More Iraqi News Wednesday PM 8-19-20
More Iraqi News Wednesday PM 8-19-20
TLM724 Administrator BondLady’s Corner
Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi Arrives In Washington
Political Wednesday 19 August 2020 | 01:27 AM| Views: 291 Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi arrived in Washington, on Wednesday, on an official visit.
The Prime Minister’s Office said in a brief statement received by "Eye of Iraq News" that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi had arrived in the United States of America. It is noteworthy that the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, left the capital, Baghdad, on Tuesday, heading to the United States of America, at the head of a government delegation, in response to an official invitation. This visit comes amid popular and parliamentary demands to resolve the file of the presence of foreign forces in Iraq. https://aynaliraqnews.com/index.php?aa=news&id22=137541
Source: Iraq Will Request Financial Grants From Washington
POSTED ON 2020-08-19 BY SOTALIRAQ An Iraqi government source revealed, on Tuesday, that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi will request financial grants from the United States during his visit to Washington.
The source said, "Al-Kazemi will request financial grants related to the Iraqi humanitarian file, especially with regard to the files of the displaced and the Corona virus."
He added, "Al-Kazemi seeks to invest the American desire to strengthen the relationship with Iraq, request grants from it, and request its assistance in obtaining other grants from the international community."
Today, Tuesday, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi left the capital, Baghdad, heading to the United States, heading a government delegation in response to an official invitation. LINK
Funding Problems Or External Pressure Behind The Stoppage Of Work In The Large Port Of Faw?
Reports Economy News – Baghdad Although 10 years have passed since the Iraqi government announced laying the foundation stone for the large port of Al-Faw in southern Iraq, the project is still far from completion due to many problems, some of which are related to financing and others due to external pressures, according to Monitor.
In the middle of this month, Minister of Transport, Nasser Hussein Bandar, announced that his ministry was planning to sign a contract with the South Korean Hanwha Company to resume the FAO project, and this stage is scheduled to include the construction of five berths, deepening the sailing channel of the port, from 19 to 21 meters, and the establishment of infrastructure For five berths, the stage also includes the construction of a tunnel linking the port of Khor Al-Zubair and a strategic road linking the Iraqi border with Kuwait.
However, this does not mean that the port will be ready in the near future; Because while a lot of the delay has to do with funding, part of the problem also has to do with border disputes between Iraq and its neighbors, according to the site.
The site stressed that Iraq is trying to reach agreements with Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to resolve these differences, and this is an important step to complete the project, which gives Iraq the ability to host giant naval ships, but Iraq's neighbors may see that completing the port does not serve their interest.
Iranian pressure
The site also reported that Iran is pushing Iraq to proceed with linking the Iranian national railways to Iraq, in addition to the Syrian railways, which will eventually connect Iran to the Mediterranean Sea in the Syrian port of Latakia, and observers say that this may make Iraq more dependent on Iranian ports in Northern Gulf.
On his recent visit to Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi to end the rail link between the Iranian city of Shalamjah and the Iraqi city of Basra.
Basra Governorate has four other major ports, including Abu Flus, Khor Al Zubair, Al Maqal and Umm Qasr, however, the depths of water and the length of its berths are limited and cannot accommodate large exports, which makes FAO important because it is able to host giant ships.
The FAO project is designed to receive ships with a tonnage of more than 100 thousand tons, which need greater water depths and port berths than is available in the current ports of Basra, and if the Faw port is built as planned, it will be one of the 12 largest ports in the world, It is also the only Iraqi port on the open sea.
For his part, Asaad Al-Rasheed, director of the Faw port project, said that the latter will contribute to the development of the Iraqi economy and increase commercial traffic, which will achieve four times what Iraq collects financially from other ports combined, adding that the main purpose of the port is loading and unloading containers, and the port also includes dozens Berths to meet local demand over the next 30 years, in addition, the port's container terminals will include berths for bulk cargo and berths for general cargo.
The first steps of the project included the construction of the eastern breakwater, and although much progress has been made in constructing breakwaters, the project in general has almost stopped due to financial difficulties. Rashid told the American website: “Our initial plan was to complete the first phase of the port by year 2024 if all goes well and smoothly, "indicating that there is a fiscal deficit of between 3 billion and 4 billion dollars.
False excuses
In turn, a government employee working for the Ministry of Transport, on condition of anonymity, revealed to the site that neighboring countries had pressured the Iraqi government to stop the project or at least make the work go slowly. He confirmed that the government's excuses regarding funding are "flimsy." It is really the case, so why does the government not seek funding from the big companies that have an interest in implementing the project? "
Rasheed disagreed with the idea that external interference affected the continuity of the project, stressing that what delayed the work was mostly internal matters, and pointed out that given that FAO is an Iraqi port, there is no need to conclude a deal with any other country to move forward in its development.
"The business was going slowly for various reasons, unstable soil, financial shortages and the security situation in 2014 when ISIS invaded northwest Iraq," he added.
As for Sarkut Shams al-Din, a member of the Future bloc in the Iraqi parliament, he said: "Iraqi politicians have worked in the past 17 years to drain the country's wealth and make concessions to neighboring countries to achieve personal and economic gains for their groups."
He continued, "It is important to know that neighboring countries cannot do anything if there are no local politicians to do so for them. The FAO is a project that enables Iraq to be economically stronger, but it will benefit ordinary Iraqis more than political businessmen." You don't want to build huge projects like the FAO because they are a group of thugs and kleptocrats. "
The Faw port plan will include many other projects that will boost Basra's economy, improve the daily life of the people of the province, and establish power and water plants and factories.
Number of observations: 34 date of addendum 08/19/2020 https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=21490
In The Document ... The Central Bank Obliges Banks To Release The Salaries Of State Departments, Subject To Financial Approval
Time: 08/19/2020 10:58:06 Read: 5,148 times {Baghdad: Al Furat News} The Central Bank of Iraq has directed all licensed banks not to release the salaries of the employees Suspect of the centrally nationalized or self-financed departments of the state, whether losing or gaining ones, and citizenship their salaries, starting from this August and the following months, subject to obtaining the approval of the Minister of Finance. LINK
Iraq's Oil Exports To South Korea Drop By 60%
Energy Economy News – Baghdad Iraq's oil exports to South Korea continue to decrease gradually every month, as it recorded 132 thousand barrels per day last month, after it was at the beginning of this year 325 thousand barrels per day. South Korea currently relies on Iraqi oil for 4.8%, up from 12% at the beginning of this year.
The decline in Iraqi exports to South Korea reached 60%, due to Iraq's commitment to the OPEC Plus agreement and the increased focus of Saudi Arabia on the countries of India, China and South Korea, as Saudi Arabia owns 60% of the refineries in South Korea.
Iraq had asked some Asian buyers to abandon some of the oil produced in Basra because of its commitment to the OPEC Plus agreement.
Saudi Arabia began to acquire the lion’s share, as it ranked first in South Korea’s crude oil imports amounting to 1.25 million barrels after it was 853 thousand barrels at the beginning of this year, and the UAE occupies second place, 298 thousand barrels per day, and then Kuwait with 261 thousand barrels per day And America by 159 thousand barrels per day, and Iraq by 132 thousand barrels per day.
Iraqi exports to South Korea were recorded according to the South Korean Customs Department, as the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company "SOMO" did not announce the quantities sold to each country during the past months, and these numbers came as follows:
January 2020/325 thousand barrels per day
February / 283 thousand barrels per day
March / 232 thousand barrels per day
April / 237 thousand barrels per day
May / 182 thousand barrels per day
June / 143 thousand barrels per day
July / 132 thousand barrels per day
Number of observations 140 Date of addendum 08/19/2020
https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=21488
Planning Pledges To Pay 1.8 Trillion Dinars In Contractor Dues
Minister of Planning Khaled Battal Al-Najm during his meeting with the President and members of the Iraqi Contractors Union
Money and business Economy News – Baghdad The Minister of Planning, Khaled Battal Al-Najm, said that the ministry is making exceptional efforts to pay all contractors' dues owed by the government, for their implementation of government projects that have stopped during the past years due to economic conditions.
Al-Najm added, during a meeting with the President of the Iraqi Contractors Union, Ali Al-Sanafi and his accompanying delegation, which included the heads of the union’s branches in all governorates, that “the ministry has prepared a draft law for borrowing for the payment of contractors’ dues of 1.8 trillion dinars, and the formation of a special committee headed by the administrative agent and membership of representatives of the union Contractors, to put in place appropriate mechanisms for handling those receivables.
The minister revealed, "The 2021 budget will not include the inclusion of any new projects, except for the most urgent necessity, but the available financial allocations will be directed towards continuing projects to ensure that they do not stop and accomplish because of the importance they represent in providing services and supporting development."
Al-Najm emphasized that "the Ministry of Planning is currently working to provide the appropriate environment for the contracting sector, and to address all problems facing this sector," calling on "Iraqi contractors to submit more bids and invest the available investment opportunities in all sectors."
For his part, the head of the Contractors Union, Ali Al-Sanafi, said that "contractors face many problems and challenges, including those related to tax exemption, company registration, classification mechanisms, project referrals, compensation for those affected by terrorist acts, and others."
The meeting witnessed a discussion of the solutions and treatments paper presented by the Contractors Union, and the Minister directed to take the necessary measures to address what could be addressed of the problems facing the work of the contracting sector. The number of observations 195, date of addendum 19/08/2020 https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=21478
The Iraqi National Oil Company Law And The Return Of Confusion Again
Articles Ahmed Musa Jayad * Among the decisions of the Cabinet session taken on August 17, 2020, the following are related to the Iraqi National Oil Company:
1. Approving the draft law of the first amendment to the Iraqi National Oil Company law and referring it to the House of Representatives, based on the provisions of Articles 61 / First and 80 / Second Clause of the Constitution, taking into account the opinion of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
2. Completing the steps of establishing the company through its board of directors choosing a specialized advisory office to work on setting the administrative structure, classifying tasks and responsibilities, and determining the value of the fixed assets of the owned companies, in preparation for disassociating them from the Ministry of Oil, and owning them to the company in question without compensation, in accordance with the provisions of the two articles ( 1/5 and 7/5) of the National Oil Company Law, taking into consideration what was mentioned in the aforementioned draft law.
Before discussing what was mentioned in the above decision, it is necessary to refer to some matters related to the subject:
First: I previously dealt with what was stated in the ministerial curriculum of the Al-Kazemi government regarding “completing and sending the draft law (the Iraqi National Oil Company)” and showed that the importance of the Iraqi National Oil Company requires issuing its law after careful and integrated study of all aspects of specialization, technology, legal, economic and within normal circumstances This guarantees the correctness of restructuring the company according to the modern and advanced principles and standards related to the standards of efficiency, productivity and economic feasibility.
However, the subject of this law and the attempts to issue it are not new, especially after 2003, when political considerations and practices of "legalized corruption" overwhelmed the requirements of efficiency, productivity, economic feasibility and the supreme national interest, the most recent of which was the "malicious" company law No. 4 in 2018, which was passed by the House of Representatives and approved. In a suspicious manner, ambiguous circumstances, and record speed, with coordination and support by the then Minister of Oil, Jabbar Laibi, who hastened to take a set of wrong, contradictory and inconsistent measures with the constitution, which indicated Minister Jabbar Laibi’s lack of the simplest administrative capacity qualifications in terms of his usual confusion in decision-making.
The wretched and malicious legislation of the law prompted a nationwide campaign by oil experts and national figures, outside and inside Iraq, to challenge the said law before the Federal Supreme Court, where the appeal was accepted. Thus, the esteemed Federal Supreme Court decision formed a very important material and legal basis, binding on both the legislative authority (i.e. the House of Representatives) and the executive authority (i.e. the Cabinet and the Ministry of Oil) when making the necessary amendments to Law No. 4 in 2018.
Second: The above company law has been included in the government program of the Ministry of Adel Abdul Mahdi, and he is one of the main supporters of the above-mentioned "malicious" law; As stated in the government program (the third axis: (1) the Ministry of Oil, paragraph (11 T1.)) to “Putting the National Oil Company Law into practice,” and the date for the start of the procedure was set on 10/25/2018 and ended on 10/25/2020.
In implementation of this, the Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and former Oil Minister Thamer Al-Ghadhban (in the government of Adel Abdul Mahdi) confirmed on Sunday 10 March 2019 that “the ministry has a set of alternatives: either the House of Representatives amend the law, or send it again to the executive authority to reconsider it.
Or, or the executive authority submits a new draft decision in accordance with its powers, with a comprehensive new draft draft decision that takes into account the appeals approved by the Federal Court and at the same time takes into account the vision of the Ministry of Oil in how to establish this company in a modern, reformist manner.
However, the Ministry of Oil did not announce any details about those alternatives or the comparison between them and their priorities, and whether they were actually submitted to the Council of Ministers at the time and when or not.
Third: It seems that the last cabinet decision that is the subject of discussion has adopted, in part, the third alternative from what was mentioned by former minister Thamer Al-Ghadhban, meaning that “the executive authority submits a new draft decision in accordance with its powers with a new draft resolution,” but there is no evidence that this draft is for the new decision. Shamil takes into account the appeals approved by the Federal Court, and at the same time takes into account the vision of the Ministry of Oil on how to establish this company in a modern, reformist manner.
Fourth: As for timing, it is strange that this decision was taken hours before the departure of Prime Minister Al-Kazemi and his accompanying delegation to the United States. Does this matter have any connection with the mission of the official visit and why?
In light of the above and given the difficult economic conditions that Iraq is suffering from and because of the extremely worrying oil situation that requires more follow-up and efforts by the Ministry of Oil, I do not see absolutely any urgent need for the Al-Kazemi government to adopt such a law and its legislation during the current parliamentary session, especially since the remaining period The Al-Kazemi government and the current parliamentary session are too short to allow discussion of this important amendment whose details are unknown !!!
Back to the recent decision of the Council of Ministers, I would like to state the following:
First: With regard to paragraph (1-) of the above resolution:
1. The text of the "First Amendment Bill" has not been published, and therefore it is difficult to verify the extent of compliance with the decisions of the Federal Supreme Court mentioned above and to act accordingly when preparing the draft amendment law;
2. No reference has been made to referring the amendment bill to the State Council to ascertain whether the amendment is legal or not.
3. The decision did not mention what is the "opinion of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers" on the subject, and if the opinion of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers is important for this purpose, then why was it not included in the draft amendment ??
4. The decision did not mention who is the official body that should take into consideration the opinion of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers? If the parliament is intended, then this contravenes the provisions of Articles 61 / First and 80 / Second Clause of the Constitution. As both articles are concerned with proposing draft laws and nothing is mentioned in them, which requires taking the opinion of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers into consideration. And what will happen if that official body does not take the opinion of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers into account !!!
Therefore, what was stated in paragraph (1) of the decision is inaccurate and inconsistent, in addition to the lack of transparency (not publishing or announcing the text of the amendment draft and the opinion of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers).
Second: As for paragraph (2-) of the above decision, it suffers from many gaps, the most important of which are:
1. How can the Council of Ministers approve "completing the steps of establishing the company" before the amendment bill is approved by the House of Representatives and published in the Official Gazette ?? !!
2. Has the company’s board of directors been appointed? If this is done, who is the president of the company and who are the members of its board of directors ?? If this is not done, who will undertake the task of "completing the steps of establishing the company" ??
3. It is strange that "completing the steps of establishing the company" is only done "by choosing a specialized advisory office" and this is not mentioned in Law 4 of 2018 !!! Where the task of the legal advisory office was determined by determining the value of fixed assets of the owned companies only, and not also "setting the administrative structure and classifying tasks and responsibilities" !!!
4. With regard to determining the value of fixed assets of owned companies, is it not more feasible and more accurate for the Federal Office of Financial Supervision to cooperate with the companies concerned with this task instead of the specialized advisory office (which will most likely be foreign, financially costly and methodologically different) !!!
5. In this regard, it is necessary to clearly and accurately determine the value of the fixed assets of the owned companies currently producing (Basra Oil, North Oil, Maysan Oil, Central Oil, Dhi Qar Oil) and in the future does not include at all the hydrocarbon-oil reserves (oil, gas and condensate), confirmed and potential; As the oil wealth - according to the constitution - belongs to all the Iraqi people, not to the mentioned productive companies.
6. Because the text of the draft amendment to the law in question has not been published, it becomes known, at the present time, who are the owned companies and are they the same as the companies listed in Article 7-Second-2. From Law No. 4 of 2018. If the companies are the same listed, then this violates the Federal Supreme Court’s decision to the extent that it concerns the inclusion of the Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) within the owned companies.
In this regard, I think that the Oil Exploration Company, the Iraqi Drilling Company and the Iraqi Tanker Company should not be included, and that they should remain as specialized service companies (especially with regard to the exploration and drilling companies).
7. The decision of the Council under discussion referred to “the provisions of Articles (5/1 and 7/5) of the National Oil Company Law,” and this is imprecise as these two articles are not found in the aforementioned law; It was necessary to refer to the relevant articles precisely, namely: “Article -5-First-1” and “Article -8-Fifth” respectively.
8. Paragraph (2) of the above resolution was concluded with a loose phrase that is neither necessary nor important, as it states: "Taking into consideration what was mentioned in the aforementioned bill !!!" Isn't the aforementioned bill binding on the company’s board of directors if it is approved in accordance with constitutional principles !!!
Such a text lends itself to confusion and to take the wrong, hasty and ill-considered measures, and reminds us of the decisions of Jabbar Laibi; Have you not yet learned and why this insistence on repeating mistakes and disastrous practices ?? !!
In light of the above, I find it necessary:
First: Because of the many loopholes diagnosed above, it is imperative that the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers publish the full text of the draft law of the first amendment to the Iraqi National Oil Company Law and know the opinion of the State Council on the legal sobriety of the draft law, especially with regard to the Federal Supreme Court’s decision to accept appeals to Law No. 4 For the year 2018;
Second: The publication of the full text of the draft law of the First Amendment to the Iraqi National Oil Company law will enable oil experts to evaluate and advise on it;
Third: I call on the House of Representatives not to address the draft law of the first amendment to the Iraqi National Oil Company law during the current session and to refer it to the new parliament after the parliamentary elections next year.
Fourth: In the event that the Council of Ministers and the House of Representatives insist on passing and "wrapping" the draft of the First Amendment in the same way and manner as Law No. 4 of 2018 was legislated, then what we and all those who are concerned with the concerns of the homeland and the protection of its oil wealth must be prepared for confrontation and resort to the court The Supreme Federation is distinguished because, in my conviction, it is the only body that has been proven by actual experience as a guardian of the constitution.
* An Iraqi writer residing in Norway Number of observations 31 Date of addendum 08/19/2020
https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=21500
An Economist For NINA: The Recent Regional And Center Agreement Is Unfair And Illogical
Wednesday 19, August 2020 09:48 | EconomicalViews: 99 Baghdad / NINA / Economic expert Raad Twaij said that the draft of the recent economic agreement between the central government and the Kurdistan region is illogical and unfair.
Twig said in a statement to the Iraqi National News Agency / NINA / that "the draft financial agreement of the federal government with Kurdistan is not balanced and cannot be justified after Kurdistan exports large quantities of oil at good prices within $ 40 that cover the salaries of its regions, especially since the federal government has not delivered a single barrel of oil."
He added that "sending salaries of 350 billion dinars per month by the federal government was like a compulsory apportion, especially with Kurdistan never fulfilling its promises and with the scarcity and uncertainty of the financial resources of the federal government for the coming months."
Last Sunday, the federal government reached an agreement with the regional government to send more than $ 266 million to secure the salaries of the region’s employees.
And the regional government announced that Baghdad decided to send 320 billion dinars (266 million and 600 thousand dollars) as soon as possible to Kurdistan / End https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=850770
Karbouli Confirms: US Forces Are Necessary For Iraq
Political Wednesday 19 August 2020 |The head of the al-Hall Party, Jamal al-Karbouli, confirmed today, Wednesday, that the US forces are necessary for Iraq and the gangs that target them do not express the opinion of all Iraqis .
Al-Karbouli said in a tweet on his Twitter account: "After 2011, America has turned from an occupying state to an ally to confront" ISIS "and provide assistance for the reconstruction of Iraq, and the response to its positive position is not by Katyusha rockets ."
"The guerrilla war that it is targeting does not express the opinion of all Iraqis, " he added.
The tweet concluded with the tag: "# US forces are necessary for Iraq ."
https://aynaliraqnews.com/index.php?aa=news&id22=137564
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