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Don961:  The agenda of Al-Kazemi's visit to Washington, the date of his meeting with Trump, and the names of the accompanying delegation

Policy 08/16/2020 17:17 1138   Baghdad Today - Baghdad

An informed source revealed, on Sunday, the agenda of the Iraqi delegation headed by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi during his visit to Washington on August 18.

The source told (Baghdad Today), "Al-Kazemi will arrive in the American capital, Washington, at the head of a large ministerial delegation, on the eighteenth of August. The delegation includes: Minister of Defense Jumah Inad Saadoun, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail, Minister Immigration Ivan Jabro, Minister of Electricity Majid Mahdi Hantoush.

He added, "The schedule of the visit for Tuesday, August 18 will be as follows: The delegation arrives at 6 pm, Washington time - 1 am Baghdad time - the reception ceremony will take place at Andrua Military Base in the suburbs of Washington DC (there will be an official reception ceremony, but it is It will depend on the weather in Washington, where a rainstorm is expected. I will send the cover material as soon as the delegation arrives at the hotel. "

He continued, “Wednesday August 19: The second strategic dialogue will be held between the two countries, at the US State Department’s headquarters in Washington, in the presence of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein, and we expect a press conference for the two ministers. The Prime Minister will deliver a speech. Al-Iraqiya will be present to cover the meeting of the room, and the speech, and we expect bilateral meetings with the World Bank (not yet clear). "

The source pointed out that "the agenda for Thursday, August 20: will include a corona examination at the hotel at six in the morning, for the summit meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Mustafa Al-Kazemi at the White House at two in the afternoon Washington time - nine in the evening Baghdad time."

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi begins this week an official visit to the United States of America, at the head of a government delegation based on an official invitation.

Al-Kazemi's office indicated that "Al-Kazemi will meet US President Donald Trump on the twentieth of this month."

He added, "The visit will include discussing the files of bilateral relations between Iraq and the United States, issues of common interest, joint cooperation in the fields of security, energy, health, economy and investment, and ways to enhance them, in addition to the file to address the Corona pandemic, and bilateral cooperation to serve the common interests of the two countries."   link

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Samson:  The Foreign Minister heads to Washington in preparation for Al-Kazemi's visit

13:16 - 16/08/2020

A high-ranking delegation headed by the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, went to the United States of America on Sunday, in preparation for the upcoming visit of the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi to Washington and his meeting with the US President, Donald Trump, on August 20.

The Kurdish website, Rudaw, quoted a representative of the Democratic Party, Ikhlas Al-Dulaimi, as saying, "A delegation headed today to America, headed by Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and a large number of financial and economic advisers and experts to study the situation and relations between the Iraqi government and the American administration." The Iraqi foreign minister will meet with his US counterpart, Mike Pompeo, during the visit.

Two days later, another delegation will head to the United States headed by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, to be joined by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance Ali Allawi, Minister of Defense Jumah Inad and the ministers concerned with economic affairs, who will be received by US President Donald Trump.   LINK

Samson:  After the UAE, Bahrain announces the normalization of its relations with "Israel" before the end of 2020!

18:25 - 15/08/2020

A government official announced in Bahrain, on Saturday, that the Kingdom will announce the normalization of its relations with the Israeli entity before the end of this year.

Hebrew media quoted the advisor to the King of Bahrain, Rabbi Mark Schneier, “Bahrain will announce its relations with Israel in 2020.

US President Donald Trump announced, last Thursday, that a peace agreement had been reached between the UAE and the Israeli entity, to become the first Gulf country to normalize relations with the Israeli entity and the third Arab country after Jordan and Egypt.

Arab countries supported the Emirati-Israeli normalization, the most important of which are Bahrain, Egypt and the Sultanate of Oman, while Iraq, Iran and Turkey rejected it, and the Palestinian resistance considered it a stab in the back of Palestine and the first cause of Muslims.     LINK

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Samson:  Today .. Al-Kazemi meets with a Kurdish delegation in Baghdad to negotiate the outstanding issues

11:02 - 16/08/2020
Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi is scheduled to meet today, Sunday, a delegation from the Kurdistan region that will arrive in the capital, Baghdad, to negotiate the determination of the financial ceiling for the region, with the latter's commitment to pay the resulting oil dues and border crossings to the central government.

Jamal Cougar, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee for the Kurdistan Alliance, said in a statement to / information /, that “after a call between Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi and Masrour Barzani yesterday, an official delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government will arrive today in Baghdad to meet Al-Kazemi.”

Cougar added, "The delegation will negotiate with the central government to determine the financial ceiling to be paid by the central government to the region in exchange for the final commitment to pay the resulting oil dues and border crossings," noting that "the meeting will resolve the dispute between the region and the center."

Kurdish media sources have confirmed that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi has agreed to spend 320 billion in the region for the purpose of paying the salaries of the region’s employees after a phone call took place between the latter and Masrour Barzani.    LINK

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Samson:  Kurdistan reveals new details about the Barzani and Kazemi agreement

15:21 - 16/08/2020

The Minister of External Affairs of the Region in the Kurdistan Regional Government, Khaled Shawani, revealed, on Sunday, new details regarding the financial and economic benefits in the agreement reached by the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, and the Federal Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi.

Shwani said in a statement received by the information that "the agreement will continue until the fiscal budget law for 2021 is approved," referring to "the start of a new phase of negotiations on the budget for next year."

He explained that "according to the agreement, 320 billion dinars will be sent a month to the Kurdistan Region," noting that "the agreement includes a set of benefits related to control and auditing and setting up a mechanism to solve a set of other financial and economic files."

Shawani indicated that "the agreement also includes dealing with financial revenues at border crossings, in accordance with Federal Financial Administration Law No. 6 of 2019."

On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi decided to send an amount of 320 billion dinars as part of the salaries to the Kurdistan region as soon as possible. This came in a phone call with the Prime Minister of the region, Masrour Barzani.    LINK

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Samson:  The Finance committee: The salaries will be delayed for "a few days only"

16th August, 2020
The Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament suggested that the salaries of employees will be delayed "for a few days" only, due to "technical" issues.

Member of the committee, MP Ahmad Hama Rashid, said in an interview with Shafaq News agency, "salaries may be delayed but the government cannot cut them because it is the citizen's sustenance", stressing that, "the government is obligated to release it, whether by borrowing or withdrawing from the cash reserve or anything else".

Rashid explained, "the Central Bank promised to pay salaries for the coming months", explaining, "the government needs 6 billion dollars a month to cover its expenses, of which more than 3 billion are paid in salaries. Therefore, there is a deficit of about two billion dollars".

Rashid indicated, "August salaries may be delayed for a few days because of the lack of income to the federal treasury, as oil and other revenues do not arrive on a precise date. This leads to the delay", stressing, "the delay is due to technical issues".

The government has submitted a law that stipulates external borrowing of $ 5 billion and internal borrowing of $ 15 trillion to address the country's fiscal deficit.

The Iraqi government is struggling to secure employee salaries and other operating expenses after the collapse in oil prices due to COVID-19 pandemic, which has paralyzed large sectors of the world economy, while Iraq relies on the revenues of crude oil to fund 95 percent of state expenditures.

LINK

Samson:  Imprisonment of officials of the Martyrs Foundation damaged public funds by 7 billion dinars

09:14 - 16/08/2020

On Sunday, the Federal Commission for Integrity announced the issuance of two prison sentences for two officials of the Martyrs Foundation. For deliberately damaging public funds of more than seven billion dinars.

A statement of the commission, a copy of which was received by the information, stated that “the investigation department of the authority, and in its talk about the case that the commission investigated and referred to the judiciary, indicated that the convicts, the vice president of the Martyrs Foundation, and a member of the “former”care council, committed violations In the contract concluded between the corporation and a German company, indicating that this resulted in intentional damage to the funds of the entity in which they work, amounting to (7,116,984,650) billion dinars.

The department clarified that "the criminal court specialized in integrity cases in Baghdad, after reviewing the evidence obtained in the case, represented by the statements of the legal representative of the Martyrs Foundation, the administrative investigation, the report of the Board of Financial Supervision, as well as the presumption of the escape of the convicts, and reached full conviction in their courts."

She emphasized that “the court issued a sentence in absentia with seven years imprisonment against the convicts in accordance with the provisions of Article (340) of the Penal Code and in terms of subscription articles 47, 48 and 49 thereof, and also issued an arrest and investigation order against them, and upheld the seizure of their movable and immovable property, while retaining the right to claim compensation for the Martyrs Foundation. Before civil courts after acquiring the judgment to the final degree.   LINK

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Samson:  Trump's younger brother dies of a mysterious illness

09:37 - 16/08/2020

US President Donald Trump announced, on Sunday, that his younger brother Robert died, at the age of 72, after being admitted to a New York hospital for treatment of an undisclosed illness.

In a statement, Trump said, "With a heavy heart, I announce that my wonderful brother Robert passed away peacefully tonight."

He added, “He wasn't just my brother, he was my best friend. We'll miss him a lot, but we'll meet again. His memory will forever live in my heart. ”

Earlier, Trump appeared during a visit to his younger brother Robert, in a New York hospital, to check on his health.

Trump had previously admitted that his brother was going through a difficult period, expressing his hope that his 72-year-old brother would be cured.

Robert Trump, just two years younger than him, was a business executive and real estate developer.  LINK