KTFA:

Aaron:  Sunday, March 24, 1991 – Kuwait made their historic Currency Value Adjustment that we all make reference to.

Today is the 30 year anniversary of that event.

As the last sentence of every Capital-1 Visa commercial would say:

Iraq, what’s in your wallet..??

Godlover:  I will say this....
With all the articles still implying that the reforms are going to be in the budget.....
With PM K at times telling the citizens that they will have PP in this budget.....
With the talks of the oil & gas law/HCL & hopefully soon more articles...implying they are trying to include in the budget.....
With all the talking of exchange rates in the articles.....
With all of the international investment talk....
With all the other supposedly in the know people (none of the lame gurus) that claim this is THE budget....
With the dollar auctions stopping for the most part back in December of last year....
With all the back & forth on the budget....

I would actually be surprised if the budget opened at a PR (program rate) !  IMO

Samson:  Qatari Foreign Minister begins an official visit to Baghdad

11:07 - 24/03/2021

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani arrived in the capital, Baghdad, on Wednesday on an official visit.

Al Thani is scheduled to meet senior Iraqi officials and hold a joint press conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.

The Qatari foreign minister will visit Erbil and meet with senior officials in the Kurdistan region, as it is scheduled to open a Qatar consulate in Erbil.   LINK

************

Samson:  The start of the round of ministerial talks between Iraq, Jordan and Egypt

03/24/2021 14:24:19

The official round of talks between the Iraqi and Jordanian delegations began in the presence of the Iraqi and Jordanian delegations, with the participation of the Egyptian ministerial delegation via the closed television circuit.

The Chairman of the Council, Minister of Planning Khaled Battal Al-Najm, affirmed the Iraqi government's desire to activate memoranda of understanding on the ground, which has witnessed tangible development and is moving towards positive steps, after it made advanced strides in the fields of commercial and industrial exchange.

He indicated that the Iraqi side is keen to accelerate the implementation of joint projects aimed at deepening coordination, cooperation and strategic integration between the three sister countries in all vital sectors.

The Iraqi delegation discussed joint cooperation to rehabilitate priority Iraqi factories, establish the Iraqi-Jordanian economic city, as well as activate the Arab Bridge Company for Maritime Transport.

The delegations also discussed memoranda of understanding signed on agricultural cooperation and food security, as well as the fields of pharmaceutical, agricultural pesticides and chemical industries.

The Iraqi delegation called on the technical teams from the Jordanian and Egyptian sides to visit Iraq. To view the specific sites for the establishment of projects listed in the signed memoranda of understanding

The final record of the round of discussions will be prepared and presented to the leaders of the three countries. In order to reach the final recommendations that will be ratified during the tripartite summit to be held in Baghdad.  LINK

DeepWoodz:  Imo...This got me to thinking about all the different countries that have signed mou’s with Iraq.....

MOU’s

A memorandum of understanding allows all parties to clearly state all of their objectives and goals. This makes for less uncertainty and prevents future unexpected disputes to occur. Furthermore, by clearly laying out what each party expects of the other, an MOU provides a blueprint for any contract both parties may or may not wish to draw up in the future.

 A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is not legally binding, although it usually signals a legal contract is imminent!

That means in Iraq’s case they are WAITING ON SOMETHING.

My logic tells me that the fact there are SO MANY different countries signing MOU’s that they must all have something in common they are waiting for.  

Its not like some have signed contracts and some have signed MOU’s. (Except maybe recently like the Port of Faw)

We know what that is don’t we?

Samson:  Iraq directs a request to France regarding its seized funds in Paris

24th March, 2021
The Iraqi Minister of Justice, Salar Abdul Sattar Muhammad, called on Wednesday for the French authorities to lift the seizure of sums of money belonging to the Iraqi government withheld by the French government.

A statement by the Ministry of Justice, a copy of which was received by Mawazine News, stated that “Salar discussed during his meeting today, Wednesday, with the French ambassador to Iraq, Bruno Hubert, Consul Luke Spebrock, and their accompanying delegation, the cooperation relations between the two sides and ways to strengthen and develop them.”

The Minister of Justice emphasized, according to the statement, that "Iraq seeks to open new horizons of joint cooperation, especially in the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding or cooperation in the legal field and exchanging experiences between the Iraqi and French ministries of justice in the near future."

The minister explained that "he discussed with the French side the release of funds that belong to the Iraqi government withheld by the French government, and that he asked the French authorities to lift the seizure of these funds and return them, noting that there is a decision issued by the United Nations Security Council to release these sums."   LINK

************

Samson:  Al-Bawi: The rise of the dollar, had it happened in another country, would have toppled large numbers of politicians

08:59 - 24/03/2021

Political analyst Hazem Al-Bawi said, on Wednesday, that the rise in the price of the dollar, if it had occurred in a country other than Iraq, would have toppled all those behind it, politically and electively.

Al-Bawi said in a statement to the information, that “what was revealed by informed sources that the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar has returned to political forces, including the Kurdistan region, in large sums in light of the high oil prices, which represents an increasing pressure on the lives of the people affected by the conditions imposed by the pandemic in a forced manner. And it coincided with unjustified and government-imposed austerity measures.

He added that "the parliamentary blocs and members of the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives and the supervisory authorities to verify the fact that political parties, including Kurdistan, win as a result of the high price of the dollar."

Al-Bawi pointed to "accurate information confirming that the proportion of Kurdistan from the budget amounting to 13 percent will remain the same, but the region will get additional revenues by increasing the income of the dinar in light of the high dollar."    LINK

************

Samson:  Integrity: the issuance of an arrest warrant against the former governor of Babylon

12:50 - 24/03/2021

Today, Wednesday, the Federal Commission of Integrity announced the issuance of an arrest warrant against the former governor of Babylon against the background of tampering with the record of land distribution, while it indicated that it had caught an accountant in the act of embezzlement in the provincial office.

The commission said in a statement it received / the information / a copy of, that “the Hilla investigation court, which is competent to examine issues of integrity, issued an arrest warrant against the former governor of Babylon against the background of tampering with the report approved by the governorate office regarding the plots assigned to the slice of martyrs and political prisoners.”

The commission clarified the details of the case it investigated and referred it to the judiciary that “the record was tampered with,” indicating that “it focused on suspicions of tampering with the report and replacing plots of land with residential plots other than those allocated during the lottery process, as well as adding names from outside the lottery box, indicating that The arrest warrant was issued based on the provisions of Article 340 of the Penal Code.

In another context, the commission confirmed, “A team from the Commission’s investigation office in Babil governorate caught an accountant in the bid opening committee at the governorate’s bureau for having misrepresented the speculative disclosure of a project to develop a street in the city center of Hilla presented by (two private companies)

Pointing out that “the accused made the amount of the disclosure higher than the original amount that the company provided to the Babil Governorate office, with the intention of taking what was in excess of the amount from the contractor, in exchange for referring the project to the provincial office in the interest of the company.”

And she continued, “A fundamentalist seizure report was organized in the process, and it was presented with the accused and the criminal exhibitors to the competent investigating judge. To take the appropriate legal measures.”  LINK