Minister of Finance Meets with Italian and Chinese Ambassadors
06 July 2006 (Baghdad: Al-Iraqiyah TV)
The Minister of Finance, Baker Jaber AL Zubaidi, has held discussions with the Italian and Chinese Ambassadors on the best ways to speed up economic and trade cooperation between Iraq and China and Italy.
The Minister and the Italian Ambassador agreed to hold an economic conference in which both the Iraqi and Italian private and public sectors would participate. They agreed that such a conference would offer the opportunity to solve problems to future cooperation that could be settled by practical and scientific mechanisms that would be devised and applied. The venue and date of the conference were not specified, although Rome and Baghdad were mentioned.
AL Zubaidi and the Chinese diplomat discussed present trade relations between Iraq and China and the increasing role of both countries' private sectors in developing booming trade mainly in consumables that are flooding the Iraqi market. The Minister focused discussions on the potential for benefiting from Chinese expertise in the reconstruction effort.
The Chinese Ambassador also offered the Ministry of Finance two set of highly developed equipment to be used by Customs officials in finding irregularities.
The Ambassador also conveyed his government's decision to write off all its debt on Iraq, which makes a 100% abolition of all official public debt. As far as the debt owed to the Chinese private Chinese, the Ambassador said that this will be handled in accordance with the Paris Club Declaration.
He said that China is expecting the arrival of an Iraqi delegation to check and and sign a mutual agreement based on the principles above.
The Ambassador also offered to train Iraqi teams in a neighboring country, such as Kuwait.
License for Lebanese Bank in Iraq
06 July 2006 (Baghdad: Al Sabah newspaper)
The Central Bank of Iraq has agreed the granting of a license to Beirut Bank, established in 1963 and considered the sixth bank in Lebanon.
The license will entitle the Bank to open a branch in Baghdad, in order to continue building relationships with other Iraqi banks through opportunities made available by financing, which the Bank's Board has put at the discretion of Iraqi banks.
Conversely, the Beirut Bank will grant Iraqi banks the freedom to expand relations through dealing with the London branch. Beirut Bank owns adequate capital, allowing it to act freely in various international markets, particularly in the financing of foreign trade operations.
The Board has decided to allocate adequate credit limits to meet demand within the promising Iraqi market.
The bank has 41 Lebanese branches, active branches in London and Cyprus, and representative bureaus in UAE and Nigeria. The Bank has chosen the Iraqi financial expert Abdul Aziz Hasson as Head of its Baghdad branch.
Akram Al-Hakim : 20 armed groups have responded to the dialogue of reconciliation
Baghdad-morning
Leaders of some groups have declared themselves ready to fight terrorists
For his part, Minister of State for National Dialogue, Dr. Akram Al-Hakim that up to twenty armed groups have expressed their dialogue in the framework of the national reconciliation a number of leaders of those groups were ready to fight the cells of satisfaction and foreign terrorists in an operation to accept the principles of the draft Maliki.
Wise outlined in a press conference yesterday that the final outcome refers to the high turnout of 15 to 20 armed group of unknown impact on the Iraqi reality with the exception of one group said the wise : to have their weight, according to his personal knowledge, However, they were required not to disclose the title. The seven groups rejected the project data via the Internet gateway to the required recognition of the resistance first dialogue, the government has asked these groups diagnosis itself. Al-Hakim said : Some of these factions demanded that the scheduling of the withdrawal and the disarming of militias and the rebuilding of the former army and the abolition of the law to uproot the Baath, He pointed out that the government has provided convincing answers are not stray far from the climate of reconciliation. It appears that these groups contacted President Jalal Talibani, brokered by some members of Parliament or transferred desire across Arab channels. In the meantime, the newspaper quoted (U s any claim) issued yesterday to MPs Haider Abbadi example Alalosi say : that the Iraqi government is studying a request from some leaders of armed groups with weapons in order to be able to respond to the foreign terrorists who are working in organizations that were not covered by the reconciliation Kaltekverein and Al Qaeda. These statements refer to the desire of the leaders of armed groups to demonstrate good faith before entering into Almvaudha T. The deputy said Haider Abbadi : they say : that they are able to eliminate the terrorists and to work with the government, However, Alalosi advised the government not to increase the militias at a time when it works to disarm.
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