Thread: Iraq/Dinar News up until March 28th 8PM CT.

Originally Posted by mewannapeg

4 million Euros = 5,329,040 USD

Iraq regains part of the money be items smuggled Saddam
(Voice of Iraq) - 19-03-2007
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Iraq regains part of the money that Saddam items smuggled outside the country

اقتصاد/عراق/اموال/صدا��
Iraq regains part of the money that Saddam items smuggled outside the country

Baghdad-3-19 (KUNA) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Finance today that it regained part of the Iraqi funds that Saddam Hussein items smuggled out of Iraq during his tenure.

The transfer of a government statement on the Finance Minister Baqer Jabr Al-Zubaydi said, "The Swiss authorities recently agreed to transfer ownership of the shares of the Swiss company that owns one of deficiencies in Cannes, South of France on behalf of the Iraqi government."

He added that "these shares were managed by the named successor Dulaimi commissioned by the former regime as the one above has frozen funds in Switzerland, according to the resolutions of the Security Council and the ministry is following and is engaged in discussions to re - those of the funds."

The statement did not reveal the volume of the shares of the Swiss company transferred to the Iraqi government only reference to the Iraqi minister stressed that the follow-up to each Iraqi funds, both those that escaped abroad or frozen Security Council resolutions.

Zubaidi explained that the government was making efforts to release the amount of four million euros frozen to the French authorities for transfer to the Development Fund for Iraq.

Translated version of http://www.sotaliraq.com/

You can send the funds my way (once the reval happens at 1:1 or better). My acount is under the name of ___________ and # is _____________. I'd like to thank you in advance for your prompt response. (Yeah, right.)

Venezuela plays numbers game with its currency
Chávez bid to curb Venezuelan inflation baffles economists

CARACAS, VENEZUELA — Of all the startling measures announced by President Hugo Chavez this year, from the nationalization of major utilities to threats of imprisonment for violators of price controls, none has baffled economists quite like his venture into monetary reform.
First, Chavez said the authorities would remove three zeroes from the denomination of the currency, the bolivar. Then he said the new bolivar, worth 1,000 old bolivars, would be renamed the bolivar fuerte, or strong bolivar.
Finally, at the behest of Chavez, the central bank said last week that it would reintroduce a 12 1/2 -cent coin, a symbol of Venezuela's prosperity in the 1960s and 1970s before freewheeling oil booms ended in abrupt devaluations, after three decades out of circulation.
Chavez champions these ideas, which will take effect in January, as ways to combat inflation, which in recent weeks crept up to 20 percent, the highest in Latin America.

Gastón Parra, the president of the central bank, went on television last week to emphasize that the effect of these measures on the value of Venezuela's currency would be neutral, neither increasing or decreasing salaries, debts, nor the price of consumer goods.
Private economists, however, say that the changes, combined with inflation, could heighten confusion over prices. Those economists say that the inflation is a result of a surge in public spending by Chávez and increasingly jittery efforts by the wealthy to circumvent tightening controls on prices and foreign exchange.

We're witnessing policy in the form of window dressing, all carried out at the whim of one man whose strong point is not economics," said Hugo Faría, an economist at the Institute of Higher Management Studies, a private business school here. "Anyone who sees a twelve and a half-cent coin as a remedy for this country's problems isn't thinking too clearly."
Inflation has been climbing rapidly since January when a sharp decline in the black-market value of the bolívar pushed up prices of imported goods.
Since Chávez moved to nationalize major telephone and electricity companies in January, Venezuelans have rushed to take money out of the country, currency traders say. That exodus has caused the bolívar to weaken by about 20 percent to a level of 4,000 to the dollar on the black market, placing it among the world's worst performing currencies this year.
The decisions to rename the currency and reintroduce the unusual coin, known here as the locha, a term thought to derive from an anachronistic practice of dividing monetary units into eighths, have dumbfounded many Venezuelans. More than a third of the country's population of 26 million is under age 18, with no memory of the coin, which stopped circulating in the 1970s.
"I think that it's cheap psychology," said Jhonny Márquez, a manager at a transportation company. "I don't believe the inflation will go down."
Still, Chávez, 52, waxes nostalgic about the coin. Citing "the respect Venezuela's economy has around the world" in a transmission of his television talk show this month in which he announced the coin's return, Chávez said, "We're going to end monetary instability in Venezuela."
Other countries have renamed their currencies in an effort to increase confidence in their economies, but economists say such moves need to be accompanied by strong fundamentals and transparent rules for investment.
Venezuela plays numbers game with its currency - International Herald Tribune

Venezuelan currency gets new name, number | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Originally Posted by Hardwood

Perhaps the CBI is gonna pull a "fast one" this week.... Tell everyone no changes until next Monday, then WHAMMY they reval like tomorrow or Wednesday.....Like China did??

OK, so I'm an eternal optimist...LOL!

Now that sounds like a good thougth. At least I have only 1-more day to wait. I AM OPTIMIST TOO. and PATIENTLY

Originally Posted by Adster

"The Iraqi Central Bank announced the adoption of buying and selling rates for the dollar on Monday, March 19, 2007 until the end of office hours on Sunday, which falls on March 25, 2007. "



A week with no move. Sounds to me like a last chance for banks and their people to offload their dollars.........Next week could be very interesting as Mike would say.

Are they saying there will be no more auctions this week, or that the buy/sell rates will remain the same while they continue with them?

Originally Posted by Zimi31

Are they saying there will be no more auctions this week, or that the buy/sell rates will remain the same while they continue with them?

they did the same the last time to update software as well as some of their holidays, so it means there will be no auction for that time period. hopefuly they open it back up with a Reval.

Originally Posted by Zimi31

Are they saying there will be no more auctions this week, or that the buy/sell rates will remain the same while they continue with them?

I'm sure there will be auctions this week - and at the current rate i'm afraid.

Now, if we're wrong and there are no new auctions this week... well, i'm looking forward to something happening on the 26th then...

Lets hope so!!The 26th would be nice!!

Sarah!!GO DINAR GO !!!

More Than 40 Countries To Join Iraq International Fair

Turkish Press - [17/03/2007]

Around 1500 companies from more than 30 countries will attend the 2nd Iraq International Fair, planned to take place in southeastern city of Gaziantep between May 23rd-27th, 2007 in association with the Iraq Trade Ministry and fair organization company Forum.
Turkish Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, Turkish Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), Gaziantep Chamber of Industry, and local organizations support the fair, which is the only fair of its kind held by Iraq government in a foreign country.

More than 3,000 Iraqi businessmen are expected to travel to Turkey to visit the fair.

Business Forum "Business Partner Iraq" on areas of energy, health, agriculture, industry, infrastructure as well as bilateral business talks and work shops will be held throughout the fair.

The fair aims at boosting commercial ties with Iraq, assuming the most important role in restoration of Iraq and increasing Iraq's purchases from Turkey.

Companies from Switzerland, Japan, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Korea, Bahrain, China, Syria, France, Brazil, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Italy, Jordan, Hungary, USA, Thailand as well as Turkey are expected to join the fair.

Originally Posted by cigarman

Susie, is this quote from you or someone else? Thanks.

Someone else ........

Iraqi delegation prepares for opening of formal World Trade Organization accession talks
19 March 2007 (USAID)
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Seventeen members of Iraq's National Committee and World Trade Organization (WTO) Unit, which coordinate the country's WTO accession effort at the inter-ministerial level, prepared for the opening of the WTO accession negotiations and the convening of the first WTO Working Party (WP) meeting in Geneva in a four-day workshop organized by the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Izdihar program.

Two WTO experts were brought in to assist in the training activity, which culminated in a full-scale simulation of the WP meeting. Workshop participants included the core negotiating team which will travel to Geneva to conduct the meeting.

The workshop began with a detailed walk-through of the WP process, covering such issues as the protocol to be followed, opening statements, advice on the composition of Iraq's delegation, appointing Iraq's spokesman for the WP meeting, procedures, timelines and tactics. The discussion moved on to the substance and issues likely to be raised in the first meeting.

These preparations led to the central event of the workshop – a full-scale, mock WP meeting, designed to approximate as closely as possible the procedures, content and duration of a real meeting. The simulation included a chairman conducting the WP proceedings, and each Izdihar adviser taking on the role of key WTO members, including the United States and the European Union.

Questions and comments for the Iraqi delegation had been prepared in advance covering all aspects of Iraq's trade and legal regime, such as intellectual property, customs, agriculture, technical barriers to trade, privatization and constitutional make-up. The delegation was subjected to six hours of intensive questioning. The workshop ended with an interactive evaluation of the mock WP session. Strengths, weaknesses and tactics were discussed, drawing upon the experiences from the session.

While certain weaknesses were identified, there was broad agreement that the Iraqi delegation will be able to successfully conduct the first WP meeting. Dr. Tamam Al-Ghul, former Jordanian Minister for social development, who previously led Jordan's WTO accession efforts for five years, stated that she was truly impressed at the performance of the Iraqi delegation. Paolo Vergano, a Senior WTO Lawyer from Brussels who has assisted in numerous WTO accessions, noted that in his view the Iraqi team performed better than other WTO accession delegations at a comparable stage.
Please note that the views expressed in this article may not reflect the views of PortAl Iraq and its staff.
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Iraqi delegation prepares for opening of formal World Trade Organization accession talks | Iraq Updates