Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

Originally Posted by kozmar

October is at an end; no news.

Must now look onto Novemeber. I was using significant dates such as birthdays or anniversarys and the like to say what a good present for.....

I started in July with my birthday, then in Aug, there was an event each week. September was my anniversary, October my brother's anniversary and my spouse's b-day. I cannot think of anyone in November. The only thing that comes to mind in Thanksgiving. Good as any I guess.

Peg already

Kozmar

my birthday is the tenth but we want it before then for gosh sakes!!!

so article VIII was not recended? nothing happend today?

Originally Posted by Gloribee

and raise you... more :OP
RV time is soon to be reality. Hang on Neno my friend, this is about to get wild !!!

Moved over 100 post tonight. Dang I thought we where getting better. If you have a rumor are a person's opinion with out any fack's for the backing. Please post this stuff in the rumor section also the off topic stuff too. Thanks.

Originally Posted by neno

Did you view the videos on the rolclub?

Another subject as most folks ask you this question; this guy is so fun, but it is a good answer!Yeah-Right!

This guy should run for politics, he answers are close to JK's!

Audio Postcard

Originally Posted by motomachi

Did you view the videos on the rolclub?

Another subject as most folks ask you this question; this guy is so fun, but it is a good answer!Yeah-Right!

This guy should run for politics, he answers are close to JK's!

Audio Postcard

Not yet Moto. I had to Babysit and clear the fields here again. But I have read everypost and have this marked to see tonight. Thanks for the reminder.

Originally Posted by motomachi

Did you view the videos on the rolclub?

Another subject as most folks ask you this question; this guy is so fun, but it is a good answer!Yeah-Right!

This guy should run for politics, he answers are close to JK's!

Audio Postcard

what video?

For all my Rolclub gang here I have taken the time to transcribe the press statement by Mr. Kimmet that was done today in Kuwait. He is the economic head for the compact. It is certainly worth the read. Enjoy....

I am James Finelle, I am the information officer at the American Embasy. I am very pleased tonight to introduce Deputy Secretary for the American Treasury, Mr. Robert Kimmet, who is heading the U.S. delegation here to the ICI conference. Of course, the ICI conference is about Iraq and at the focus today but, I know that it is an important issue for Kuwait and so we wanted to bring you all here together, the Kuwaiti Press, and as a courtesy the U.S. Press to ask some questions of Mr. Kimmet. We have some bios for the Deputy Secretary. I can tell you briefly, he has a lot of experience in both the government and the private sector. He is an attorney and has worked for Lehman Brothers; he has worked for the White House National Security Counsel as well as the U.S. Department of State in Political Affairs and he also is a former U.S. Ambassador to Germany. So, our time is limited so what I will do is have Mr. Kimmet come up, he will make some remarks, and then I will open it up for questions. Please wait on me to call on you for a question and since our guest, Mr. Kimmet, is a guest in Kuwait, he does not know you. Please state your name and the organization you are from, okay. Thank you.

Mr. Kimmet: Thank you very much, it is very nice to be back in Kuwait. My first visit to Kuwait was in March of 1991 with Secretary Jim Baker. We were the first American visitors back into Kuwait after it’s liberation. I have had a chance to visit Kuwait a number of times since then and have always enjoyed and appreciated the hospitality of both the Kuwaiti government and the Kuwaiti people. This past summer, Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq layed out a 3-part program political, security, and economic; the economic component of which was embodied in the International Compact with Iraq essentially as Deputy Prime Minister Barnhem Saleh and the U.N. Special Representative indicated, these are commitments by the government of Iraq to an economic reform plan designed to produce economic self-sufficiency and financial independence in a 4 to 5 year time period that is, over the medium term. In return, from the international community, commitment to support that reform effort. President Bush asked me this summer to lead the U.S. Delegation and I attended the organizational meeting held in Baghdad on July 20th ; the prepatory group meeting in U.A.E. in early September, I believe it was September 10th ; and then the expanded meeting both at the U.N. General Assembly session in New York on September 18th ; and also the World Bank IMF fund meetings in Singapore on the same day, and then now this prepatory group meeting in Kuwait .

I would like, once again, to thank the government of Kuwait for extending an invitation to not just the United States but, 20 international organizations and countries to come to Kuwait to participate in this important prepatory conference. I would like to particularly thank my friend, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs whom I have known for quite some time and I have always known to be a wonderful representative for the State of Kuwait and was an excellent host for today’s meeting . I would note, again, that there were 20 countries and international organizations represented today from the Americas, from Europe, from the Gulf Region, and from Asia as well as international organizations both global and regional and I signaled in today’s meeting, the United States Government’s strong support both for the concept of the International Compact and also for our strong support for the draft as it has emerged and based on today’s successful meeting, I think we are in a position now to move to a ministerial level meeting as the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and the U.N. Special Representatitives have indicated which the compact can be concluded.

I would be glad to take your questions.

Q: Yes sir, (arabic being translated) : The Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq spoke of new commitments from the United States to Iraq. (mumbled sorry ****)
A: I think the size of pledged will be announced by ministers at the ministerial meeting. What I noted was, that the U.S., in the past, had provided debt-relief , technical assistance, investment support, and donor assistance in terms of not only reconstruction, economic development aid, but also aid to the Iraqi Security Forces and I anticipate that the United States Government at the Ministerial will make new pledges in each of those areas.

Q: What is your assessment of the promises of the Iraqi government so far.
A: The work that I do is with the Iraqi government in the economics sphere. I think in spite of the very difficult political and especially security situations that the government faces, that the economic team has made significant progress. They have a stable currency, they have sizeable foreign currency reserves, they are almost back up to pre-war levels of oil production and therefore are able to finance a considerable part of their own government operations. However, there still is a gap between their requirements and the resources available to them and again, that is one of the things that the International Community is talking to Iraq about now, helping to close that gap.

Q: Your greatest fear of responsibility and amount of Iraqi debts and how do you see the future plans for progress in Iraq.
A: I think with regard, if I understood your question correctly, I think that what I heard today, most importantly was a commitment by the government of Iraq to rebuilding it’s country for the benefit of all of it’s people. What I also heard, was the international community saying that it wants to support Iraq in that rebuilding effort . It was in the Madrid Conference, in 2003, already sizeable pledges by the international community some of which have been disbursed and some of which remain to be disbursed. There are, I think, about 50 countries who have a creditor relationship with Iraq, that is, to whom Iraq owes debt. A number of countries including the United States have made the decision to forgive 100% of Iraq’s debt. Other countries have made the decision to forgive 80% of the debt according to Paris Club terms and I think as we go forward, those other countries who are creditors both in the gulf but more broadly Russia, China and others for example are looking very closely as the Deputy Prime Minister said, at joining the group of people who have entered into debt relief but, also as the Deputy Prime Minister has said, that is really for bilateral discussion between the government of Iraq and the creditor countries.

Q: In the previous meetings, how much has Iraq bounced forth as part of this compact agreement and have the other countries members agreed to Iraq’s demands.
A: In the previous meetings and leading up to today, especially working with the World Bank and IMF, there has been a projection over the mid-term of what would be Iraq’s governmental spending requirements and Iraqi governmental resources. There is a gap, however, between the requirements and their resources. That amount, as the Deputy Prime Minister said, is still under discussion as to exactly what their needs are but, the Iraqi’s know that they need to be quite specific in laying out not just the amount of money that is the gap but what the money would be used for . The impression I have is that the international community, once those numbers are established, is prepared to work with the government of Iraq to help meet that gap but my guess is that it will take several weeks as we lead to the final ministerial conference before additional detail is provided and going back to the earlier question, before firm commitments are made at a public position. At this time, I would not have the rough figures to give but of course that would be a question to give to the Iraqi government but, I would say that we are working very diligently with the IMF and the World Bank . And remember, Iraq is under a standby agreement with the IMF right now. So, it has been through the process of this already of meeting tough economic conditions in return for international assistance and we are trying on the basis of the changing economic circumstances to refine estimates that have been made before . I think we will know more on that at the ministerial meeting but even there, I probably would not give you the Iraqi figures , we will be quite specific about the U.S. figures at that time.

Q: Do you have a message for the Iraqi people today.
A: Well my message is, the United States of America and the American people stand strongly behind your desire to live in peace and security. The Iraqi people have voted for peace and security in the first democratic elections in decades. We, and I think coming from this meeting, the international community more broadly supports the aspirations of the Iraqi people to live in peace and security.

Q: Are you confident in the current role the Iraqi government is playing .
A: The way that the compact is set up as I stated earlier is that the Iraqi government is layed out in the compact is specific commitments that they are willing to undertake on their path toward economic reform. Based on what we have seen, in terms of them living up to their commitments under the IMF standby agreement, I believe the Iraqi’s understand the importance of the seriousness of the commitments that they are entering into and I think in response not by just the United States but the world community represented not just by the prepatory group but eventually a broader group of donors will look in return for Iraq meeting those commitments themselves to come forward with new commitments again, whether it be debt relief, technical assistance, investment support, or additional donor support either on the economic or the military side and again, I would expect that the U.S. would look at contributing in each of those areas and other countries will make their own choices on how to put commitments on the table in return for Iraq’s commitments.

Q: In arabic inaudible.
A: The benefit is that if we have as the Deputy Prime Minister said, an Iraq at peace with itself and at peace with it’s neighbors and what is good for the Iraqi people first and foremost it is good for the region and for the world more broadly and I think that is why each of the members of the international community participated today and the broader group that will attend the final meeting . We see this first and foremost in the interest of the Iraqi people but there are also very important regional and global benefits in return.

Q: In arabic inaudible.
A: I think as the Deputy Prime Minister indicated, the intention is to hold the ministerial level conference by the middle of December. So, that would be sometime over the next 6 weeks. The participants would include the countries who are represented on the prepatory group that met today, her in Kuwait. But, we would expect also a broader group of countries. There was a much larger group that took place in both Singapore and New York including Russia, China, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iran, and others and I would expect that broader group of countries to participate in the final meeting and with regards to the debt issue, certainly we would hope that there would be considerable progress towards resolving the issue but as the Deputy Prime Minister said, it ultimately will be a decision for each individual creditor what decision they will take. My guess though is that every country who is a creditor who comes to the conference will look to address that issue in some way.

Q: This month has been a bloody month in Iraq for U.S. forces and also to secure Baghdad , what steps have U.S. officials taken. For success of this package will you send more troops into Iraq.
A: Well, as I said, my role in this process is supporting the economic component of the 3-part plan layed out by Prime Minister Maliki. The other 2, political and security in addition to being Iraqi leads are supported by my colleagues at the Defense Department and the State Department so, I would defer to them on the overall question . Also I would not accept your premise that the security component has failed but again, I think that would be better directed first to the Iraqi’s and second to my colleagues also in the government. What I will say; however, is that I think that the compact is successful. It has elements in there although couched in economic terms, will also have important political effects. For example as the Deputy Prime Minister said, movement on the hydrocarbon law that lays out exactly how revenue is going to be shared. Yes, it is important in economic terms but I think that it is important for all the communities inside Iraq so, that is why I think that although my part of this is the economic side, it does weave closely with political and security it is just that I am not the expert in the areas that you have raised.

Q: I am going to ask you a question outside the Iraq issues. U.S. pressures on Arab governments to achieve certain policies, what is your comment on this.
A: I don’t know if I will answer it but you may certainly ask it. Across the board, the U.S. assistance program is something that is developed mutually with governments involved. Certainly, when we give assistance we are trying to advance U.S. interests and when governments receive U.S. assistance, they are putting it to further there own goals. But, I have worked in the assistance business for quite sometime and it is always a mutual decision and certainly any government that provides assistance, they are doing it for what they think is the betterment of both of the countries involved but of the donor country too. Again, I find that those decisions are mutual decisions, not enforced upon any particular country rather it is an effort to achieve mutual objectives through sharing of resources.

Q: Pressures on Iraqi’s.
A: We are not putting any pressure on our friends and allies. We explain why we made the decision we did to go beyond Paris Club terms and forgive 100% of Iraq’s debt to the United States and primarily it is an economic issue. If ultimately we want Iraq to be dependent on it’s own resources and foreign investment rather than foreign assistance, one very important message both to investors and to the capital markets is that the country is either free of debt or managing it’s debt successfully. So, I think all countries want to encourage an Iraq that can take care of itself with it’s own resources and external investments and one of the ways to do that is encourage foreign investment , encourage access to the capital markets and that is one of the reasons why debt reduction is so very important for a new economy moving from the command economy it was under Saddam to a free market economy. Now, that is a very Treasury-oriented macroeconomic analysis it also of course has a very important political effect because what it is saying is that countries want to have a relationship with a new government , a democratically elected government, that should not operate under this heavy burden of past debt from a dictatorial regime, debt that stiffels precisely the foreign investment and access to capital markets that we all know that Iraq needs so badly. Thank you all very much.

Originally Posted by scottpaye

With all due respect, imho the purpose of the daily auction is to amass foreign currency reserves.

Love and warm fuzzies, Scott Paye

Scott, I hope you will not take offense but I don't believe this is an accurate view of the auctions. They are explicitly used to control the exchange rate and are BUYING IQD while SELLING USD, so they are not adding to the amount of foreign currency in reserves. I believe that USD are added to the reserves via the sale of oil, although the details of how that happens with the various oversight laws in place is not clear to me.

Clueless,
I think you hit onto what they are trying to do with auctions. Very tight control within 1460-1480 for the past three years.
LIT

Hey Dinar Hawk, have you got any word from your sources of what might be going on after these last two meetings. besides that get your golf game tuned up cuz after the r/v your going to need it, tell the shark to bring his bank roll he's going to need it.

if anyone knows if article VIII was signed today or not?