MEPS24: US CONSUL IN ERBIL HIGHLIGHTS PROMISING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR IRAQ
On Saturday, Steven Bitner, the US Consul General in Erbil, spoke about the “economic opportunities” that will bring significant benefits to both Iraq and the United States.
During a panel discussion at the Middle East Peace and Security Forum (MEPS24) at the American University in Duhok, the Kurdistan Region, Bitner stated that “the strategic agreement between the two countries encompasses various aspects, including economic, cultural, health, and environmental cooperation, as well as strengthening mutual relations.”
“For the past twenty years, security and political concerns have dominated the relationship between the United States and Iraq
. However, recent efforts have focused on economic opportunities that will benefit both countries,” he noted.
Notably, MEPS24 features participation from the President of Iraq, the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, the President of the Kurdistan Region, and numerous local, Arab, and international officials.
Organizers of the two-day forum emphasize that it includes panel discussions, seminars, and workshops on the situation in the Middle East and the world. “The forum aims to build bridges of cooperation between participating countries, discuss problems and solutions, and explore the role of society in the Middle East.”
Before I forget to tell my followers, again I want to remind you that there will not be a Newsletter for Thursday Dec 5th. There is other important very urgent work that must be completed during that timeframe. I will publish the Tuesday Dec 3rd as normal.
We must all remember that we must make a “monthly” contribution to keep this Mnt Goat Newsletter alive. For me it is like a third job for and takes time to research and put it all together. Please decide to help out or we will lose the Newsletter.
I also next want to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA. In Germany we already celebrated Thanksgiving more on terms of a harvest fest earlier in the fall, but the same, just the same. We do sit and share a meal with family and friends too but don’t necessarily eat a turkey dinner. Yes, I do miss those turkey dinners from when I was in the USA. Mein loving hubby always tries to surprise me with a turkey during this timeframe and so let’s see if he continues this again this week. He is a very thoughtful man. He remembers my American traditions.
So, where are we in this RV saga?
The RV has NOT yet happened. There are NO newer lower denominations passed out. Why would there be as they would only be almost totally worthless anyway without at least the in-country RV. No, the ATMs do not yet have the new lower denominations in them since the public uses these ATMs every day to get petty cash. What the hell would they now do with the lower denominations? I wish these stupid intel gurus would clean up their act and stop lying to people about these ATMs too. Do these intel guru do more harm than good to our dinar community?
Please let me know how you feel.
I also want to bring out yet another intel guru phenomenon. They are now telling their gullible listeners that the census is going to launch the HCL and will cause the RV to happen. Really? How ignorant to pretend you know so much and yet so little.
In the study of the recent Iraqi census taking, if you have been reading my articles in my Newsletter, you can clearly see the recent census was a national census taken with the help of the United Nations (UN). The UN every so many decades takes a global census to determine the world’s population and demographics. Iraq is also going to use this census as part of the Article 140 distribution of the Kurdistan monthly payments of oil revenues to the region from the GOI. It will also help resolve part of the Oil and Gas law.
Note, I did not say excess oil revenues or oil wealth distribution. So, Iraq is really districted in two main regions. The southern half where the government of Iraq runs the country called the federal Government of Iraq (GOI) located in Baghdad, the capital. Then the second main region up in the northern region of Kurdistan, where basically all the oil wells are located. Two distinct regions but yet one national country of Iraq. The government by constitution is representative positions of all the secs including the Sunnis, Kurds and the Shiites. Teh GOI by its prime ministers office interface with the public and the outside world of politics.
How would the GOI then know how to compensate the Kurdistan region and in particular this new region of the formerly disputed regions (Article 140), if they don’t know the population?
Article 140 has always dictated these regions would come under the Kurdistan authority. Settling Article 140 will also settle the many legislative disputes when in the past the Kurds refused to pass bills in retaliation for not getting their full share of the oil revenues, especially from being responsible for these disputed regions. But officially the constitution dictated a census to be taken to designate it under the Kurds. So, these areas where only proxy Kurdistan regions until the census was taken.
Thi is why the GOI never wanted to pay for these regions. So, now since the census is taken, the GOI can legally compensate and prove why they are compensating the amounts to the Kurds. This is really WOW! news for us today. Don’t you think? By finally settling this issue of Article 140 the GOI should run much more smoothly in the house of representatives. In fact, they told us there are now going to even be more seats in parliament now based on this census results. It’s all so good! Yes- Wunderbar!
Census taking: How many people eligible to work? What occupations and skills? How many children? How many retirees? Age groups, etc., etc. So, you can see how this census results would also be useful in rebuilding the Iraqi economy besides Article 140 and HCl disputes. It was way overdue. This is yet another sign to us investors that Iraq is now serious about moving ahead.
NETWORK REVEALS THE FATE OF THE CHINESE DEAL.. IT WAS DISRUPTED BY “IRAQI OFFICIALS” – URGENT
The Diplomat Network revealed in a report published today, Saturday (November 23, 2024), the fate of what is known as the “Chinese deal” under the Belt and Road Initiative launched by China to invest in Africa and the Middle East, confirming that the deal was “deliberately obstructed” by local Iraqi officials.
The network explained, according to what was translated by “Baghdad Today”, that some influential officials in the Iraqi government have begun to view with “concern” the increase in Chinese influence inside Iraq to unprecedented levels, stressing that “some Iraqi officials are concerned about the increased reliance on foreign investments to build Iraqi infrastructure, which weakens Iraq’s ability to make its strategic decisions.”
She continued: “The Iraqi government, like the rest of the Middle Eastern countries, is trying to maintain a difficult balance in its relations with the West and the East, in addition to maintaining its ability to make its strategic decisions with complete sovereignty, which may conflict with the presence of significant foreign influence on the Iraqi infrastructure sector internally,” according to her description.
The network also confirmed that the United States of America also views the growing Chinese influence in Iraq with another “concern”, explaining that the United States has spent about 90 billion dollars on Iraq since 2003, and thus has great influence on the Iraqi strategic decision and therefore opposes the growing Chinese influence inside Iraq, which is a competitor to its influence
.
The Diplomat pointed out that the Chinese deal, which was concluded in 2019, included China rebuilding the infrastructure in Iraq with an investment of up to 10 billion US dollars, and in return the Iraqi government committed to giving China 100,000 barrels of oil per day for free for twenty years, which some local leaders in Iraq see as the country’s heavy reliance on China to implement and operate infrastructure projects, which leads to giving China influence over Iraqi strategic decisions, according to the statement.
It is noteworthy that Chinese officials confirmed to the network that the deal has been “temporarily suspended” due to the position of Iraqi officials, as some of them confirmed that China will try to “provide reassurances” to the Iraqi government during the coming period to begin implementing the deal, which the network described as “controversial” in Iraq.
(Remember post RV Iraq will also be on the hook to sell oil to the US at a fixed, low price for the next 30 years (oil credits from our exchanges). This is in part how Iraq is going to pay for the exchange of currency on revaluation. But this oil is not FREE as with China.)
MNT GOAT: "AL-SUDANI: IRAQ MUST ALWAYS BE AT THE FOREFRONT"
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said today, Sunday, November 24, 2024, that: "Iraq must always be at the forefront." -
"Iraq is one of the most prominent founding members of the United Nations" - "Iraq has become, by the United Nations' recognition, a country that has fulfilled all the conditions for democratic, political
and developmental transformation." So now we hear it from the United Nations too. Is Iraq ready to be a player in the international arena?
Go read the rest of today's articles too. Yes, they are more than ready and so where is their currency? Why not reinstate it?
What are they waiting for?
Are they waiting for their target timeframe of early 2025?
THE EUROPEAN UNION ORGANIZES A WORKSHOP IN BASRA ON CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION AND THE WEALTH DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
The European Union organized a workshop in Basra on central administration and the wealth distribution system.
Basra Governor Asaad Al-Eidani stressed during the workshop that the distribution of wealth has limitations for the poorest areas as well as areas with high population density, in addition to areas that were damaged by the wars that Iraq witnessed.
He added that Basra has three resources for distributing wealth in the budget, which are: regional development, border crossing revenues, and petrodollars. Basra may not be given its full revenues, which are according to the constitution, due to the financial situation and challenges facing the country. He pointed out that during the past two years there are debts owed to the governorate that must be given those entitlements.
Al-Eidani explained that “the infrastructure projects being implemented in the province have contributed significantly to improving the economic situation in various housing units, noting that house prices in the province have witnessed a noticeable doubling during the past few years, reaching ten times their previous value.
Al-Eidani pointed out that these improvements reflect the impact of development projects on improving the standard of living and enhancing the value of real estate assets in Basra.”
Article quote: "The objectives of banking reforming Iraq will end with a high integration that achieves competitiveness, homogeneity, compliance and governance within the Iraqi banking market and achieves the integration of the national banking market with the global market."
They haven't ever done that with an exchange rate of 1180, 1166, 1182, 1310, 1450...Never happened.
Then why would they just all of a sudden say, 'Now it's okay'?
...Integrating Iraq's national banking market system with the global market system in my view will require a real effective exchange rate...
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s parliament on Tuesday finished the first reading of an amendment to the country’s budget law in a bid to resume Kurdistan Region’s oil exports which have been halted for nearly 20 months.
The parliament convened to discuss a range of issues, including a bill recently submitted by the federal government to increase the rate for the production and transportation of a barrel of oil from the Kurdistan Region by nearly $10. The aim of the move is to pave the way for a deal between Baghdad, Erbil and international oil companies operating in the Region to restart the exports of the Kurdish oil via Turkey.
The parliament said in a statement that it finished the first reading of the bill. Following the second reading, it will be put to a vote.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi government approved a proposal to amend articles from the federal budget to authorize compensation to companies operating in the Kurdistan Region for oil production and transportation costs, setting the rate at $16 per barrel.
Iraq’s three-year federal budget bill, passed in June 2023, had set the rate for one barrel of oil at $6.90 and international oil companies (IOCs) have requested three times that amount.
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been suspended since March 2023 after a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad over Ankara, saying the latter had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to export oil independently since 2014.
Before the halt, Erbil exported around 400,000 barrels per day through the pipeline, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk’s oil.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Saturday that the halt has cost them $20 billion.
Fuad Hussein, Iraq’s foreign minister, told Rudaw on November 14 that the exportation of the Kurdish oil could resume in weeks.