TNT:

Tishwash:  The path to development... 4 countries are holding intensive talks regarding the project 

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced on Wednesday (September 13, 2023) that intensive talks were being held with Iraq, the UAE and Qatar regarding the Iraqi-Turkish development road project.

Fidan said during a joint press conference held on Wednesday with his British counterpart, James Cleverly, who is on an official visit to the Turkish capital, Ankara, that "Iraq, the Emirates, Turkey and Qatar are holding intensive talks regarding the Turkish-Iraqi development road project."

Fidan added that new trade routes have become important after the geopolitical developments witnessed in recent years, including the Corona epidemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the competition between the United States and China or the West and China.

“These developments also reintroduced other trade routes that were previously discussed in theory,” he noted.

Fidan stated that the trade route does not mean meeting trade alone, but at the same time it is a reflection of geostrategic competition. link

Tishwash:  Al-Sudani receives the UAE Minister of State and confirms the government's keenness to develop relations between the two countries

Today, Thursday (September 14, 2023), Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani received UAE Minister of State Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar, while the Prime Minister stressed Iraq’s keenness to develop relations between the two countries in all fields. 

The Prime Minister's Media Office said in a statement received by "Baghdad Today", "The meeting witnessed discussion of ways of cooperation and strengthening areas of partnership between Iraq and the United Arab Emirates." 

The Prime Minister affirmed, according to the statement, "the government is pursuing a policy of economic integration with the brotherly and friendly country, as it represents the basic gateway to stability in the region." 

Al-Sudani stated, "Iraq's openness to Emirati companies and businessmen to work within the country," stressing "the government's keenness to develop relations with the Emirates in all fields, especially those related to the economic, investment, and development aspects." 

For his part, the Emirati minister conveyed to “the Prime Minister the greetings of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan,” expressing “his country’s happiness at holding the joint committee meetings in Baghdad,” according to the statement.

He stressed "his country's support for development and investment projects in Iraq," noting "the serious desire to participate in the vital development road project, because of its importance to all countries of the region."    link

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Tishwash:  Experts: An expected increase of $6 billion due to the rise in oil prices

The gesture of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani regarding the Kurdistan region’s share of the budget, which he described as “an entitlement,” opened the door again to agreement sooner or later and to end disputes. Economic and legal experts saw the gesture as being consistent with the spirit of the law by considering the citizens of the region as part of the Iraqi people.

According to statements followed by “Earth News,” economic expert Kovind Sherwani said, “According to the budget law and its schedules, the region’s share is 16.4 trillion dinars annually, equivalent to 3.1 trillion dinars per month, and when non-oil revenues are deducted, about 960 billion dinars remain,” and he added. “The best solution is internal arbitration (the Financial Supervision Bureau, for example), external arbitration (international accounting firms), or the intervention of political actors in the state administration coalition.”

Political affairs researcher Saman Nouh pointed out that “there is a deficit and a major financial problem that the region is suffering from,” and explained that “the delay in employee salaries in the region has been a problem since 2015, and delays have become normal in the region with it being received at intervals, and now perhaps this is the last stage.”

Of the salary payment crises, which may have previously been linked to oil prices and the inability of the regional government to meet the needs in this regard, which caused this decline, in addition to the cost of transportation and marketing and the benefits of companies that used to take approximately 50 percent of the revenues from the oil produced in the region, but after a court decision Paris: The region has become fundamentally dependent on the money received from Baghdad.

The economic expert, Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani, believes that “Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani was very clear by putting all the dots on the letters that the share of Kurdistan in the budget, which is 12.67 percent, there is no indication that it is for salary allocations and reconstruction allocations, but rather it is the share of the region and the Kurdistan Regional Government.” To adapt its resources in a manner consistent with the dues owed to it.” He added, “We are waiting for the Minister of Finance in the regional government and the Federal Minister of Finance to sit before the Parliamentary Finance Committee and present the numbers,” pointing out that “today the language of numbers is what speaks about what the region received and handed over to Baghdad.” .

Al-Mashhadani added, saying: “Before 2016, once the budget was approved, the region would take its full share of the budget and would not hand over anything or disclose anything, but in Al-Abadi’s government in 2016, the decision was for the region to deliver oil to Baghdad and then receive its share, and Al-Abadi set it.” text in the budget and has continued to this day,” indicating that “all the money that the region was obtaining in the government of Adel Abdul Mahdi, the government of Al-Kazemi, and even the current Sudanese government are loans and obligations, and when the Office of Financial Supervision or any specialized international company audits, the region’s share will show how much it amounts to and whether Whether to pay financial obligations or not.

In addition, legal expert Ali Al-Tamimi pointed out that “the issue of employee salaries in the Kurdistan region, with the presence of the Federal Court’s decisions regarding the export of oil and gas by the Kurdistan Region, and also related to the Federal Court’s decisions related to the region’s share and the details contained in the budget law for the year 2023, all of these... It is true that the details are binding and an applicable legal matter; But the solution, in my opinion, regarding employee salaries, is through negotiation and understanding between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, especially since these salaries have a humanitarian aspect. I mean, I am talking about the spirit of the law and not about the texts.”

Al-Tamimi added, “The entire issue needs legal solutions that do not conflict with the decisions of the Federal Court and do not conflict with the General Budget Law, and these could be in the form of settlements in the form of clearing or in the form of loans or advances, and I do not think they are absent from the Federal Ministry of Finance.” Or the Council of Ministers, especially since Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani has humanitarian positions and positions of extreme compassion towards citizens, whether in the Kurdistan region or in the rest of the Iraqi governorates, and it is a humanitarian issue far from rigid texts.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, announced, during a speech in Erbil, a visit to the capital, Baghdad, in order to find a solution to the problems “peacefully,” according to the official newspaper. link

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