Parliamentary Foreign Affairs: reveals the need to appoint 100 ambassadors to Iraq
Haider Al-Salami, a member of the Parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, reaffirmed on Saturday that Iraq requires one hundred ambassadors to effectively represent the country abroad.
“There are infractions against the Foreign Ministry’s legislation concerning the nomination of ambassadors, which states that the shares of candidates from political parties should not surpass 25%,” Al-Salami stated.
He also stated, “The foreign service law regarding selecting ambassadors stipulates that their selection be 75% from within the ministry.”
He said, “The ambassadors file is still suffering between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the House of Representatives, pointing out that Iraq needs to appoint a new group and a large number of ambassadors,”
And he clarified that “what is happening is that fifty percent of the ambassadors are determined by the political blocs and 50 percent by the ministry.”
Article: "Iraq will become an "alternative" to the Suez Canal" Quote: "Iraq will become, during the next few years, a 'center' for international trade between the East and the Middle East and the West.”
Article: "Iraqi economy faces threat as US closes oil revenue account" Quote "...with the closure of the DFI [Development Fund for Iraq] account, Iraq's oil revenue is now being directed to a new account, referred to as IRAQ2. This transition raises concerns...banking specialist Kamaran Qadir Yaqub...warns the protection previously afforded to Iraq's revenue may no longer be guaranteed."
Article: "Al-Shammari reveals the most prominent files of Sudanese’s visit to Washington and the government’s ambition regarding the dollar" Quote: "Al-Sudani's visit to Washington will be practical and will not be for taking pictures...The Iraqi delegation will ask the American side about the reasons for their decisions to impose sanctions on Iraqi banks... Our expectations are that the visit will be very successful..."
Clare
Article "Statement from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the Visit of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’a Al-Sudani of Iraq to the White House" Quote "On April 15, President Joe Biden will welcome Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’a Al-Sudani of Iraq to the White House to coordinate on common priorities and reinforce the strong bilateral partnership between the United States and Iraq."
Article: "Al-Sudani intends to visit Washington to lift the ban on banks prohibited from dealing in dollars "
Quote: "The head of the Iraqi Securities Commission, Faisal Al-Haimas, announced that three Iraqi banks were sanctioned by the US Treasury, and 25 banks were banned from dealing in dollars ; ."
Article: "The Central Bank announces an understanding with the US Treasury to reconsider sanctions and indicates 'illegal trade' "
World Bank: Al-Faw Port put Iraq on the path to global trade
Today, on Friday, Ibrahim Dajani, the Director of the World Bank’s Transport Sector for the Middle East and North Africa, reaffirmed that Al-Faw Port has put Iraq on the global commerce route connecting the Middle East and Europe.
“Once the Al-Faw port is occupied, Iraq will be placed on the path of global trade between the East and Europe, which will provide opportunities for investment in logistical centers and industrial and commercial activities, as well as job opportunities for young women and men,” stated Dajani in a blog post shared on social media.
He stated: “I am happy with the Iraqi government’s decision to enter into a partnership with the World Bank to achieve this important endeavor.”
They're going to pay salaries and they're going to start pumping oil. They're going to have to have some sort t of value in those assets and what we believe is that we're looking for is a real effective exchange rate...
They are ready to resume exports at any time. Why? Because they have the systems in place.
Iraq's natural resources are phenomenal...these guys have so much natural resources it's not even funny.
Raising the value of your currency is going to help make it easier for sustainable development and deducing the phenomenon of cash. In other words if you have a 1 to 1 ratio you have a significant reduction in cash do you not? I think you do. If it was at a previous era, for instance...$2.80, $3.22..wouldn't that be a phenomenon of less cash in the economy? Of course it would.
Iraq announces that it is close to producing 5 million barrels per day
Baghdad - Iraq Today:
Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani confirmed that Iraq is close to reaching an extraction capacity of up to 5 million barrels of oil per day, while revealing the current volume of gas production, indicating that Iraq is ranked 12th globally in the volume of storage.
Abdul Ghani said in a press interview that "the Iraqi oil industry plays an important role in shaping the future of the national economy, and plays a great responsibility in supplementing the economy and advancing its burdens, especially with its reliance mainly on oil amid serious and real attempts to diversify the national economy and its sources of income."
He added that "the Ministry of Oil is approaching coherent steps to reach in the extraction sector an extraction capacity estimated at 5 million barrels per day despite serious restrictions on oil markets and restricting the quotas of OPEC countries in order to support the stability and balance of prices."
"This comes amid real fears of upcoming climate restrictions on the oil sector, the latest of which was the texts of the COP 28 climate conference and its recommendations for a gradual shift away from fossil fuels," he said.
He stressed that "the ministry's efforts are concerted in the gas industry on the axis of new rounds of exploration, production rounds, associated and burned gas investment rounds, and work is continuing on the fifth and sixth rounds of border patches and patches of the promising western regions with gas reserves because of Iraq's position in the global treasury that makes it ranked 12th in the world, and because of the importance of gas in meeting our national need and in the energy transition file as it is the cleanest fuel compared to heavy fuel, and this is in line with the recommendations of recent climate conferences.
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He pointed out that "the Ministry of Oil has paid great attention to investing gas in the western regions, which have a very large gas reserve, and therefore the ministry launched the fifth and sixth licensing rounds to invest it with the border areas, and the two rounds included more than 30 fields and oil and gas exploration patches, including 15 gas patches in the western regions, starting from the border with Syria and then Jordan down to the border with Saudi Arabia, where the provinces of Diwaniyah and Muthanna."
Abdul Ghani pointed out that "there are 20 international companies that will contribute and we hope that Iraqi businessmen will also have a contribution to these licensing rounds, and we are fully prepared to qualify these companies in order to expand participation in the rounds, which will ensure Iraq's self-sufficiency in gas and stop importing it, and Iraq may turn into a gas exporting country."
The Minister of Oil pointed out that "Iraq's current production of gas reaches 3200 million standard cubic feet (mqmq) per day, and the estimated investor of it up to 62% and the rest of the percentage of 38% is currently burned, and the current government since the beginning of its formation has set the goal of stopping gas burning at the top of its priorities."
He explained, "It has been contracted to stop burning gas and its investment, and within a few years the entire quantity will be completed and stop burning and we have developed a road map to invest its large quantities, and perhaps the last project completed last year is the project (Basra Angie Al) with a capacity of 200 million standard cubic feet of gas and was opened with the beginning of the formation of the government, and there is another unit in the Basra Gas Company with the same volume of energy with 200 million standard cubic feet and will start its trial operation in the second half of This year 2024".
He continued, "We also have a gas investment project in the Halfaya field in Maysan with a capacity of 300 million standard cubic feet, which has reached advanced stages, and within one to two months, the trial operation of the project will be completed and this quantity will be invested and directed to the national grid and power stations, especially the Amara gas station, as well as we have a project in Dhi Qar Governorate with a capacity of 200 million standard cubic feet implemented by Baker Hughes International for gas investment in the Nasiriyah and Al-Gharraf fields, which has also reached advanced stages. The first phase will be operational during the second half of this year, while the second phase will be operational next year."
Abdul Ghani pointed out that "the ministry's contracts and efforts are continuing in the project of the French company Total, which includes 3 main events in addition to oil production, and the most important of its activities is the investment of 600 million standard cubic feet of gas that is currently burned in 5 oil fields: Majnoon, Al-Lahis, West Qurna 2, Artawi and Al-Tuba, and it will be implemented in two phases by 300 million standard cubic feet for each stage, and they will end over 5 years, the first 3 and the second two years."