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

Iraqi Dinar
Major Global Currencies against Iraqi Dinar
Currency Buy Sell
Australian Dollar ( AUD ) 994.440 1,091.44
Canadian Dollar ( CAD ) 1,081.53 1,186.55
Swiss Franc ( CHF ) 1,034.19 1,134.56
Euro ( EUR ) 1,664.26 1,825.67
British Pound ( GBP ) 2,470.18 2,709.08
Japanese Yen ( JPY ) 10.59052 11.61861
US Dollar ( USD ) 1,261.50 1,382.80
Updated: 1/1/2007 8:18:00 AM Copyright ©2000 MENAFN All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: Trade Bank of Iraq and MENAFN are not responsible or liable for the accuracy of all information including but not limited to financial market data, news, stock quotes, energy rates, currency rates obtained from MENAFN modules and shall not be responsible for trading and investment decisions made based on such information. Therefore the accuracy of this information and its applicability to your needs are not guaranteed


Look at the date it was updated 1/1/2007.

Disclaimer: Trade Bank of Iraq and MENAFN are not responsible or liable for the accuracy of all information including but not limited to financial market data, news, stock quotes, energy rates, currency rates obtained from MENAFN modules and shall not be responsible for trading and investment decisions made based on such information. Therefore the accuracy of this information and its applicability to your needs are not guaranteed


Where are they getting their currency rate quotes from...CBI are you working and not telling.

Iraq Prepares to Start Negotiations with World Trade Organization

18 December 2006 - Iraq achieved an important procedural milestone towards its World Trade Organization (WTO) accession bid on December 15, when the WTO General Council formally accepted the country’s nominee for the chairmanship of the Working Party charged with Iraq’s accession process. Ambassador Claudia Uribe of Colombia will serve in this position.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy hailed the successful agreement on the Chair for Iraq’s Working Party as an “important step in the process of anchoring Iraq in the multilateral trading system” and noted that “the appointment of the Chair… means that the negotiations can now start in earnest.”

This acceptance opens the door for formal face-to-face negotiations to begin in Geneva with Iraq’s WTO Partners at the first Working Party Meeting, which can now be scheduled. “We look forward to working with the Government of Iraq to prepare for the opening of direct talks with the WTO counterparts, which marks a significant phase in Iraq’s accession process”, said Baljit Vohra, Chief of Party of the USAID-funded IZDIHAR project.

IZDIHAR has been assisting the Government of Iraq throughout the process of meeting the procedural requirements for convening the first meeting of the Working Party, such as completing the Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime (MFTR) and the written “questions and answers”. In addition, IZDIHAR is assisting the Government of Iraq to undertake broad-based legal and trade policy reforms related to its accession into the World Trade Organization.


There was some discussion on this yesterday...Pardon if already posted

Originally Posted by bultn

But surely Iraq may reval without being WTO member?

i believe they have to have an internationally tradeable currency in order to be members so revalue first, open to world, then can have wto status.

Originally Posted by adm

Disclaimer: Trade Bank of Iraq and MENAFN are not responsible or liable for the accuracy of all information including but not limited to financial market data, news, stock quotes, energy rates, currency rates obtained from MENAFN modules and shall not be responsible for trading and investment decisions made based on such information. Therefore the accuracy of this information and its applicability to your needs are not guaranteed


Where are they getting their currency rate quotes from...CBI are you working and not telling.

i believe, as was posted earlier, that these various rates are interbank rates.

5. Bilateral negotiations: The applicant government engages in bilateral negotiations with interested Working Party members on concessions and commitments on market access for goods and services. The results of these bilateral negotiations are consolidated into a document which is part of the final "accession package".

6. Accession package: The working party then finalizes the terms of accession. These appear in a report, a draft membership treaty ("protocol of accession") and lists ("schedules") of the member-to-be's commitments.

7. Approval of the accession package: The final package, consisting of the report, protocol and lists of commitments, is presented to the WTO General Council or the Ministerial Conference. If a two-thirds majority of WTO members vote in favour, the applicant is free to sign the protocol and to accede to the organization. In many cases, the country's own parliament or legislature has to ratify the agreement before membership is complete.

8. Full membership: Thirty days after the applicant government notifies the WTO Secretariat that it has completed its ratification procedures, the applicant government becomes a full Member of the WTO. (12)

With translation sometimes missing things, I just saw this in the news and translated. It does not make a lot of sense because of translation but there are a couple of key words that jumped out at me. Anybody have any thoughts on this article. Thanks gang.

Grants Office of the Minister of Territory for civil society and Sam openhanded

(Voice of Iraq) - 05-01-2007
This issue was sent to a friend

Grants Office of the Minister of Territory for civil society and Sam openhanded

On behalf of the Minister of Territory for civil society, Mr. Ruud Paul FESTIVAL (joy of the holidays), which was held under the auspices of the government of the province logo (above the smile to the faces of the Iraqis (organized by the (Association of nomads and diasporas Iraq's humanitarian charity), in cooperation with the General Directorate of Social Welfare, and coincide with the Christmas and Eid Al-Adha holiday and the new year.

In festivities of The representative of the Minister of the Territory a speech in which he emphasized on the atmospheres of amity and brotherhood which prevail between nationalities and religions, multi-ethnic, and between the to their brethren-Kurd on the land of Kurdistan which enjoys of security and stability, as well as transnational be desirable for Iraq to turn to the country publishes loving and good of its sons not death and destruction, after the suffered from the evils of the rules of the deposed, and to verify cheer Greater when celebrates be solidly a democratic, pluralistic Iraq Federal a whole, for their children and for be its martyrs when solve the calm and peace of the f terrorism ends, and of contempt and hatred irrevocably over.

During the ceremony, Dr. Ziad Tareq Hashemi President of the Association of granting "Sam and openhanded" to the Office of the Minister of Territory for civil society, valuation of the efforts made to support the effectiveness and success.

Festivities attended by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, and several government officials and a number of representatives of non-governmental organizations. In addition to students of the Noor Institute for the Blind and who provided technical activities, in addition to beautiful music by dividing the task Chaldean culture. It was the distribution of gifts and clothing for the blind students Noor Institute.

Ministry of Region / Civil Society Affairs
Kurdistan - political instability

Originally Posted by adm

Disclaimer: Trade Bank of Iraq and MENAFN are not responsible or liable for the accuracy of all information including but not limited to financial market data, news, stock quotes, energy rates, currency rates obtained from MENAFN modules and shall not be responsible for trading and investment decisions made based on such information. Therefore the accuracy of this information and its applicability to your needs are not guaranteed


Where are they getting their currency rate quotes from...CBI are you working and not telling.

It would not surprise me. I believe there are many many things that have taken place, are taking place, are already set to go that have been done behind closed doors. Remember Iraq has it's own rules, own timetables and just like in the hanging of Saddam they can make life-changing decisions, implement them, and they are done within hours. Hopefully this is what we will see with the reval.

One of the most common sights in Irbil is that of a mountain of jerry-cans stacked by a busy roadside
05/01/2007
Source: BBC

As a car draws up, a young man will rush over to the window and be handed a bundle of Iraqi dinars by the driver. In return, a cherry-coloured liquid will be poured in to the car's petrol tank.

Welcome to a petrol station in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Despite sitting on huge reserves of oil, it is still difficult for people of this region to get access to petrol through formal means.

Instead, cars and trucks fill up at these illegal roadside operations.

19-year-old Mustafa, who works at one, says he has to smuggle fuel from Iran because the petrol from domestic refineries is too low grade.

"We buy the Iranian one, which has this red colour," he says.

"It's not legal, of course, and it's expensive. We don't make much profit. We wouldn't be doing this if the government distributed good petrol."

Slow progress

Iraqi Kurdistan suffered decades of repression by Saddam Hussein's regime during which more than 100,000 Kurds are believed to have perished.

After the 1991 Gulf War, it had autonomy but remained isolated. Now, though, it is finally beginning to prosper.

Since the fall of Saddam in 2003, investment has started to flow and the region has had greater access to central government revenue from Baghdad.

And while much of the country is engulfed in violence, life in the Kurdish-administered regions of northern Iraq goes on in relative peace.

However, the Kurds are yet to benefit from the oil reserves beneath their territory - an issue high on the agenda for the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

The KRG has tasked foreign experts such as Jerry Kiser, from Kansas in the US, with getting the oil out.

"We've identified lots of opportunities but there's no pipelines or access to market," he says.

"In a country that has vast amounts of reserves proven but none producing, the single highest line-item burden on the government is the importing of fuels.

Mr Kiser argues that progress has been slow because international oil companies are still reluctant to come and work in northern Iraq.

"Lots of people come to meet the minister but nobody is really doing anything," Mr Kiser says.

Currently, only two small foreign operators are working in Kurdistan.

Kirkuk question

Only an hour away from Irbil is the city of Kirkuk, a major oil centre with a majority Kurdish population which is nonetheless outside Iraqi Kurdistan and is therefore under the control of the central government in Baghdad.

Kirkuk's citizens are expected to hold a referendum in 2007 to decide whether to stay with Baghdad or to join the Kurdish-controlled areas.

Should the referendum be in favour of the KRG, then the Kurds should have direct access to one of the biggest oil fields in the country.

The prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, says that the Kirkuk issue is not just about securing more oil.

"Kirkuk is Kurdish," he says. "No-one can dispute that, but we understand that oil does not belong to just the Kurds. It belongs to everybody in Iraq."

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, he argues, the proceeds of Kurdish oil bought weapons which were used against Kurds.

"For the first time in history the people of Kurdistan, they feel they are part of Iraq. If we are part of Iraq, then they have to give us a fair share of Iraq's oil," Mr Barzani says.

In fact, though, Kirkuk's position could be more difficult to settle.

The city has a large mix of ethnicities, including Arabs, Turkomen, and Assyrians living alongside the Kurds.

It is also extremely violent, with US forces engaged in daily gunfights with local militias.

Its oil installations are attacked regularly and it is costing millions of dollars to repair an oil pipeline that has been blown up.

But Mr Barzani is confident that if it came under Kurdish control, Kirkuk could be secured in a matter of months.

"After the referendum the situation will be totally different. We need some time, maybe one year. We are sure about that, we can bring back security to the area."

Great Game

The Kurds may have their eyes firmly on the oil in neighbouring regions, but there is also an increasing foreign interest in the future of Kurdistan's oil.

Almost every night, a fresh foreign trade mission can be found entertaining local officials in the bar of the city's top hotel.

As well as Americans, there are groups from Europe and the Far East.

But it is Iran and Turkey that seem keenest to gain a foothold.

For Jerry Kiser, it is Iran in particular which has increased its influence in the region in recent months.

The Iranians, he says, are already benefiting from 300,000 barrels a day flowing across the border from southern Iraq thanks to smuggling systems set up by Saddam and still operating.

But on a more long-term basis, he says the country is actively looking for projects and companies to recruit and fund.

"They advise me that they have $1bn to invest in the Iraqi oil sector," he says.

"They have their eyes on lots of cross-border fields. It's a reality that's hard for Americans to swallow. Americans may have been playing chequers, but Iranians are playing chess."

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2881

Germany's Siemens eyed in Iraq probe
Investigation of UN oil-for-food program abuse leads to German industrial conglomerate
05/01/2007
Source: CNN Money

German industrial conglomerate Siemens is being investigated for possible abuses of the scandal-plagued United Nations oil-for-food program for Iraq, a German prosecutor said on Wednesday.

"There is a suspicion of a breach of foreign trade law," Wolfgang Traeg, senior public prosecutor for the German city of Nuremberg, told Reuters.

The investigation is part of a worldwide probe into more than 2,300 companies and some governments accused of having abused the $64-billion humanitarian program, which ran from 1996 until 2003.

It coincides with a separate investigation by Munich prosecutors into a suspected bribery and embezzlement ring at Siemens' telecom equipment division involving hundreds of millions of euros.

The oil-for-food program was designed to soften the blow to civilians of international sanctions against Iraq by allowing Iraq to sell oil to finance purchases of humanitarian goods.

Prosecutor Traeg said three divisions of Siemens -- turbines unit Power Generation, power distribution unit PTD and healthcare unit Med -- were under investigation.

The as yet unnamed individuals are suspected of having bribed Iraqi officials with hundreds of thousands of euros to win contracts under the oil-for-food program.

In total, an independent U.S. enquiry has found that companies diverted $1.8 billion to officials of ex-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's government. Saddam was hanged last week.

Siemens (Charts) said it had no evidence that any of its employees had acted improperly. "According to our current information, none of our staff infringed the law," a spokesman said.

German industrial gases group Linde has confirmed that it, too, is being investigated, and has said it is cooperating fully with the authorities

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2882