the present time.

The conference was attended by leaders and representatives of a number of European countries, Turkey, Syria, Egypt and the United States in order to launch the Nabucco gas pipeline project, which will allow Europe to reduce its dependence on Russia, the project also provides for the extension of gas pipeline to convey the amount will gradually and thirty-one billion cubic meters of gas annually from Central Asia to the European Union particularly through the EU, Turkey and South Eastern Europe, Georgia is considered one of the points possible to link the pipeline with Iraq and Syria. The Nabucco project was launched in the year two thousand and two will be operational in the year two thousand and fourteen, with an estimated cost of about eight billion euros.

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Official in Baghdad told of the investment (EYBENS): signing of a draft of Baghdad media on Wednesday

Investment Authority, identified the fifteenth of Baghdad this month, the date of the signing of the draft city media.

The Deputy Speaker of the Sudanese Sattar told the independent press (Iba) said Monday that the body will sign with the investor based in the Iraqi city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates held the city's media project in the capital, which Stt_khass programs and media strategies to work in Iraq and support the institutions of journalism.

He added that the Authority has already begun coordinating with authorities in Baghdad and the Secretariat of the State Real Estate Service for the allocation of plots for construction of the project, which is the first of its kind in Iraq, in addition to facilitating the implementation procedures. Indicating that the signing of the contract will be expanded to hold a press conference at the premises of the province of Baghdad

According to the Sudanese that the approval of the project comes as part of the facilities provided to foreign investors in Iraq, which include tax exemptions, Kmarkip the free transfer of funds to and from Iraq, in addition to other economic benefits. dding that the project comes within the framework of three projects approved by the Commission during the past period to stimulate the investment in Iraq after he made those wishing to apply for implementation.

The project is one of the three projects granted leave for their implementation from the heart of foreign investors.

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Oil union opposes the conclusion of contracts with foreign companies

A member of the Federation of trade unions in the Basra oil Faleh Abboud Amara on the organization of a general strike if the Ministry insisted on the conclusion of oil contracts with foreign companies to invest in oil fields.

Amara said in a press statement that the coming days will witness the start of a peaceful demonstration in Basra to protest the oil contracts, adding that experts estimate could indicate that the Iraqi national staff in three years to produce than the foreign companies in the field of oil.

Member of the Federation of trade unions in the Basra oil pointed out that the conclusion of the contract the detriment of the Iraqi economy, saying that the contracts given the British company BP and the Chinese CNPC profits due to such contracts is a injustice to the Iraqi national staff.

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Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani: questioning the ingredients and the oil minister in the House of Representatives, however, incomplete

MP from the United Iraqi Alliance Abdul Hadi Hassani said that the potential of interrogation and Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, in the House of Representatives is incomplete, pointing out that the availability of evidence and the conditions for interrogation and the necessity of submission to the Council for consideration in advance.

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Iraq offers to supply half of Nabucco's gas

Iraq has offered to supply enough gas to fill half the capacity of the proposed Nabucco pipeline, giving the project a boost even as heads of government met to sign a historic agreement approving the plan.

The offer from Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, to supply 15bn cubic metres of gas a year by 2015 helps address the greatest obstacle to the 3,300km pipeline from eastern Turkey to Austria: the prospect of there not being enough gas to fill it.

José Manuel Barroso, pre-sident of the European Commission, said the signing of the Nabucco agreement in Ankara by the leaders of five countries on the pipeline's route - Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Roman-ia and Turkey - could "open the door to a new era in the relationship between the European Union and Tur-key, and indeed beyond".

Dick Lugar, the most senior Republican in the US senate, said the agreement was "a signal to the rest of the world that partner governments will not acquiesce to manipulation of energy supplies for political ends".

Nabucco is intended to provide an alternative to Russian supplies, which have caused growing concern following the disruption caused by disputes be-tween Russia and Ukraine.

The hope is that the inter-governmental agreement will convince gas-producing countries that the project - scheduled to start in 2014 - is closer to becoming reality than rival European or Russian-sponsored schemes, and persuade them to commit the volumes needed for commercial viability.
The only supplier that will definitely be ready for the first phase of the project is Azerbaijan, but it is juggling Nabucco's de-mands against those of Russia.

Richard Morningstar, US energy envoy, described Azeri gas as a "necessary condition" but not sufficient for the €8bn ($11bn, £7bn) Nabucco project.
Hopes of securing Azeri gas for Nabucco are expected to suffer today when Bulgaria signs up with the consortium building ITGI, a rival pipeline project seeking to take gas from Azerbaijan to the EU.

Bulgaria is set to sign a memorandum of understanding for a planned spur off ITGI that could bring 3bn-5bn cu m of gas per year from Greece.

If Iraq is able to achieve its goal of supplying an annual 15bn cu m, it will fill almost half the pipeline's 31bn cu m capacity.

Oil companies are interested in investing in the country to develop its resources, including gas.

The Kurdistan region in the north of Iraq has also attracted a planned investment by a consortium of companies including OMV of Austria and Mol of Hungary, which are both members of the Nabucco group.

Nabucco E.xecutives say significant quantities of gas could be available from those Kurdish fields as soon as next year.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, also reiterated his desire for Iran to be a supplier "when conditions allow".

Andris Piebalgs, EU energy commissioner, said the EU's focus now would be on encouraging Turkmenistan to participate. Stefan Judisch of Germany's RWE, the energy group that is a member of the Nabucco consortium, said Turkmenistan would be able to supply an annual 10bcm in the pipeline's first phase, but would first have to find a way through disputes over the Caspian Sea. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, president of Turkmenistan, said last week that participation in the project would help his country - which is locked in a dispute with Russia over gas supplies - to diversify its export routes.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidFT...ucco%27s%20Gas

Next Government might ignore five-year plan – Minister

The Iraqi planning minister on Monday said that his ministry fears that the next government might ignore the five-year plan, adding the plan includes solutions for problems that the country might face.

“The Planning Ministry knows that the five-year plan will face obstacles, some of them are political,” Baban told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“We hope that the next government will be committed to the five-year plan and work according to it,” he said.

“We cannot confirm that the plan will succeed and that it would not be curbed by the next authorities, but we have done what we can to improve the infrastructure in Iraq,” he added.

Parliamentary election will take place in Iraq by the end of this year, and a new government will be formed then.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=116069