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

Mobile phone contracts would be granted to new companies entering the competition
19/11/2006

Iraqi Minister of Communications, Mohammed Tawfik Allawi, said that the mobile phone contracts will be awarded to new companies that would provide better services than what is offered at the present time.

Allawi announced in statements made yesterday that the Ministry of Communications will contract with companies specialized in the maintenance and repair of the telephone network.

He said that "the Cabinet had recently developed a committee to study the issue of frequencies and mobile phone contracts to consider the granting of new licenses for mobile phone companies after the contracts of companies operating in Iraq ends". He explained that more than one company will work in the same area after only one company was working in a specific area.

Three companies got mobile licenses earlier to work in Iraq after its liberation from Saddam's regime: "Iraqna Company" affiliated with "Orascom", "Atheer MTC Company" and " Asia Cell Company".

The minister emphasized that the Iraqi new contracts will be long term up to about 16 years for each company and the ministry will be a competitor along side with the new companies operating in Iraq.

Minister Mohammed Tawfik Allawi heads the Committee formed by the Cabinet to study the issue of granting licenses for frequencies and mobile contracts as well as clarifying the jurisdictions of the Information and Communications Body and the authority it is associated to.

Allawi stressed that the ministry will open, next week, for the introduction of the companies that wish to contract for the repair and maintenance of the telephone network.

He said that the objective of this procedure is to upgrade the maintenance of telephone networks, as companies will be obliged to repair a damaged telephone within twenty-four hours, otherwise the Ministry is entitled to fine delay by ten thousand dinars for each day.

The Minister of Communications said that each company will owe 90 thousand lines; that is, three telephone centrals, for the distribution of profits among the largest number of companies, as well as employing manpower.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2610

That's not much for each day!!

Originally Posted by kiko

Iraqi leaders to hold "urgent meeting" - deputy PM
19 November 2006 (BBC Monitoring)

Iraqi leaders will hold an "urgent" meeting in the next few days to discuss curbs on violence, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih Dubai told Al-Arabiya TV in an interview carried on 17 November.

He gave no further detail but said: "Iraq cannot go on with this level of violence and bloodletting."

"Therefore, it was decided to convene an urgent meeting of political leaders in Iraq over the next few days, to discuss the situation, to reassess government work mechanisms and to adopt appropriate measures."

Salih said participants would include "leaders involved in the political process and leaders who represent the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people".

He did not confirm outright whether leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars Harith al-Dari would take part in the conference but said:

"National reconciliation attempts are ongoing, including the Arab League initiative in which Shaykh Harith al-Dari and the Association of Muslim scholars had participated."

Salih admitted that the Iraqi government was "paralyzed" because "the extremists impose their control on many sectors and on the people".

"There is a real struggle, a struggle that is getting more serious," Salih said. "This struggle is not a sectarian struggle in the acknowledged sense of the word. It is a power struggle between extremists and moderates."

Salih said: "The political understandings and agreements that were reached had led to the formation of the current government. I am going to be frank and admit that these understandings have come apart and might collapse if we do not tackle the situation quickly."

"We currently need an alliance among the moderates and the wise people from the Sunnis, Shi'is, and Kurds. We must close ranks and not allow the extremists to hijack the political process and dictate their terms on the people as they are doing now," he added.

Iraqi leaders to hold "urgent meeting" - deputy PM | Iraq Updates

ITS ABOUT %#&@ TIME!!!!!

ÔÈßÉ ÇáÒæÑÇÁ ÇáÃÚáÇãíÉ - ÍÒÈ «ÇáÝÖíáÉ» íØÇáÈ ÇáãÇáßí ÈÊÛííÑÇÊ ÌæåÑíÉ Ýí ÍßæãÊå

ÔÈßÉ ÇáÒæÑÇÁ ÇáÃÚáÇãíÉ - ãÍÇÝÙ ßÑÈáÇÁ: áÏíäÇ ÝÊÇæì ÈÖÑÈ ÇáãíáíÔíÇÊ

ÔÈßÉ ÇáÒæÑÇÁ ÇáÃÚáÇãíÉ - ãæÓì: ÇáãÇáßí æØÇáÈÇäí ÃßÏÇ ÚÏã ÕÏæÑ ãÐßÑÉ ÊæÞíÝ ÈÍÞ ÇáÖÇÑí

Originally Posted by shotgunsusie

ITS ABOUT %#&@ TIME!!!!!

Agreed. They have to get their shiite together NOW!!

I think we are not the only one that are losing patience here!!

Originally Posted by webinvestor

I'm not trying to argue. I'm not being negative. I'm ready for a bashing.

To me "raising the rate" is well, raising the rate. It could be raising a few points or it could be raising it 1450 points... and raising it 1450 points would be a reval, not just a "raise" up. JMHO.

Again, i'm not being negative here. I'm just giving my opinion on what they might have meant when they said that.

Also, in the article posted above they mention an "improved exchange rate". Pretty vague.

Having said all this i think it's some of the other statements made that are more important in the overall picture. The CBI wants to reduce inflation, prevent "dollarization" and "improve the purchasing power". Now, a small improvment in the exchange rate will not do those 3 things. A RV will.

Ok, let me explain a little better. The CBI wants to reduce inflation, prevent dollarization, etc., etc. through an improved exchange rate. If they are too conservative they will not meet their objective. They have been conservative and one of the goals in the past couple years was to have a stable currency. I would say its been stable - under-valued but stable.

Words are one thing - actions are another. Hopefully the CBI starts to take more aggressive action to match their stated goals.

Team,
I'm all about this thing working out but over this past couple of months I've been trying to look at this things with an unbiased eye. And I think sometimes we kind of read too much into what is being put out there. It's almost like a scientist who is looking or hopeing to find a certain positive outcome. His perspective becomes skewed or biased. And that is why placebos and other methods are used to guard against biased result or findings. I believe the word "reval" has be tossed around too liberally with assumed conotations of a huge jump. I would surely love an overnight miracle, but if any of you can remember one of my 1st post from the other forum, which I almost bled to death from all the bashing I received, I stated "the money will not hit until Bushes war was over". This was my perspective because I have been around in the region for 8+ years and I believe most of us here, contractors and many mil folks, are invested and upon "revalution" most of us would quickly return home. This would have a major impact on the efforts here.
I recognize all of the positive things that are happening daily, but the reality of our situation is that this thing will increase in accordance with market norms. I pray to God that it is a huge jump, but my spidy senses tells me that this may be unlikely. The Pre-tribulation "Rapture" theory is popular and sells books in the stores and seats in the church, but it is not Biblical. OK; I am hunkered down for the bashing, so.... GO!

Syrian minister backs govt on first visit to Iraq
BAGHDAD, 20 November 2006 (Reuters)

Syria's foreign minister pledged his support for the Iraqi government on a landmark visit to Baghdad on Sunday and said setting a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops would reduce violence.

It was the first time a Syrian minister has visited Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and comes amid increased talk of diplomatic efforts to involve Iraq's neighbors Syria and Iran in helping to end the violence ravaging the country.

Syria has been accused by Washington of doing too little to prevent Islamist fighters from crossing the border into Iraq and fomenting a Sunni insurgency in the west of the country.

But Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem rejected that.

"We condemn terrorism," he said at a joint news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.

"We support the elected government and national reconciliation," he said. "We support the unity of Iraq and we think that a timetable for pulling out U.S. occupation forces from Iraq will reduce violence in Iraq."

U.S. President George W. Bush is under growing pressure to begin withdrawing the 140,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq more than 3-1/2 years after the invasion, but the Iraqi government has said the time is not right for them to go.

It was a rare visit by an Arab minister. Many Arab governments have been wary of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led administration's close ties to Washington and to non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran.

Zebari told Reuters in October the visit by Moualem would be an "acid test" of neighboring Sunni Arab states' willingness to help Iraq's Shi'ite-led unity government stabilize the country.

Iraq and Syria, run by rival wings of the Arab nationalist Baath party, severed ties when Syria sided with Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

STRAINED RELATIONS

Since the U.S.-led invasion, of which Syria was a vocal critic, relations have been strained. Zebari said Iraq hoped to restore relations: "We don't expect to solve all the problems at one time but there will be more and more visits," he said.

"Iraq's security and stability is an issue for Syria and the neighboring countries," Zebari said. "It's important they support our government and fight terrorism."

Iraq's government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said officials would press Moualem to do more to prevent al Qaeda militants entering Iraq, cut off sources of funding for diehard supporters of Saddam Hussein and end safe haven for Saddam's Baathists.

Bush's allies have urged him recently to open the door to talks with Syria and Iran to seek their help in stabilizing Iraq, where insurgent violence and sectarian attacks are threatening to tear the country apart.

The New York Times said on Saturday that Moualem had met former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, co-chairman of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group examining strategic options in Iraq.

There has been speculation the study group will advocate greater U.S. cooperation with Syria and Iran as the administration considers a change in course on the war after U.S. voters vented their anger at mid-term elections.

Moualem made clear he did not fly in under U.S. pressure: "I'm not coming to Iraq to satisfy some other person, I'm coming to Iraq to satisfy the people of Iraq and Syria," he said.

Iran, which has close religious ties to Iraq's majority Shi'ite population, and Syria, largely Sunni Muslim, both deny supporting armed groups in Iraq. Syria says a stable Iraq is in its national interest and has called on the Iraqi government to patrol its side of the border more effectively.

Syrian minister backs govt on first visit to Iraq | Iraq Updates

and the list gets longer...

Originally Posted by Original Spiderman

Team,
I'm all about this thing working out but over this past couple of months I've been trying to look at this things with an unbiased eye. And I think sometimes we kind of read too much into what is being put out there. It's almost like a scientist who is looking or hopeing to find a certain positive outcome. His perspective becomes skewed or biased. And that is why placebos and other methods are used to guard against biased result or findings. I believe the word "reval" has be tossed around too liberally with assumed conotations of a huge jump. I would surely love an overnight miracle, but if any of you can remember one of my 1st post from the other forum, which I almost bled to death from all the bashing I received, I stated "the money will not hit until Bushes war was over". This was my perspective because I have been around in the region for 8+ years and I believe most of us here, contractors and many mil folks, are invested and upon "revalution" most of us would quickly return home. This would have a major impact on the efforts here.
I recognize all of the positive things that are happening daily, but the reality of our situation is that this thing will increase in accordance with market norms. I pray to God that it is a huge jump, but my spidy senses tells me that this may be unlikely. The Pre-tribulation "Rapture" theory is popular and sells books in the stores and seats in the church, but it is not Biblical. OK; I am hunkered down for the bashing, so.... GO!

Thanks spiderman, its good to hear news from people working in Iraq and I value your input. You do have a very valid point, I suppose we are all just gonna have to wait and see.

Announcement No.(809)

D.G. of Foreign Exchange Control

The 809 daily currency auction was held in the Central Bank of Iraq day Monday 2006 / 11/ 20 so the results were as follows :

Details Notes
Number of banks 12 -----
Auction price selling dinar / US $ 1449 -----
Auction price buying dinar / US $ ------ -----
Amount sold at auction price (US $) 56.765.000 -----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) ------
Total offers for buying (US $) 56.765.000 -----
Total offers for selling (US $) ------ -----

Cash amounts sold to the bank and its customers were USD(16.965.000) at a rate of(1449+1+10=1460)IQD\USD .
The amount sold to make transfers abroad was USD (39.800.000) at a rate of (1449-2)+ one dinar as a bank fee and exempt the transferred amount from conversion fee.


D.G. of Investments

Daily price Bulletin buying and selling Sunday 2006/11/19

Currency
Currency Code
Selling Price In IQD
Buying Price In IQD

US Dollar
USD
1454.000
1453.273

European Euro
EUR
1864.464
1863.532

'...in accordance with market norms...' what would the market norms be for a country that has more potential for wealth than saudi arabia ever had? last time i checked the richest people in the world were from saudi arabia or the majority of them were.

no such thing as a 'market norm' for something as out of the ordinary as the potential of iraq's market.

iraq=more oil than saudi=more revenue at todays prices=richest nation in the world
what is the market norm for the richest nation in the world? what would you judge it off of?? would you expect their currency to be less than a dollar?