Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 01/01/08 - 14/04/08

Iraqi PM says in 'good health'

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday congratulated the Iraqi people on the occasion of the new year and said he is in good health.

The state-run al-Iraqia satellite channel quoted the prime minister as saying in his brief word "I want to take this opportunity to express my thanks to sons of the nation, political powers as well as officials from the friendly and brotherly countries who have asked about my health. I would like to reassure them that I am in good health, thank God."

The Iraqi government said on Sunday that al-Maliki had undergone unspecified tests and that the results were 'reassuring'.

The prime minister, who suddenly left for London a few days ago, told al-Iraqia on Saturday that he was going for a checkup, while an official in his office said he had suffered mild exhaustion.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraqi paper: Minor summit scheduled for next week

Iraqi newspapers on Wednesday said it is the right time to turn the page of the past and look resolutely towards the future, while a newspaper revealed a minor summit by Iraqi leaders scheduled for next week.

The government-funded al-Sabah newspaper published a front-page headline that read, 'Unity summit next week.' "Yesterday, Iraq turned the last page of the calendar for 2007 with many challenges ahead in its new experiment in democracy whose fruits have started to ripen," the newspaper said.

Quoting informed sources, the newspaper said that a summit by Iraqi leaders is scheduled for next week to discuss pending laws and legislative items, in addition to recent developments in the political process.

"The meetings will begin after the return of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from a treatment trip in London," read the article.

The prime minister, who suddenly left for London a few days ago, told the state-run al-Iraqia satellite channel on Saturday that he was going for a checkup, while an official from his office said he had suffered mild exhaustion.

The Iraqi government said on Sunday that al-Maliki had undergone unspecified tests and that the results were "reassuring."

Commenting on alliances and the formation of blocs on the Iraqi political scene, the independent daily al-Dustour newspaper called on politicians and leaders to be an example for Iraqi citizens to follow. "If we analyze all alliances formed in the past three years, we will find that they have all failed to satisfy the requirements of the people, and that some of them may have even harmed our country and our people," the newspaper said.

Al-Ittihad, the daily mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani, analyzed the current security situation in Iraq and the role of the awakening councils.

In review of 2007, Adnan al-Murshid said, "The fledgling awakening councils do not have anything but their patriotism and good will." Al-Murshid called on the ministries of interior and defense to provide a comprehensive logistic support for these councils and to integrate them into the concerned ministries.

Aswat Aliraq

Increasing Iraq employees salaries on the go

Iraqi Cabinet official spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh stated to Alsumaria that after constant demands the implementation of the decision to increase employees’ salaries has started on Tuesday with retroaction effect. Meanwhile, 2008 budget passed to parliament is subject to several disputes and objections.

Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network | Iraq News | Increasing Iraq employees salaries on the go

Bakery owners protest against white oil prices increase in Iraq

Dhi Qar province council called on the oil ministry to reconsider white oil prices increase on account of the demonstration by bakeries owners before the province’s council in result to oil prices increase which has caused them lower incomes.

On the other hand, the adoption of investment allocation loans according to ratio cards by the Ministry of Planning has led to hinder development projects in Basra Province.

Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network | Economics News | Bakery owners protest against white oil prices increase in Iraq

Iraq loans projects aims to upgrade local economy

Minister of labor and social affairs Mahmoud Al Sheikh Radi affirmed in a meeting with donors of central and smaller projects in Baghdad that the loans project executed by the Ministry aims to develop the local economy in the capital while it will include further provinces in Iraq. He added that the project has granted 6,157 loans that have provided 18,000 job opportunities in different sectors.

Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network | Economics News | Iraq loans projects aims to upgrade local economy

Iraqi Dinar exchange rate rises

Iraqi Dinar exchange rate has risen against the dollar in comparison with lower levels in previous days, due to the increase of transfers from aboard into Iraq, economic analysts said. They added that this activity has negatively affected Iraq’s economy.

Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network | Economics News | Iraqi Dinar exchange rate rises

Update.....

Iraq sets oil firms deadline to join bid register

Iraq has set a Jan. 31 deadline for international oil firms to register to compete for tenders to help develop the world's third-largest oil reserves, the Ministry of Oil said on Wednesday.

Tenders will be issued "soon" for oil extraction and service contracts in southern, central and northern Iraq but only companies that have registered with the ministry will be able to bid, it said.

"Registration of companies ... is an obligatory condition to enable them to bid for the service and oil extraction licences that the ministry intends to issue," ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.

"The companies should send the required documents to the licences and contracts office in the Oil Ministry either by an officially authorised person or by recorded mail," the ministry said in a statement.

"The deadline for submitting the documentation is Jan. 31," Jihad said.
The development indicates Iraq wants to press ahead in bringing the companies in to help boost output, analysts said. Big oil firms such as Royal Dutch Shell and Total have been positioning for years to gain access.

"Iraq is only producing about 2.4 million barrels per day, which is very little compared with the size of the reserves it has," said Mohammad-Ali Zainy, senior energy analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.

"Iraq is in dire need of money and the sooner these companies come, of course the better."

BP, Shell and Total declined immediate comment on whether they would put their names on the register.

BLACKLIST

Oil companies that have signed deals with Iraq's largely autonomous northern Kurdistan region have angered Baghdad, which has threatened to blacklist them and declared the deals illegal.

The deadline to register with the ministry means, in effect, that Iraq is following through on the threat, Zainy said.

"Obviously, any one of those that has contracted with the KRG is not going to be able to participate, which means practically those companies are being blacklisted," he said.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has awarded production sharing contracts to foreign firms, including India's Reliance, Austria's OMV and Hungary's MOL MOLB.BU.

Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said in September that the government will go ahead with signing deals, despite a failure by Iraq's main political blocs to agree on a new oil law that will set rules and guidelines for developing fields and sharing oil revenues.

Iraq holds 115 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the world's third-largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The draft law for managing Iraq's oil reserves was first agreed in February 2006, but disputes with the Kurdistan regional government and objections from Shi'ite and Sunni Arab politicians have stalled the process.

Shahristani said at a meeting of OPEC heads of state in Riyadh in November that final approval of the law was months away.

UPDATE 3-Iraq sets oil firms deadline to join bid register | News | Breaking City News | Reuters

Record demand for the dollar in daily auction

Demand for the dollar was at a record high in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Thursday, reaching $181.280 million, the highest in its history, compared to $119.535 million on Monday.

In its daily statement, the bank said it had covered all bids, including $13.370 million in cash and $167.910 in foreign transfers at a stable exchange rate of 1,215 dinars per dollar, unchanged for the second session in a row.

None of the 12 banks that participated in Thursday's session offered to sell dollars, the first absence in three weeks

In statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), an advisor from the Central Bank, Madhhar Muhammad Saleh, linked the hike in the demand for the dollar to the suspension of several sessions during official holidays. Considering that the Central Bank is the primary source of dollars for local markets, the suspension of sessions has resulted in an accumulative demand for the dollar, Saleh explained.

Meanwhile, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the difference in the exchange rate between the bank's auction and local markets has further increased overall demand for the dollar.

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday

Record demand for the dollar in daily auction | Iraq Updates

Iraq gov't thanks Bush for using veto against Cangress law

The Iraqi government on Thursday expressed its thanks to President George W. Bush for using the right of veto over the Congress law to abolish the immunity imposed on Iraqi funds deposited in American banks.

Spokesman of the Iraqi government Ali Al-Dabbagh said in a statement that the National Defence Act of 2008 passed by the Bill of the United States Congress cancels immunity over Iraqi funds deposited in American banks and also allows the lifting of claims for compensation for those affected by the former Iraqi regime.

Al-Dabbagh believed that this matter "makes Iraq's funds deposited in the Development Fund for Iraq and other banks exposed and without protection of the compensation claims of more than USD 1,000 billion according to article 1083 of this new legislation." He went on to say that the law was going to form a major threat to the ability of the Iraqi government in investmenting Iraq's funds to finance the state budget and procurement of ration items, capacity-building and security forces."

Iraq gov't thanks Bush for using veto against Cangress law | Iraq Updates

"Sky Energy" is facing two difficult conditions in Iraq

The South Korean media said that the company of South Korean oil refineries (Sky Energy) found itself facing two difficult conditions which are either to stop prospecting for oil in Iraqi Kurdistan, or interruption and loss of Iraqi oil imports; this situation emerged after the Iraqi government's objection, last week, to the Korean -Kurdish oil agreement and threatened to stop exports of Iraqi crude oil to Seoul if this agreement continues. (Sky Energy) did not take any formal decision in this regard so far; however, the company's officials say that it depends on the government ministries concerned to mediate for a settlement of this matter.

The regional government in Iraqi Kurdistan granted, at the beginning of last November, the South Korean oil institutions, including the company (Sky Energy), the rights of exploration of oil fields in northern Iraq, but the Iraqi government warned foreign oil companies to conclude deals with the Kurds without obtaining its approval and until the approval of a new law on the sharing of oil revenues among the different spectrums of the country.

Iraqi Oil Ministry finally informed the Company (Sky Energy) that it will be forced to stop oil exports to Seoul if the company's work under the deal, which it owns %19 of the shares with the regional government in Kurdistan, continues.

"Sky Energy" is facing two difficult conditions in Iraq | Iraq Updates