Thread: Kurdistan Economy

Kurds pause negotiations, waiting to name PM

The Kurdistan Alliance is waiting to learn the nominee who will occupy the position of Iraq’s prime minister in order to start actual negotiations about the government’s program and work mechanisms.

“Negotiations will start only after we learn who will be the new prime minister of Iraq,” Mahmoud Othman, a leading figure of the Kurdistan Alliance, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Sunday.

He noted that the new prime minister will form his government after he is nominated.
“At that point, actual negotiations will start regarding government’s program and work mechanisms,” Othman explained.

He pointed out that negotiations are inconclusive unless blocs know the new president, prime minister, and parliament speaker.

“We have not joined any alliance, and we currently have no bias towards any side,” Othman stressed.

He added that the Kurdistan Alliance may join alliances in future, depending on dialogues with other blocs.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=134345

U.S. companies looking to invest in oil and electricity to Kirkuk and a project to produce energy by burning waste

Announced the National Commission for Investment in the province of Kirkuk on Monday, announced that U.S. companies consider investment opportunities in oil and electricity sectors in the province, as has been proposed project to produce electric power by burning waste.

The Director of Investment Commission Kirkuk Falah al-Bazzaz in an interview for "Sumerian Enoz", "A delegation from the Group of U.S. companies visited the city of Kirkuk on Sunday, where he discussed with the Department of Conservation ways to establish investment projects in the sectors of oil and electricity production."

The Clothier "The delegation outlined the governor of Kirkuk, the nature of the work of companies and areas that have jurisdiction, as suggested by a project to produce electric power by burning waste."

He added that al-Bazzaz "Preservation is preparing to establish a refinery and the airport, one of the opportunities available to all investors."

The Investment Authority announced in Kirkuk, in the eighth of last June, has signed memoranda of understanding with Turkey for the implementation of residential and commercial complexes in Kirkuk, 500 million dollars.

The federal government allocated for the province of Kirkuk, about 250 km north of Baghdad, an estimated budget of 121 billion Iraqi dinars within the program of development of the Territories for the year 2010, and confirms the local officials that those provisions did not meet the cost of implementing a strategic project in the province which has suffered due to marginalization and deprivation during periods of The past despite its rich reserves of oil.

http://www.alsumarianews.com/ar/3/88...-details-.html

Financial Sector Developing in Kurdistan

Both public and private sectors are working hand in hand to establish and develop a modern financial sector in the Region that can support the economic growth in the Region, measure up with international standards, and be connected to world markets, something that is key to the soundness and efficiency of this sector.

The sector is divided into two parts: the financial markets, where financial products are traded, and financial intermediaries–the banks–which channel funds among financial actors of the economy. In Kurdistan, currently there are efforts to develop both constituents of the sector.

There are plans to connect all the local banks and branches together and to the world financial system via the implementation of a modern electronic banking system; additionally, the Erbil Stock Exchange has officially been established, and its president and board members have been elected.

Regarding the banking sector improvements, director of Kurdistan Region’s Harem Bank, Adham Karim Darwesh, says that after successfully completing the test period for the new system, the system will be implemented in all the Region’s banks by the end of the year. An electronic system was implemented in four banks in Kurdistan for testing purposes, and it proved successful and practical, noted Darwesh.

“The electronic banking system is considered a development method to connect all the banks in the world,” states Darwesh. “We have planned to expand other electronic systems in the local banks to further serve our customers in Kurdistan.”

If this system is implemented, all the banks in the Region would be connected and transactions would become easy and smooth. The whole system would be connected to the international financial system, which allows customers of local banks to use their bank services all over the world, such as using their cards to withdraw cash from their Kurdistan bank accounts from automatic teller machines (ATMs) all over the world.

Kurdistan International Bank, a local bank operating on the Islamic banking system that has a number of branches in Kurdistan and Iraq, has signed a contract to design and implement a modern electronic banking system and to improve its services and facilitate access for customers via installing ATMs all over Iraq. There are currently 81 state and 53 private bank branches in Kurdistan Region, all of which will soon be using the new system.

Over the past few years and as the Region’s economy has started growing fast, numerous banks have opened in the Region. Among those new banks, a number of foreign banks have also opened branches. In a recent development in that regards, three Turkish banks expressed their intention to open branches and launch services.
This came as representatives of a number of Turkish banks visited Kurdistan Region along with the Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade to participate in the KRG-Turkey Economic Forum.

Those bank branches are to support huge trade activities between Turkey and Kurdistan Region, which are expected to further increase after the visit of the Region’s President Massoud Barzani to Turkey to meet with top Turkish authorities.

The representatives of the Turkish banks have applied for legal procedures to open their branches in the Region, and right now they are looking for buildings to open their offices, according to Kareem. “We encounter no issues with the Turkish companies, and some other banks have also applied to invest in the Region,” he noted.

In an effort to develop the financial market of the Region, the shareholders of Erbil Stock Market Company met last week in Erbil to elect the board of directors and president after it finished the legal procedures of establishing the company.

The secretary of the high economic council of KRG, Izzat Mullah, states that the Kurdistan Regional Government has supported the idea and helped the establishment of the company to improve the economy of the Region.

“The KRG has continually insisted on creating an environment for local businessmen and traders to have shares in the local companies of Kurdistan,” said Mullah. “Erbil Stock Market is possibly creating an opportunity for the local businessmen to use their money inside Kurdistan. On the other hand, it will be a secure place for the foreign investors to keep their money safe in Kurdistan.” Currently, some local investors are investing their capital in foreign security markets due to lack of a stock market in the Region.

http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/?p=5713

Prospects Abound Among the Kurds

Shortly after leaving his job last year as the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad started negotiations with Iraqi Kurdish leaders to become a paid adviser. His stint as adviser to the semiautonomous Kurdistan region’s board of investment lasted about seven months. In May Mr. Khalilzad, who also served as ambassador to Iraq, became a board member of RAK Petroleum, an oil and gas investment company based in the Persian Gulf Arab emirate of Ras al-Khaimah.

RAK is a significant shareholder in Norway’s DNO, a major oil producer in the Kurdish region that has been mired in controversy for its involvement in a deal that granted an interest in its oil field to the former American diplomat Peter W. Galbraith for help in negotiating the contract with the Kurds. Last month DNO nominated Mr. Khalilzad to its board.

As America winds down its war effort in Iraq, Mr. Khalilzad is among a growing list of former American diplomats and military officials now chasing business opportunities in the oil-rich Kurdish region or acting as advisers to its government. Some visit regularly, while others call the region and its booming capital, Erbil, home. Kurds treat them like dignitaries. The Kurdish region may be the only place in Iraq where Americans are still embraced as liberators. The authorities boast that no Americans have ever been attacked in a place that has enjoyed relative security.

Critics say these former officials are cashing in on a costly and contentious war they played a role in. The way they see it, though, they have every right to fulfill the American dream after having left their government posts. At any rate, business and politics are inseparable in a region dominated by two governing parties and families, who have been accused of autocratic rule and corruption. Many of the former American officials turned businessmen have also become staunch advocates of the Kurdish cause, including the right of statehood, which clashes with America’s stated policy of preserving Iraq’s unity and being at equal distance from all groups. The Kurds in turn have leveraged their American connections, which in some cases go back decades, into an impressive lobbying and public relations machine in Washington.

The Kurdish region ranks among the top 10 buyers of lobbying services in the United States, according to the Foreign Lobbyist Influence Tracker, a joint project of ProPublica and the Sunlight Foundation. “They love these consultants here,” said Denise Natali, an American academic and author based in the region’s other main city of Sulaimaniya. “It brings them attention, recognition and credibility.”

Ms. Natali herself has advised corporations like America’s Hunt Oil, which was among dozens of foreign oil companies awarded concessions in the Kurdish region in defiance of the central government in Baghdad.

Mr. Khalilzad’s firm, Khalilzad Associates, describes itself as serving “clients at the nexus of commerce and public policies,” and is advising businesses seeking opportunities in Afghanistan and Iraq. He said he ended his advisory contract with the Kurdish government after his company started advising “multinational corporations” investing in the Kurdish region and Iraq.

“We felt it created a possible conflict of interest to represent both sides,” he said.

He said he was trying to find a way to pay rent on an apartment in Erbil provided to him free by the Kurdish authorities as part of his contract. The region’s Oil Ministry owns the apartment. Mr. Khalilzad made several high-profile appearances last year while on contract for the Kurds. They included an election rally for the region’s powerful president. Massoud Barzani.

Mr. Khalilzad, along with most of the region’s top leaders, sits on the board of regents of the American University of Iraq in Sulaimaniya. John Agresto, who served as a senior adviser for higher education under America’s post-invasionCoalition Provisional Authority, helped found the university with the strong backing of Barham Salih, the region’s current prime minister. Mr. Agresto said he had accomplished in the Kurdish region what he had failed to do in the rest of Iraq, namely introduce American-style liberal arts education.

“The American brand is much more welcome here,” Mr. Agresto said. “This is probably the last place in the whole world where George Bush could still win an election.”

The majority of Kurds are grateful for the American-led invasion to toppleSaddam Hussein’s government and America’s support of the no-flight zone in the 1990s that helped them establish their present autonomy. Thousands of foreigners, including many Americans, now live and work in the Kurdish region, enjoying comforts that are rare in the rest of the country.

“We love them,” Haro Ahmed gushes about Americans.

His family owns a real estate conglomerate, whose assets includea sprawling mall in Erbil that would not be out of place anywhere in suburban America. Mr. Ahmed has reserved space in the mall for several American fast-food chains and says he is in talks with Marriott to build a hotel and golf course nearby.

Jay Garner, the retired lieutenant general who briefly headed the reconstruction effort in Iraq after the invasion, says that it is precisely this pro-American attitude, coupled with the region’s oil wealth and strategic location between Iran, Syria and Turkey, that makes Kurds the perfect partner in Iraq.

“Why we do not wrap our arms around them, I do not understand,” General Garner said.
He said he did free consulting for the Kurds. But he also sits on the advisory board of Vast Exploration, a Calgary-based company prospecting for oil in an area of the region known as Qara Dagh, where drilling started in May.

On the seventh anniversary of Mr. Hussein’s fall, in April, General Garner flew to the Kurdish region on a chartered plane accompanied by oil analysts and executives. The visit included meetings with Kurdish leaders and a camping trip to Qara Dagh.

In contrast to the close relationship with their American friends, most of them Bush-era officials, Kurdish leaders have grown impatient with the Obama administration, particularly its mounting pressure on Kurds to make concessions in a continuing dispute with Baghdad over internal borders and the sharing of oil and gas resources.

“Kurdish officials are frustrated with us,” said one senior American diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity under diplomatic ground rules.

“They say, ‘The minute you turn your back, Baghdad will stab you.’ ”

Harry J. Schute Jr., a former Army colonel who commanded a civil affairs battalion in northern Iraq after the invasion and later became the Coalition Provisional Authority’s chief of staff in the north, says the Kurdistan region is the “poster child” for what America has been trying to accomplish in the rest of Iraq.

“There are not a lot of places in the Middle East where they are saying ‘pick us, we want to be your friends,’ ” Mr. Schute said. He now runs a security consulting practice in Erbil and sits on the board of Vigilance, a joint venture between American and British security contractors and the Kurdish government itself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/wo...t/15erbil.html

Investments of Arab States in the Kurdistan region amounted to 2.693 billion dollars, Kuwait, Lebanon, in the lead

Kuwait recorded among the Arab states the highest value of investment in the Kurdistan region of Iraq , with about 1.554 billion dollars.

The Director-General for Research and Information in the form of investment Kurdistan Haydar Mustafa in a press statement quoted by the Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, that the investments of Arab States in the Kurdistan region amounted to 2.693 billion dollars of total foreign investment.

He said Mustafa said that the four Arab countries - just - to invest in Iraq's Kurdistan region, are : Kuwait, Lebanon and Egypt, and Jordan, noting that the volume of Arab investment is 74 percent of the total investments during the period from the first of August 2008 to July 20.

He noted that Lebanon comes after the Kuwait Investment value of 759.714 million, and Egypt, which valued its investments in the region 350 million dollars and finally Jordan b 28.899 million.

http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?nam...onomy&id=27990

Kirkuk council : not exchange the petro-dollar custom for the city to the past four months

The member of the provincial council of Kirkuk, a list of brotherhood on Sunday, that the value of the petro-dollar Kirkuk province in four months amounting to 80 billion Iraqi dinars, and was scheduled to be allocated Dolaruahd of the city of Kirkuk, for every barrel of oil is being exported abroad, But it was unclear and the existence of any project in this regard so far, noting that there were different views on the aspects of the disbursement of funds.

Ahmad said the military told Kurdistan News today that "the Iraqi Ministry of Finance agreed to exchange one dollar for every barrel of oil was exported during the past four months, the city of Kirkuk," noting that "the amount is estimated at 80 billion Iraqi dinars, but not yet disbursed Of the city so far."

He added that "in order to spend the amount should be clarified projects to be implemented which, because some parties prefer to allocate those funds to implement a number of projects, while others think it is better to spend money to complete the project and strategic one, but did not obtain the approval of District Kirkuk to determine the project will be implemented."

For his part, member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council from the list Turkimanip Nejat Hussein's (Akaniwz) that "the Iraqi Ministry of Finance agreed to exchange assignments agreed upon, but not until now to divert those funds to the financial accounts of the Council of Kirkuk."

In turn, said Kirkuk governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa (Akaniwz) "We have made great efforts to secure the amount of one dollar to the city, for every barrel of oil is being exported from Kirkuk, has raised a note to the Iraqi cabinet so we were able to get this gain for our city, and obtaining approvals Required in this regard, as the total value of those Al_khasisat for four months to 80 billion dinars, which approved the financial allocation for the city, but will not spend the amount did not identify the project, which will be completed this amount."

He said Mustafa that he "would rather not spend the amount on the draft strategic and vital to the city, where we held a series of meetings for this purpose," adding that "during the next few days Snsthsal accepting proposals for projects are important and of great benefit and we send them to Baghdad."

http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/2/167283/

Kirkuk’s share of Oil Revenues is Over $100m

Kirkuk’s governor said on Sunday that the Iraqi government has allocated 132 billion Iraqi Dinars (ID) — over $100 million — to Kirkuk as its share of oil revenues in the first six month of this year. Kirkuk is one of Iraq’s major centers of oil production.

Since 2009, for each barrel of exported oil, the oil producing provinces in Iraq are given 50 US cents, according to a report from AK News. In a separate report AK News says the amount is $1 per barrel.

Kirkuk officials have repeatedly demanded that the Iraqi oil ministry allocate part of the oil revenues to the provinces where oil is produced, said Abdurrahman Mustafa, Kirkuk’s governor.

“Kirkuk’s oil budget in the first five months of this year amounted to 106 billion ID and when June’s share was added, it rose to 132 billion ID”, he said.

The governor also noted that the Kirkuk administration is planning to propose some projects for which the funds will be used.

“Only when the projects are approved, the Iraqi Finance Ministry transfers the money”, he said, adding that the budget, however, would not be withheld even if the approval is delayed.

http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/?p=6427

Begin preparations for a conference on the peaceful coexistence between ethnic province of Kurdistan

Began in Irbil, the preparations for a conference on the peaceful coexistence of nationalities and religions province of Kurdistan, in the second half of next September, with the participation of a group of associations and organizations concerned with the defense for Threatened Peoples in the world.

Masood said Srbashakhi head of Kurdistan, of the Society for Threatened Peoples, Sunday, "Preparations began for a conference on the peaceful coexistence of nationalities, will be held next September in collaboration with the Institute of Velsberg research and academic studies and the Federal Union of International Peace and the Centre for the Anfal in Kurdistan, and includes a set axes on And fraternal coexistence between religions and nationalities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq."

He said at a press conference held by the Supreme Preparatory Committee of the Conference, Hotel Jawarjra Arbil conference was designed to entrench the concept of the peaceful coexistence of nationalities and religions in Kurdistan, a comparison with the rights of nationalities and religions before and after 1991, highlighting the rights of religions and ethnic groups in other countries.

It is scheduled to hold a conference with the participation of persons interested in peace in many countries of the world, in 20 of the next September, and lasts for 5 days and under the slogan, "Iraq's Kurdistan region the cradle and a model of peaceful coexistence between ethnic groups and religions in the Middle East," according to the organizing committee of the Conference.

Said a member of the Preparatory Committee for the Conference of Shirin Amedei, told (Voices of Iraq) that the Commission "had issued invitations to 52 personal Scandinavian countries , Syria and Turkey, who are ambassadors of peace in Iraq, to participate in the conference", adding "We expect guests to provide their research and studies up to 25 This month to ensure their participation in the conference."

She Amedei "The conference will highlight the group axes, including the nature of nationalities and religions in Kurdistan, and how distribution of the demographic and the rights of nationalities and religions in the areas of education and social justice, gender and political participation, administrative and cultural rights and freedom of expression, with the axis of embracing the Kurdistan region of Iraqi refugees coming from Central and South Iraq, with the axis of ways of dealing with ethnic groups and religions in the world.

http://radionawa.com/ar/NewsDetailN....541&LinkID=151

Food prices return to normal in Kurdistan

A source in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Kurdistan Regional Government, said Tuesday that food prices had returned to normal in the region, indicating that the cause was the height of a prior agreement between the traders and vendors.

Said the manager of Commerce, Mohamed Abbas told the Kurdistan News (Akaniwz) "The price of food and food returned to normal, as it rose in the first two days for the month of Ramadan only, because of an agreement between merchants and vendors, but we now assume that tight control on the market and we will fine those who raise Prices."
..........................................

http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/2/174726/

World Federation of Muslim Scholars called for the establishment an Islamic banks in the Kurdistan region

Called the International Union for Muslim Scholars, on Thursday, the Kurdistan Regional Government and investors to create a number of Islamic banks, pointing out that this step will contribute to the recovery of the economic situation in the region, while the analyst warned that the political transformation of Islamic banks to shelters for money laundering in the absence of control Them.

The Secretary-General of the World Federation of Muslim scholars on Qaradagi in an interview with "Alsumaria News", "The Kurdistan region of Iraq is an appropriate basis for the establishment of Islamic banks, the fact that the profits made good their work is based on the principles of Islamic religion," noting that "the majority of citizens do not invest their money in traditional banks That deal according to the principle forbidden to take interest in the Islamic religion."

He called Qaradagi the territorial Government and investors to "establish the Islamic banks and to develop a lending program for industrial production, infrastructure development, developing the economy according to the principal religion of Islam", referring to "the ability of Islamic banks in contributing to the effective revitalization of the banking business and expanding business and trade."

For his part, said economic analyst Mohiuddin Noureddine "The success of Islamic banks is achieved when a viable alternative for traditional banks and rivaled the efficiency and mechanism performance and act fairly to achieve economic growth, where it is not between the rich only."

The Nur al-Din said in an interview for "Alsumaria News", that "in the absence of adequate controls and strict control over these banks could become safe havens for washing (laundering) of money leaving traces Silp on the national economy for the benefit of economies of Foreign Affairs, as well as to increase the liquidity And evasion of taxes and buy off politicians and the use of funds for political purposes and foreign agendas."

Nur al-Din called stakeholders to "develop accurate and strict control before granting licenses for the establishment of Islamic banks in the performance of its work to prevent damage to national economy", he says.

Known as the Islamic banking system or the banking activity is compatible with Islamic Sharia and the Islamic bank provides the same services offered by the Bank with the exception of the traditional services that have a interest is forbidden in Islamic law.

http://www.alsumarianews.com/ar/3/10...-details-.html