Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

any one need a million or more DINAR at a great price. Please email me or Pm me. overnight delivery, and buyback policy.

Lower demand for dollars in Iraqi central bank auction
Baghdad, July 16, (VOI) – Demand was lower for the U.S. dollar in the daily auction of Iraq’s Central Bank on Sunday while the exchange rate was stable at 1,477 dinars.
“Demand today was $43.670 million compared to $53.470 million on Thursday,� the central bank said in its daily statement.
“No banks made any offers to sell dollars,� the statement said.
The central bank sold $32.250 million in cash and $11.420 million in foreign transfers.
Ali el-Yasseri, owner of an exchange office in Baghdad, expected a big rise in dollar demand if the government went ahead with plans to allow the private sector to import oil products.

http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules....rder=0&thold=0

17/07/2006
Source: Iraqi National Congress

The governor of Basrah in southern Iraq said yesterday, that the smuggling of crude oil and petroleum products fell of to %80 Mohamed Alowaeli learned that the smuggling of petroleum and inherited from the previous government, where the government figures sponsor a black-and the sale of oil derivatives to other neighbouring countries ".

He added : "we were able to reduce smuggling by 80%". The networks of smugglers of crude oil to neighbouring countries via outlets in the southern city of Basrah (500 km south of Baghdad) have been following the toppling of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003.

17/07/2006
Source: Azzaman

Industry and Minerals Minister Fawzi Hariri has briefed officials at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad on a draft new law to lure foreign investors.

A statement by the ministry faxed to the newspaper said the minister outlined the draft to Ali al-Haydari, Iran’s embassy economic adviser.

The draft, revised several times and target of harsh criticism, is to be put before the parliament for ratification in September.

The law gives Iraqi ministries wider powers to strike deals with foreign countries and firms and grants private entrepreneurs more freedom to start businesses.

Iran, currently Iraq’s top trade partner, is the only foreign country willing to invest despite mounting violence.

Iranian firms are present in several provinces mainly in the south and the Kurdish-held north.

Iran already signed several bilateral agreements with Iraq under which major Iranian firms have the permission to set up subsidiaries and new businesses.

The Iranians are keen to start new factories for the manufacture of cars and vehicles in Iraq as well as electrical transformers and textiles.

Pacts to start these businesses have been signed but implementation still needs the green light from Iraqi legislators.

Under the agreements Iran will invest billions of dollars on seven major industrial fields in Iraq.

The new law will remove any remaining hurdles for Iranian firms from both private and public sectors to pour investments in Iraq, said Haydari.

The Iraqi minister told Haydari, according to the statement, Baghdad would like to see the Iranians expand their investments in Iraq beyond the areas already agreed upon.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US commerce secretary and his Iraqi counterpart signed an agreement to enhance commercial relations and improve
Iraq's investment climate as the massive American reconstruction program draws to an end.

Carlos Gutierrez visited Baghdad and declared his support for Iraq's attempts to open up its economy -- though his delegation's vision of the future direction of the Iraqi economy appeared to be more ambitious than that of the Iraqis.

"It's important that the government of Iraq carry through on promising liberalization and reform measures recently undertaken," said Gutierrez in a speech before assembled Iraqi government officials and business leaders as he laid out his support for Iraq's economic efforts.

The event, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce, Iraq, featured a small trade fair focusing on the communications companies working in Iraq and a handful of private-public firms.

Communications, particularly mobile phone use, has been one of the few bright spots in the Iraqi economy with seven million subscribers signed up in the last three years.

Officials recognized that the lack of security in the country was a serious barrier to foreign investment, and other than Iraq's massive oil reserves, there is little to attract foreign investors.

One US diplomat predicted that "oil will be lubricant" to future investment.

"Our focus in the beginning will most likely be developing local domestic investment and then over time see foreign investment looking seriously at Iraq," said Gutierrez, describing future aid in the form of training, advising and capacity building.

The secretary's visit follows up on that of US
President George W. Bush and his promise to send trade officials to Iraq to help with the process of opening up the economy.

It also comes as the administration's 22-billion-dollar reconstruction program runs out at the end of February.

US Undersecretary for International Trade Franklin Lavin said the most important thing right now was to get the necessary legal measures in place and then start privatizing the many public sector industries.

"There are 59 state-owned enterprises that they have to do something with," he told AFP, adding that they would be looking at the next six to 12 months closely.

Iraq's Minister of Commerce Abdel Falah al-Sudani told reporters that the investment law would be sent to parliament by the end of the week.

"The legal framework for investment in Iraq has been developed but not completely implemented," he said, predicting it would go into effect by the end of the summer.

Privatization, however, is not something that is going to be rushed, maintained industry minister Fawzi Hariri, adding that he did not see it happening for at least five to 10 years.

"We believe in privatization, but we also believe in preparation, we have to prepare to privatize," he told AFP.

Announcements by US officials in the Coalition Provisional Authority soon after the fall of the old regime in April 2003 that radical privatizations would be the rule of the day in the new Iraq provoked an uproar in the country and fears that the state's patrimony would be sold off to foreign investors.

Suspicion over foreign control of the economy and Iraq's oil and mineral wealth to this day has made the country reluctant to open up the economy to foreign ownership.

"Iraq is very socialist," said Hariri. "We need to educate ourselves," adding that the first order of business was to get parliament to pass the necessary legislation.

"Once these are in hand we can look at a case-by-case scenario where we can get the maximum benefit for Iraq and the industry itself strategically," he said

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060717...e_060717161219

Look at this!!! Something big is going down, with all the 'big knobs' meeting something is definitely about to happen!!!



U.S. commerce secretary arrives in Baghdad to meet with prime minister
17 July 2006 (AP Worldstream)
The U.S. commerce secretary visited Baghdad on Monday following calls from President Bush last month to his cabinet to help Iraq's new government.

Carlos M. Gutierrez arrived at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone shortly after 9 a.m. for a series of talks with Iraqi leaders.

Gutierrez was expected to hold a news conference Monday with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The arrival comes after a string of high-profile visits, including President Bush last month and most recently Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/9397

More about Mr. Gutierrez....

http://www.commerce.gov/bios/Gutierrez_bio.htm

Originally Posted by pipshurricane

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US commerce secretary and his Iraqi counterpart signed an agreement to enhance commercial relations and improve
Iraq's investment climate as the massive American reconstruction program draws to an end.

Carlos Gutierrez visited Baghdad and declared his support for Iraq's attempts to open up its economy -- though his delegation's vision of the future direction of the Iraqi economy appeared to be more ambitious than that of the Iraqis.

"It's important that the government of Iraq carry through on promising liberalization and reform measures recently undertaken," said Gutierrez in a speech before assembled Iraqi government officials and business leaders as he laid out his support for Iraq's economic efforts.

The event, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce, Iraq, featured a small trade fair focusing on the communications companies working in Iraq and a handful of private-public firms.

Communications, particularly mobile phone use, has been one of the few bright spots in the Iraqi economy with seven million subscribers signed up in the last three years.

Officials recognized that the lack of security in the country was a serious barrier to foreign investment, and other than Iraq's massive oil reserves, there is little to attract foreign investors.

One US diplomat predicted that "oil will be lubricant" to future investment.

"Our focus in the beginning will most likely be developing local domestic investment and then over time see foreign investment looking seriously at Iraq," said Gutierrez, describing future aid in the form of training, advising and capacity building.

The secretary's visit follows up on that of US
President George W. Bush and his promise to send trade officials to Iraq to help with the process of opening up the economy.

It also comes as the administration's 22-billion-dollar reconstruction program runs out at the end of February.

US Undersecretary for International Trade Franklin Lavin said the most important thing right now was to get the necessary legal measures in place and then start privatizing the many public sector industries.

"There are 59 state-owned enterprises that they have to do something with," he told AFP, adding that they would be looking at the next six to 12 months closely.

Iraq's Minister of Commerce Abdel Falah al-Sudani told reporters that the investment law would be sent to parliament by the end of the week.

"The legal framework for investment in Iraq has been developed but not completely implemented," he said, predicting it would go into effect by the end of the summer.

Privatization, however, is not something that is going to be rushed, maintained industry minister Fawzi Hariri, adding that he did not see it happening for at least five to 10 years.

"We believe in privatization, but we also believe in preparation, we have to prepare to privatize," he told AFP.

Announcements by US officials in the Coalition Provisional Authority soon after the fall of the old regime in April 2003 that radical privatizations would be the rule of the day in the new Iraq provoked an uproar in the country and fears that the state's patrimony would be sold off to foreign investors.

Suspicion over foreign control of the economy and Iraq's oil and mineral wealth to this day has made the country reluctant to open up the economy to foreign ownership.

"Iraq is very socialist," said Hariri. "We need to educate ourselves," adding that the first order of business was to get parliament to pass the necessary legislation.

"Once these are in hand we can look at a case-by-case scenario where we can get the maximum benefit for Iraq and the industry itself strategically," he said

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060717...e_060717161219

Just seen this elsewhere, great find PH!

Sounds to me like monetization of oil, a great sign!

Originally Posted by Adster

Look at this!!! Something big is going down, with all the 'big knobs' meeting something is definitely about to happen!!!



U.S. commerce secretary arrives in Baghdad to meet with prime minister
17 July 2006 (AP Worldstream)
The U.S. commerce secretary visited Baghdad on Monday following calls from President Bush last month to his cabinet to help Iraq's new government.

Carlos M. Gutierrez arrived at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone shortly after 9 a.m. for a series of talks with Iraqi leaders.

Gutierrez was expected to hold a news conference Monday with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The arrival comes after a string of high-profile visits, including President Bush last month and most recently Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/9397

More about Mr. Gutierrez....

http://www.commerce.gov/bios/Gutierrez_bio.htm

Hey Adster, i see you havent read all the messages. But here is what happend on that meeting!

Iraq and U.S. sign commercial agreement
July 17, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq --Iraq and the United States signed a commercial cooperation agreement Monday that officials hope will help this country move into a free market after decades of wars, sanctions and state control.

"Concerning the agreement that we signed today, it is the result of long discussions and follows mutual agreements between Iraq and the United States," al-Sudani told reporters.

He said that the principles of the agreement are based on improving the Iraqi economy after it was destroyed by war.

"We will start a new chapter in the cooperation between the United States and Iraq," Gutierrez said. "This will entail cooperation in the economic field and promoting investments in key areas of the country in sharing technology and other forms of capacity building."

"It will be a unique opportunity to enable the Iraqi people to move from a centralized system of economic development to one where individuals can apply their skills and their talent and their energy to develop a better life for themselves, obviously for their families and for their country," he added.

i found this posting on another forum, i'm not sure how reliable this person's sources are but he had sent me a pm saying he had source within the iraqi govt. Here is what his posting said:

i have been busy setting things up for my dinars to ease the burden of tax sorry i havent gotten back until now sence im going to be hammered any way here goes my source says nov 14 at 1.85$ this will allow when they float on the world market the dinars wont fall below .85 after

and here is link where it was http://www.investorsiraq.com/rumors-...546-way-6.html

oh he had also said that it would peg initially at 1.12 in august with it opening on world market in nov. at 1.85. that was in another posting if you read thru the thread.

anyone hearing similar things? adster, mike, anyone?

I don't like that rumor at all I want it to happen NOW!