Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. Before Feb. 21, 2007

Voices of Iraq : Trade-cards
كتب: dhrgham في يوم الخميس, 22 فبراير, 2007 - 04: 51 PM BTBooks : dhrgham on Thursday, February 22, 2007-04 : 51 PM BT

التجارة : بطاقات تموينية جديدة توزع على المواطنينTrade : new ration cards distributed to citizens
من ضرغام محمد عليDargham of Muhammad Ali
بغداد-( أصوات العراق)Baghdad - (Voices of Iraq)
ذكرت وزارة التجارة اليوم الخميس إنها بدأت بتوزي ع البطاقة التموينية الموحدة على خمسة ملايين عائ لة موزعة على مناطق العراق المختلفة.The Ministry of Trade today, Thursday, it began Ptozi p ration card Uniform five million coffer it distributed to different regions of Iraq.
وأوضح بيان للوزارة ، تلقت وكالة أنباء ( أصوات العراق) المستقلة نسخة م نه ، أن الدكتور عبد الفلاح حسن السوداني وزير التجارة أكد أن " البطاقة التموينية وصلت الى البلاد بعد صع وبات كبيرة واجهت دخولها نتيجة إشكاليات أمنية عل ى الطرق المؤدية الى البلاد عبر سوريا بعد طباعتها في لبنان وبمواصفات عالمية لا يمكن تزويرها أو تغي ير المعلومات التي تسرد فيها."The statement of the ministry, received news agency (Voices of Iraq) independent copy m costing. Dr. Hassan Abdel farmer Sudanese Minister of Trade The "ration card arrived in the country after the% pw It is large and experienced entering a result of security problems Might j roads leading to the country through Syria after printing in Lebanon, in accordance with international can forge or Nge see information listed there. "
وأشار البيان إلى أن فلاح أوضح ، خلال لقاءاته مع مسؤولى الوزارة ، أنه تم إعداد آليات التوزيع مع وصولها الى جميع الم حافظات التي أعدت هي الاخرى آليات التوزيع التي تت م بشكل شفاف لا يرهق المواطن.The statement pointed out that the farmer explained, during his meetings with ministry officials, he was preparing distribution mechanisms with access to all the pain portfolios are prepared other distribution mechanisms which pw m is not transparent and does not exhausts citizen.
وقال إن مواصفات البطاقة الحالية لا تختلف عن مواص فات البطاقة السابقة وتحمل فسفورة سرية مع كوبونا ت المواد الغذائية ويكون لونها مختلف لكل محافظة ع ن الأخرى.He said that the current specifications of the card is no different than the Moas Fat previous card carries Vsvorh secret with coupons T. foodstuffs, and have a different color each province p n the other.
ولم يشر البيان إلى موعد دخول البطاقات إلى البلاد ولا بدء توزيعها على العائلات.The statement did not mention the date of entry cards to the country The start distribution to the families.
ض م ع - ح نZ RB-h n
http://translate.google.com/translat...language_tools

The Washington Times , 22 Feb 2007
Foreign firms eye new work in Iraq

By Steve Hirsch

The Bush administration is promoting business opportunities in Iraq as fighting rages on, with a senior Commerce Department official leading a mission there this week.

Sectors that focus on rebuilding, such as telecommunications and construction, offer significant opportunities for foreign companies.

Commerce Undersecretary for International Trade Franklin L. Lavin, whose mission began Monday and ends today, met with the Iraqi trade, housing and construction minister and the industry and minerals minister.

Despite current unrest, it is not too early to look into business possibilities, Mr. Lavin said by phone yesterday from Irbil, the largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan.

"Economic progress can be part of the solution, and we really owe it to ourselves not to wait until there's an improvement in security," he said.

"Part of what we are doing here, we think, fits in with the broader political goal of the United States of stabilizing the situation in Iraq," he said.

During the visit, the two sides started the U.S.-Iraq Business Dialogue, a mechanism bringing Iraqi and U.S. businesses together to discuss nuts-and-bolts business issues such as registering businesses, labor law flexibility and tariff issues.

The trip also saw the start of an effort to encourage companies to look at the Kurdistan region as a platform for economic activity and gateway to the rest of Iraq.

Mr. Lavin said it makes sense for some types of companies to look at Iraq, citing a boom in such sectors as information technology, as well as substantial regional activity, including a $300 million airport and a $400 million power plant.

He put the amount of investment in the Kurdistan region since the 2004 fall of Saddam Hussein "in the billions."

In addition, he said, "there's a lot exporting going on," noting that U.S. exports to Iraq reached $1.5 billion last year.

Exports for 2005 were about $1.4 billion, with more than half of that total coming from the cereals, electric machinery and nuclear reactors, boilers and machinery categories.

Simon Beard, head of business development for the Middle East at Nortel Networks, one of the companies on the trip, said he was upbeat about the possibilities in Iraq.

Nortel has been pursuing opportunities there and has closed contracts, including a $20 million deal to build an optical transmission network there.

"In the long term, we think this is a great market," he said, adding that regardless of its political future, Iraq will have oil revenue. And its infrastructure must be built from scratch.
KRG, Kurdistan Regional Government

Iraqis Are Running Out of Food

By Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily, IPS News. Posted February 22, 2007.



Even the food system in Iraq is plagued by insecurities. Once a large agricultural exporter, Iraq's food supply has fallen apart under the U.S.-led occupation. Tools

The lack of security in Iraq is leading now to a collapse in food supplies.

"Look at us begging for food despite the fortunes we have," 60-year-old Um Muthanna from Baghdad said. Standing at a vegetable market in central Baghdad where vegetable supplies are not what they used to be, Um Mahmood despaired for Iraq.

"A country with two great rivers should have been the biggest exporter in the world, but now we beg for food from those who participated in killing us." Iraq is rich in oil and agricultural resources.

Local and international aid flooded into Iraq in 2004, the year following the invasion, but much of the supply was blocked off after the kidnapping of many aid activists in the country.

The food the Iraqis did get was often not what they needed, or wanted.

"Iraqis do not feel at ease receiving food aid when they exported food in the past," economist Dr. Jassim al-Rikabi said.

"Iraq has been a field of aid NGOs since the U.S. occupation began, and many of those NGOs brought foodstuff that is not what Iraqis were used to, but they had to take it due to the need they were facing."

Barley, wheat, pulses and the famous Iraqi dates are staple diet, and are also exported. Common meals in Iraq include rice, lamb, chicken and locally grown vegetables like cucumbers, onions and tomatoes.

Under the occupation, Iraqis are getting much of their food from companies in Australia and other countries who assisted the United States during the invasion and occupation. This food has often been of low quality.

During July 2006 the Iraqi Ministry of Trade rejected or destroyed thousands of tonnes of contaminated food or food past its expiry date. The food had caused widespread poisoning.

Dr. Rikabi holds both the U.S.-backed Iraqi government and U.S. occupation authorities responsible for the failing food supply. "By the end of 2005 most international NGOs had withdrawn from Iraq on the orders of their governments, who saw the writing on the wall of increasing sectarian violence."

The security situation and lack of petrol mean that local farmers are often unable to get their food to the markets.

Changes in Iraqi import laws introduced by former administrator L. Paul Bremer, dropped tariffs on import of foreign products, making it impossible for Iraqi farmers to compete. Countless Iraqi farms went bankrupt.

But now prices of imported goods have increased dramatically. And so most of the food in Iraqi markets today is imported, and more expensive due to skyrocketing fuel costs and lack of government regulation. Imported foods like chicken, fruits and vegetables now cost more than locally grown foods.

"Local agricultural production is almost nil," Majid al-Dulaymi from the Ministry of Agriculture said. "The limited loans given by the ministry to farmers and planters are misused simply because it is not possible to maintain the agriculture production for reasons well known to everybody here. Now the private sector is importing everything, and the prices are too high to afford."

An official from the Ministry of Trade said his ministry is struggling to provide Iraqis with food rations as before, but the circumstances make it difficult.

"There is the security ordeal that we suffer as well as the problems we had with many companies that supplied us bad quality food," he said.

Australia provided Iraq with wheat last year that when distributed was found to contain steel fragments. An investigation conducted by Iraqi officials has still not held any company accountable.

The majority of Iraqis still remain dependent on the monthly food ration, a programme set up during the economic sanctions period in the 1990s after the first Gulf war. But a growing number of Iraqis no longer receive their monthly ration due to corruption or sectarian favouritism in the distribution channel.

Statistics compiled by the Washington-based Brookings Institute during 2005 showed that nearly 60 percent of the Iraqi population regularly consumes the monthly food rations. And 25 percent, 6.5 million people, are "highly dependent" on rations to meet their nutritional needs.

According to Abdul-Lattif from Iraq's Ministry of Trade, only sugar, rice, flour and cooking oil remain from the original 12 foodstuffs provided by the former government. Other items such as lentils were removed from the list in May 2006 as a result of budget cuts.

"What food ration are you talking about," 35-year-old Um Jamila, a mother of five complained. "The whole country has been stolen from us. If this goes on another six months, we will be just like any starving country."

A report released Jan. 30 by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) showed that 1.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq lack basic necessities such as adequate food, drinking water, sanitation, and health and education facilities.

Entitled 'Iraq Displacement 2006 Year in Review', the report puts food at the top of the list of the most urgent needs for IDPs in Iraq.

"I was so happy when my salary was increased to around 300 dollars, but I now wish for the times when it was 30 dollars as it used to be before this occupation," engineer Kamil Fattah from the Ministry of Industry said. "Inflation in the Iraqi market has made it impossible for us to eat decently while earlier we used to get every basic need for almost free of charge."

The World Food Programme is sending aid to Iraq but its officials say this is running into difficulties.

"The food is either stolen on the way or cannot be inspected on arrival by third party inspectors," a retired staff member of the Food and Agriculture Organisation which runs the World Food Programme said. "Each shipment needs to be checked by a third party inspector, but the company is facing difficulties in conducting such inspections due to the security situation."
AlterNet: War on Iraq: Iraqis Are Running Out of Food

Science ministry starts digitizing project

Science ministry starts digitizing project
Al-Sabah - [22/02/2007]
Ministry of science and technology has started digitizing project for the ministry as part of investment projects for this year.
Deputy Director of information technology department of the ministry said that the project lasting for two years would transform ministry of science to an electronic institution through connecting all its directorates to exchange data, archives and video conferences.He added that this project's target is to raise employment works to a higher rank and use technology to improve Iraqi institutions' productivity.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3222

Principles and rules to transform companies into governmental

Principles and rules to transform companies into governmental in Iraq
Translated by IRAQdirectory.com - [22/02/2007]
The Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Industry, Professor Yaqub Shonia, said that adopting the economic reform as a new method to reform the economic and service institutions requires a special national development strategy based on Iraq’s needs at the current stage.

This came during his heading the first meeting of the Ministerial Committee assigned to put the principles and rules of transforming companies in Iraq into governmental and formed under the Ministerial Order issued by the Ministry of Industry and Minerals in November of the year 2006. Shonia said that the strategy of transforming companies into governmental requires a comprehensive program that includes experts and specialists from different economic departments and sectors. He added: to enter this approach, we need to make use of former international experiences in this field, and then tallying them on the economic and social facts in our country to come up with proper rules enable us to avoid any negative impact on the Iraqi experiment in this area. He urged the members of the Committee to do their best in searching for the right means that contribute in creating highly efficient managements. After that, he deployed the members of the Committee into four groups; each specialized at one of the four pivots of the work: the first pivot included putting principles and rules of transforming companies in Iraq into governmental ones, using as guidance the principles of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and of other countries.

The second pivot included reviewing the economic activity and prepare proposals for amendment, if necessary, to deepen the principles of the transformation; while the third pivot included opening communication channels with regional and international organizations and other countries to benefit from the expertise and request their technical assistance, as well as following up conferences and symposia concerning this topic.

Finally, the fourth pivot included making the public aware of the concept of transforming into governmental and preparing training programs for administrative leaderships in all sectors. During the meeting, it was decided to hold monthly meetings for the entire members of the Committee to follow up on what was done by each group, as well as composing a data center containing the available published studies and researches on the subject; also, members of the Committee should contribute in providing the center with whatever available documents they have.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3223

Implementing service projects alongside the security plan

Implementing service projects alongside the security plan
Translated by IRAQdirectory.com - [22/02/2007]
The Director of the National Coordination Team in the American embassy said that his government has allocated amounts of money to implement service projects in Baghdad as part of the first phase of the security plan implemented by the Iraqi government.

Eric Olson said in a press conference inside the Green Zone in Baghdad: "There are ten transitional teams from the American national Team in Baghdad and eight others in the provinces participating within the reconstruction transitional teams in building Iraqi institutions, the rule of law, police operations, establishing law institutions and infrastructure projects".

He added: "The team is building (150) service projects and supporting infrastructure projects by defining the needs of construction, project management and quality control".
He said: "We will support the available teams by bring (350) experts and specialists from civilians after the vacuum was filled by the American Ministry of Defense. The teams will arrive in stages in the months of March, August and at the end of this year".

Olsen said: “six other teams from the National Team in Baghdad will work with the military teams which are carrying out their military duties and a seventh team will be north of Babylon working with the military forces there. The team will be subject to the Executive Committee which has representatives, to implement service tasks, from six committees of the members of the Security Group including two military leaders, one from Iraq and the other from America, to implement service projects in electricity, water and sewage in addition to the Data Committee whose mission is to provide all information about the districts’ needs of services; there will also be a public support Committee in the provinces to improve the security situation".

Olsen confirmed: “we will announce, during the coming days, the American budget for 2007 and the amounts of money allocated to support projects in Iraq. There is also one billion dollars of Iraqi funds that has not been spent yet, so the Iraqi Ministry of Finance has decided to include it within the current year’s budget to be spent on services, in addition to other allocations set for services within budget".

He explained: "We asked for $ 200 million to be allocated for the financial support of Iraqi provinces, in addition to $100 million for projects in Baghdad, and $40 million for Basrah, as well as $400 million for the leaders of provinces to implement other projects".

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3224

Voices of Iraq : Kurdistan - Conference
كتب: nakr2004 في يوم الخميس, 22 فبراير, 2007 - 06:08 PM BTBooks : nakr2004 on Thursday, February 22, 2007-6:08 PM BT

مؤتمر لمنظمات المجتمع المدني في أربيلThe civil society organizations in Arbil
من عبدالحميد زيباريFrom Hamid Zebari
أربيل-( أصوات العراق)Arbil - (Voices of Iraq)
Began today, Thursday, the activities of the conference in Erbil Alagh Yemi of civil society organizations in the Kurdistan region Lid his proposals and recommendations submitted by organizations on the draft the Constitution of the Kurdistan region currently under discussion.
She secure Mahmoud director of the Institute for Kurdish because Tekhabat News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent "e a conference would discuss many of the views that we see Guy R. appropriate in the draft constitution, as well as items are needed the ellipses and we will submit to the Parliament of Kurdistan. "
Referring to the issue of state-religion relationship, she said, "must the separation of religion from the state as well as the equality of women with men in all areas. "
She added that there items in this draft may lead to obstruct the work of non-governmental organizations in the territory Krdsta n the future. She said, "There is an indication that the State will be activated and activating the role of civil society organizations and possibly in this pain accept used in the non-interference in the affairs of that item inaccurate does not explain how the state will network. "
It added that the reference to "that the government will allocate cash Xue Rayya organizations would mean interference in the affairs because we want a n there is a quota of the Territory's budget progress of the organizations the form of support for the activities, and not by petty e monthly. "
"Mahmoud also explained that the civil society organizations in Agle m Kurdistan need to be "supervised by an independent body and the price h leave organizations and not the government and that did not mention the P j draft constitution. "
For his part, Shirwan Haydari Chairman of the Law faith and Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the preparation of the draft Constitution of the territory Cards Tan that the Commission opened the way for all to express their views Articles and comments on the draft constitution and we will take hoses Yen account all the views and suggestions Stek the blood of the Commission.
It should be noted that the pre-draft Kurdistan put forward for discussion in the month September of last year to discuss land the Man in the month of April next April for approval as their Constitution l Kurdistan Province.

Translated version of http://www.aswataliraq.info/?newlang=ara

BBB Warns that Iraqi Dinar Investment is Creating Concerns and Complaints

For Immediate Release

Arlington, VA, February 21, 2007 – The Council of Better Business Bureaus is warning consumers across the United States and Canada to be wary when considering foreign currency investment, particularly alleged investment deals for the Iraqi Dinar.

The Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois has seen a recent spike in consumer complaints focused on Dinar investment. The BBB continues to field an increasing number of complaints from around the world, with many coming from military personnel claiming fraud over Dinar investment deals.

According to BBB Chicago and Northern Illinois President & CEO Steve J. Bernas, “our office has received 77 complaints concerning United World Exchange from consumers in 33 states and eight countries including Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Canada and Iraq.

United World Exchange, purportedly of Oak Brook, IL, doing business as “US Dinar,” has been selling Iraqi Dinars through their website – www.usdinar.com – on the premise that buying the Dinars could be a great investment if the value of the Iraqi money were to increase.

Potential investors claim to have bought Iraqi Dinars for anywhere between several hundred to several thousand dollars, with the hope that this may possibly be a lucrative investment for them if the value of the Dinars goes up.

Consumers report that United World Exchange/US Dinar is allegedly selling Iraqi currency online and is not providing consumers with what they have purchased, nor are they giving the potential investors their money back.

Bernas went on to say many civilian contractors and soldiers serving in Iraq have also filed complaints with the BBB from abroad and most have reported the same type of experience. He also noted that United World Exchange/US Dinar has stopped responding to the BBB.

A BBB representative visited the supposed Chicagoland location of United World Exchange/US Dinar. However it turns out the address is for a company renting office space. No representative for the United World Exchange/US Dinar was available on site.

“Anyone who trades in foreign currency should be an expert in that vehicle and you are better off participating in the growth of the American economy by investing in a good growth mutual fund,” commented William E. Braun, Jr., CFP(r), Financial Educator/Counselor, Fleet and Family Support Center at Naval Station Great Lakes.

Bernas added, “The alleged investment opportunity is especially concerning because it involves taking advantage of all investors including our men and women who are serving in our military both overseas and in this country.”

Consumers who have purchased Dinars and have not received them are urged to report the issue to the Chicago and Northern Illinois BBB office via their Web site, The Better Business Bureau® or by calling 312.832.0500.

BBB Alerts & News

Originally Posted by archangel

BBB Warns that Iraqi Dinar Investment is Creating Concerns and Complaints

For Immediate Release


“Anyone who trades in foreign currency should be an expert in that vehicle and you are better off participating in the growth of the American economy by investing in a good growth mutual fund,” commented William E. Braun, Jr., CFP(r), Financial Educator/Counselor, Fleet and Family Support Center at Naval Station Great Lakes.

Bernas added, “The alleged investment opportunity is especially concerning because it involves taking advantage of all investors including our men and women who are serving in our military both overseas and in this country.”



BBB Alerts & News

Not sure if a mutual fund will pay you back as much as the dinar will?

Originally Posted by Raditz

Not sure if a mutual fund will pay you back as much as the dinar will?

Yeah! I bet "Jr" is sitting on a pile of dinar!