Thread: Iraq/Dinar Until June 9th 1PM CST

The Cabinet decided to increase the prices of agricultural crops marketed to the State

Luna / 6-4 / BAGHDAD / Cabinet decided to increase the prices of agricultural crops marketed by the state grain of wheat, barley, rice, an increase of 20% compared with last year. This came during a meeting habitual third session of the Council of Ministers / / completed / p u / u p / prime minister.

Translated version of http://www.wna-news.com/inanews/news.php?item.4330.5

Baghdad, June 4, (VOI)- An Iraqi Parliamentarian from the Kurdistan Coalition said on Monday that a number of parliamentarian blocs' objection to the candidates for the vacant portfolios led to a delay in the lawmakers' voting.
"The Sadrist bloc, lawmakers loyal to the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, argued that the candidates are not independent or technocratic enough," Mahmoud Othman told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Six ministers, from the Sadrist bloc, withdrew from the government in mid April and the Shiite cleric Sadr authorized the Iraqi Prime Minister to select alternatives from the qualified independent characters.
The Sadrist bloc, a main component of the Shiite parliamentary bloc, has 30 seats out of the 275-seat parliament.
"A number of the parliament's members left the session when it was presented for discussion, which led to lack of quorum," Othman also said.
"The last session was attended by 171 members, but they were busy discussing issues on protecting the parliament's building and when the time came to vote for the reshuffle, only 110 members were present and it was not sufficient according to the constitution to vote for a reshuffle which necessitate the presence of no less than 138 members," he explained.
"The vacant ministries are important as most offer services and there should be an understanding between the blocs to settle the whole issue," the lawmaker noted.
He voiced hope over settling the issue in Tuesday's session.

Lack of quorum? There's something new. Not.
Maybe tomorrow.


Aswat Aliraq

Thanks Lunar,

Looks like we might start seeing other countries peg to the SDR, this including Iraq with the notice of SDR in their charts yesterday.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Lunar

Syria to switch peg from dollar to SDR
04/06/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

Agencies

Abu Dhabi: Syria will link the pound to International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights (SDR) in July, abandoning the peg to the US dollar, the central bank governor said on Monday.

"We will do it now in July," Governor of the Central of Syria Adeeb Mayaleh told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Mayaleh said in October that the change would take place in the first half of 2007, but "we needed some time so we slightly delayed it".

Effective January 1, 2006, the IMF set weightings for the SDR at 44 per cent US dollars, 34 per cent euros, and 11 per cent each of yen and the British pound.

Asked about the weighting of the dollar in the Syrian currency reserves, he said: "There will be no change for the moment and we will keep it at 50-50, but we might change it later on depending on any new development," he said.

Gulfnews: Syria to switch peg from dollar to SDR

Czech firms to cash in on growing export to Iraq
Author: Petra Breyerová <breyerova(at)cbw.cz>, Section: Q & A, Published: 04. 06. 2007

The Czech Embassy in Iraq is laying the groundwork for Czech companies that want to penetrate the worn-torn country. The positive reputation that Czechs gained in Iraq in the past can now help local companies to take advantage of the market’s growing potential, said Jaroslav Reif, the head of the commercial department and first secretary at the Czech Embassy in Iraq.


Starting in this post on June 1, Reif, 45, said that despite ongoing safety issues, Iraq is a country where Czech firms could generate healthy profit provided they respond quickly with the right projects.

Reif, the former head of the foreign department at water-management company Geotest Brno, which also operates in Iraq, took part in the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) where he was responsible for water management in four provinces in southern Iraq. CPA was the transitional government following the invasion of Iraq led by the U.S. and was dissolved in June 2004.


Q: What are your immediate plans in Iraq?

A: I’ve prepared an outline for my activities in Iraq. The aim, in general, is to create good conditions for Czech companies’ successful business operations in Iraq. This activity will focus on an intensive cooperation with the Ministry of Oil in the areas of geological surveys for oilfields and natural gas, and in oil mining. Regarding cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, the focus is on the construction of ironworks, ceramic factories and cement works. Also [there are opportunities] for supplying technology for the production of building materials, as Iraq is damaged and will undergo reconstruction. So there will be an enormous need for building materials such as cement, lime and gypsum.


Q: Why do you think Czech firms can succeed in Iraq?

A: I think Czech firms have great chances because Iraqis are interested in Czech experts. As there is an unstable safety situation in Iraq, there aren’t many competitors from other countries; and historically when we look back 50 years, there are many examples of close cooperation [of former Czechoslovakia] with Iraq.

In general, Iraq is one of the countries where the Czech Republic can sell expertise. Nobody in European countries such as France or Germany is as interested in using Czech experts because Western European politics are too protectionist. Things—such as turnkey projects like cement works or geological surveys for oil—that we wouldn’t even dream of trying to sell in Europe can be now sold in Iraq.


Q: Why are Iraqis so particularly interested in Czech experts?

A: [Czechoslovaks] have built up to 10 refineries in Iraq. This represents about 80 percent of all refineries there. All the refineries were built under communism between 1960 and 1980 through then state-owned foreign trade corporations such as Techno-export. For example, geological surveys and searching for oilfields were done through Strojexport but refineries were designed by Chemoprojekt and the firm Chepos [in Brno] participated in their construction. The foreign trade corporations also built ironworks in Basra [south Iraq] and plants for producing tractors and motorcycles of [Czechoslovak] brand Jawa. Regarding foreign trade, [Czechoslovakia was] an important partner for Iraq. For Iraq we were an engineering and technological world power as we built a majority of their industrial enterprises. This is a position we can’t even dream about now. (Editor’s note: Some of the then state-owned corporations such as Technoexport and Chemoprojekt have been transferred to private companies after the fall of communism in 1989 and bear the same name.)


Q: Why were Czechoslovak communist leaders so interested in trading with Iraq?

A: Iraq was a preferred country as it paid in cash in dollars that came from the sale of oil. Czechoslovakia had the same good relations with Iran, too. The contacts in Iraq, Libya and Iran have prevailed from the time of the First Republic [1918-1938]. The relationship with Iraq goes even back to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire [before 1918], when Bohemia was well-known in areas of building engineering plants, cement works and sugar refineries. Bohemia distinguished itself as a long-term contributor to technological values in Iraq, and Iraqis have long remembered this.


Q: Was it mainly the fall of communism that interrupted the thriving cooperation?

A: Political events and relations have always ended the economic cooperation with Iraq. After 1989 we started looking at Saddam Hussein’s [1979 to 2003] regime as a totalitarian dictatorship that needed to be abolished. By then the economic relations had begun to flag. Also [there was] the United Nations’ embargo on trade with Iraq. (Editor’s note: On May 22, 2003, the United Nations Security Council lifted the 12-year embargo on Iraq).


Q: Were there any Czech companies at all operating in Iraq between 1989 and 2003?

A: [Czech companies’] activities in Iraq were very limited during that time as Iraq had issued a boycott on trading with the Czech Republic. So, [Iraqi] contracts with the Czech Republic during that time had to be been done through Slovak companies, which unlike Czech ones, were able to trade with Iraq. The reason behind this embargo was that the Czech state expressed a negative political opinion on Saddam’s regime and supported anti-Saddam activities [led by the U.S.].


Q: How much money did Czechoslovakia get from Iraq?

A: It’s difficult to figure this out. Each contract had a value of several million dollars. Every year there were perhaps 10 such contracts.


Q: Why was this year and last year so successful for Czech companies in closing big contracts in Iraq?

A: This is a result of an effort that has been made since 2004. There is a safety vacuum in Iraq that delays everything—the things you think they will take a year, end up taking three years. We [have also gained] a very strong position in Iraq as we provided a field hospital in Basra during to the conflict [led by U.S. and Britain between March 18 and May 1, 2003]. The Czech Republic has gained a great image there and will live on this image there for another 20 years. The chance for creating such an image can be done only during a conflict. It’s a sad fact, but if it wasn’t for the war, the Czech Republic would never have had such a great chance to enter the Iraqi market.


Q: How important is it for a Czech company to be present in Iraq?

A: Unless a firm is present in Iraq it’s as if it doesn’t exist. If the company isn’t in Iraq physically it will never get any big deals. It works like this in the whole Arab world. Without a physical presence in Iraq, a firm can only glean small contracts. There are only a few companies that have branches in Iraq. For example, Technoexport has a representation in Baghdad that is, of course, operated by Iraqis [because of the security reasons] or firm Unis, which is building a refinery in Basra, operates there or [water-management company] Geotest Brno has branches in Basra and Erbil [in the Kurdish part of north Iraq].


Q: Are you planning to increase activities of the Czech Embassy’s commercial representation in Erbil, which opened last year?

A: Certainly, and we also plan to open the same branch in Basra this year. The head of Erbil’s branch is a Kurdish engineer, in the case of Basra it will be an Arab engineer who will gather information and details and prepare negotiations for Czech companies so that the firms’ operations in these territories will be successful and safe. n

Gunmen kidnap Iraqi senior official in Baghdad

Gunmen kidnapped an Iraqi senior official and his son in northern Baghdad on Monday, an Interior Ministry source said.

"Unidentified gunmen riding three cars kidnapped Saad Majid Ali, director general in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and his son at around 3:00 p.m. (1100 GMT) in Waziyriah neighborhood," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Ali was driving his car with his son when the attack occurred, the source added.

Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb went off in Baghdad's southern neighborhood of Zaafaraniyah near a minibus carrying casual workers, killing one of them and wounding 12 others, the source said.

Violence griped the Iraq capital despite more than three months of a U.S.-led security crackdown, which has not achieved substantial progress in reducing violence in Iraq.

Source: Xinhua

Marketing More than 9000 Ton Wheat & Barley

04 June 2007 (Al-Sabaah)

Quantities of the marketing wheat and barley in Dhiqar province amount to more than 9 000 tons until the first days of the current month from the total planting areas which forming 600 000 acres, while the province preparing to plant more than 22 000 acres within rice in six sub districts of the province.

On the other hand, general director of the province department Abdul Hussein Salih Najm declared in a press statement that, the marketing from the farmers of the wheat quantities to the ministry stores amounted more than 9 000 ton distributed as 5902 ton as a first and second standard of the wheat which marketing from 15 sub district and sector, and marketing of 1537 ton of barley which marketing from the same areas.

Originally Posted by Inscrutable

Thanks Lunar,

Looks like we might start seeing other countries peg to the SDR, this including Iraq with the notice of SDR in their charts yesterday.

Thanks again.

You're welcome and I agree with you Inscrutable. I'll watch for articles regarding other countries doing the same.

The banking sector is one of the fundamental pillars for the economic advancement of any country, as banks and investment went hand in hand to make the process of growth and development on a solid and sustainable, especially that the banking sector is a major financing channel for Lanchth investment in Iraq and in other developing countries .. . Nabil Jaafar Abdel consent Economics professor in the Faculty of Administration and Economy / Basra University researcher meaning Haorenah banking affairs in this respect as we said : the government sector owns 90% of the banking activity, the total assets of the banking sector in Iraq is estimated at 2 billion dollars according to World Bank estimates,

..This represents only 8% of GDP in Iraq, reflecting the marginal role played by this sector in the performance of its traditional functions in mediation between savers and investors and the financing of capital accumulation, especially in the private sector .. اذ لم له..It did not sink Rafidain and Rasheed any active role in lending to the productive sector sector during the past three decades, and it supports the conclusion that the value of loans in the budget Rafidain Bank did not exceed 8% of the value of the assets, and Mainahez 60% of the lending went to institutions and public sector companies. He did not go only a small part of it is lending to the private sector, and we find that scrutiny when 66% of the assets of the Rafidain Bank, 50% of the bank's assets consist of remittances governance treasury, which was issued by the former Iraqi government to fund the public sector and providing Alaalanlt and support him ..
* هل الخاص؟Q : Does this mean that the bulk of the Iraqi banking activity have always been devoted to financing the public sector, not the private sector?
نعم ..Yes .. .Thus deprived the private sector of the financing necessary for the accumulation of capital which is the source of growth and development, which impacted negatively on fixed capital formation (which retreated in constant prices) from 1497 in 1990 to 160 million dinars in 1999.
* : What on government banks and specialized banks eligibility?
_ ._ In the case of banks, specialized government, which is supposed to provide Sanda role for the private sector but the fact is, when analyzing industrial bank assets example, we find that 70% of its assets consist of cash and miscellaneous government bonds, while only a small part goes to the very private loans, The Iraqi private banks that have arisen in the 1990s, has all arisen in the form of joint-stock companies whose capital consists through public subscription to the public, despite the limited capital base of these banks, but they have played a role in financing private sector activities in a relatively exceeded what was done by government banks combined, with private banks in Iraq loans in 2001 amounted to 110 billion dinars, the equivalent of $ 74 million.
* كيف : How do you assess the performance of the banking sector during the last four years?
- عانى..- Banking sector suffered after the fall of the former regime state of decline, the government had exploited the banking sector in financing projects unproductive state-owned, and the accumulation levels of external debt .. 400 4 .The lack of a sense of safety because of the war and accessories led to a significant growth in bank deposits and then swelled liquidity to the banking system of the new deposit accounts, She estimates that in 2003 was with the Rafidain Bank, the largest state banks liquidity estimated slightly less than 400 million dollars and net loan portfolio worth $ 44 million only. .. ..The banking sector in Iraq and is always based on the granting of loans guarantees kind, and this is what led to the exclusion of 95% of the population of borrowing from formal financial institutions, which form brake heavily to the development of the private sector .. ..The banking sector, whether public or private, to the traditional banking standards in its lending policy, with varying degrees of caution .. وعةIn general, the banking sector continues, rigid and largely in granting loans avoiding any degree of risk, making it difficult to access bank loans to small investors and businessmen, because of the unwillingness of banks risk of long-term loans and guarantees for the project cash flows are essential, with some limited safeguards estate, and for this reason the inability of small investors who are the overwhelming majority in the private sector to benefit from the banking sector because of their inability to provide real assurances
* ما تحديد؟Q : What is suffered by the sector specifically?
- يعاني ) ..- Suffer this sector debt problem nonperforming For many reasons (not to apply to banks founded when extending credit, as well as significant expansion in the granting of credit and provide liquidity to banks and high competition, and the wide powers granted to the managers of the branches) .. ..After the political and economic changes in Iraq, the monetary authority has taken serious measures designed to strengthen and support the banking sector in Iraq ..
* ؟* Did Mamkrtmoh represents all of the challenges facing the banking sector work?
- لا طبعا ..- No, of course .. اذ..Since the banking sector is facing many challenges, which comes in the forefront of instability, insecurity and economic .. .Failure to keep abreast of developments and technological as well as industrial breakthroughs, and the entry of institutions and non-banking financial companies in the area of banking services, so that the traditional banks compete in the provision of services, and the urgent need to raise the capabilities and skills of the work force in Iraqi banks to ensure that the exploitation of the techniques and modern information systems.
* وما : What reforms required?
- .- Restructuring and rehabilitation of government banks, encouraging mergers among banks, especially smaller ones, and applying an actor on Banking Supervision and develop local control, the introduction and development of a market for government securities, and expand the base of ownership of banks, raising the ceiling of paid-in capital hits, and the creation of a comprehensive statistical uniform, identify efficient and full of the financial infrastructure, including the ability to conduct electronic payments in both inside and outside Iraq.
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A security source announced today, Monday, for unknown gunmen assassinated by one of the Directors of the Central Bank of Iraq and his brother, south-west of Baghdad. A security source said "that gunmen opened fire at Iyad Shihab Ahmad periodic and director of the Central Bank and his brother in the morning today, Monday, in the Amiriyah Street popular action pointing out that" gunmen to run fled to an unknown destination after the implementation process. "
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Letter General Commander of the Multi-National Forces
(Voice of Iraq) - 04-06-2007
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Alaa Hadi
[email protected]
Letter General Commander of the multinational forces in Iraq to the Iraqi people. Aziz to the Iraqi people : I address you as a partner in your efforts to secure and stable Iraq. That our common goals have not changed, namely : a unified Iraq, and the government is responding to all its citizens and provide them with security and basic services and apply the rule of law and respect the freedoms of the citizen. In this month of last year, the current government was formed and that this government can point to some significant achievements, but everyone recognizes that there is still more work to be done great. The government's efforts in the coming months will be decisive for the success of this endeavor. You Telaboa an effective role in the birth of new Otankam. I ask you to refuse violence and sectarianism, which feed. I ask you to back Iraq citizens live in amity, understanding and common respect. The relaxation and work in this pivotal time will lead to failure. The employees of multinational forces working hand in hand and tirelessly with their brothers in the Iraqi armed forces to cleanse all the cities and towns of Iraqi extremists, regardless of their ethnic and Ttheradh cities and towns of Al Qaeda in Iraq. We need your help to eradicate the violence. Tofferwa not enemies any sanctuary or shelter but provided information on their whereabouts. Be Vkhurien Bquatcm armed supporters. Also please understand that the restrictions in the movement you are to protect your markets and Chuarakam and Mdarscm and neighborhoods where you may live. The security barriers disappear and the same speed that up with the improvement in the security situation, and you can return to exercise in your daily life conditions safer and more natural. Rajai that refuse violence and Thtinwa reconciliation. It is time for all Iraqis to unite and chart a promising future for all. The future does not include extremist groups, but the future includes Arabs and Kurds, Turkomen and Alcldoachorien, Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians and Alayazdiin and liberty and bands, all living with each other, respecting their privacy and ethnic tribalism and sectarianism, and everyone supports the government serve all Iraqis. The alliance will help you to achieve this goal, but in the end, success in reaching this goal depends on you. We have given me the opportunity last week to wandering in the streets of Baghdad and met Iraqi children filled with joy despite their faces challenges. The vision of these children renewed in myself feeling more dedication and work. The children of Iraq, as their parents and grandparents deserve to live in a country free from fear and full of hope. Now more than ever is the time to unite Iraqis and Ihtinoa reconciliation instead of confrontation. The time to choose peace. Sincere David Patraeus first-team American army commander General of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq