"Tidbits From TNT" Tuesday Morning 1-25-2022

Jan 25

TNT:

Shybaby: Al-Sadr: We were and are still prioritizing the public interest over the private, and civil peace is a red line

24th January, 2022

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, affirmed that he was and still prioritizes the public interest over the private, while noting that civil peace is a red line.

In a speech followed by Mawazine News, Mr. Al-Sadr said, “We were and are still prioritizing public interests over private interests,” noting that “the problem that was being raised was that Muqtada al-Sadr was taking a turn against Shi’ism and against Shi’ites.”

He added, “In Al-Kazemi’s government, we gave up the ministers, and categorically refused to have any ministry for the Sadrist movement,” stressing the need to “organize the Popular Mobilization and restore its prestige and reputation because many numbers are trying to discredit it.”

He pointed out that “in a previous tweet, specifically in the 12th of last year, I called for the gathering of the Shiite house, and I did not receive any positive from them or any interaction in this regard at all,” adding: “I also called on them to obey the reference and the centralization of the reference and to take its orders and decisions.”

He continued: “After our withdrawal, many political parties insisted that we go back to the elections. They signed a reform document in order to return to the elections. So I rushed to write existing conditions and we will announce them as well,” noting that “among the conditions are the dissolution of the factions, handing over weapons to the state and fighting corruption.”

He pointed out that “the conditions consisted of 15 to 20 points and they did not sign them,” stressing that “they do not threaten civil peace with their statements, for civil peace is a red line.”

(mawazin.net)

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Tishwash: Open investment prospects and expectations for the growth of trade exchange between Iraq and Saudi Arabia

The Saudi economic advisor Eid Al-Eid revealed, on Monday, that the volume of trade exchange between his country and Iraq began to improve during the past years and will continue to increase in the future, stressing that the numbers reflect the volume of investment opportunities between the two countries.

Today, Monday, the Iraqi-Saudi Business Forum was launched in the capital, Riyadh, and witnessed the signing of a number of agreements and memoranda of understanding between government and private agencies from the two countries.

The Saudi advisor said in a statement to the Russian "Sputnik" agency, that the statistics indicate that the volume of trade exchange between Saudi Arabia and Iraq in 2020 increased by 155, equivalent to 3.88 billion riyals ($1.34 billion).

And he indicated that the volume of trade exchange for 2019 amounted to about 3.41 billion riyals ($909 million), distributed among 3.37 billion riyals ($898 million) Saudi exports, 41.6 million riyals ($11 million) Iraqi exports, which means that Iraq ranks eleventh. Among the Arab countries in the volume of trade exchange with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Al-Eid believes that the numbers do not reflect the size of the opportunities available between the two countries, especially in light of Iraq’s great needs for infrastructure projects, goods and services, which the Kingdom is characterized by its great availability, whether through major Saudi companies, or through Saudi goods that are characterized by quality and easy access to Iraq at the lowest costs There is a common boundary between them.

The economic advisor expects to increase the pace of trade exchange between the Kingdom and Iraq at greater rates in the coming years, and according to the available indicators, it may exceed ten billion riyals during the next two years.

He pointed out that the most important sectors in which the Saudi private sector can invest in Iraq include the electricity sector, roads, hotels, and the health sector, in addition to the agricultural sector, in which Iraq is characterized by the availability of primary resources of water and fertile agricultural land.

Al-Eid pointed out that Saudi Arabia has many opportunities for Iraqi investors to enter the Saudi market through the mega projects of Vision 2030, which require investments exceeding seven trillion dollars during the period until 2030, which creates more opportunities for Iraqi investors.

For her part, the Vice President of the "Ababeel" Center for Strategic Studies, the Iraqi academic, Fadila Salman Daoud, confirmed that in 2017, the two countries agreed to enhance joint cooperation and develop long-term plans for future investments.

It indicated that the steps taken on the Arar port from the Iraqi and Saudi sides, within an area of 1.66 million square meters, confirmed the mutual desire for broader relations for the exchange of trade, as well as the transportation of citizens and goods.

She pointed out that pressure on the Iraqi government to move towards the Gulf countries aims to undermine the volume of exchange with Iran, as Iran's imports amounted to about $20 billion in consumer and agricultural goods and gas in 2020.

It considers that the agreement between the two countries to invest in the field of energy, petrochemical industries, transport and agricultural equipment, the contracting sector, infrastructure and banks, has positive repercussions on the two countries.

Regarding future opportunities, the Iraqi economy indicates that it requires an ingenious leadership with an open leadership behavior towards exploring opportunities, and a closed behavior towards investing those opportunities according to a precise structure and mechanism of action.

She explained that the Kingdom's 2030 vision provides opportunities for Iraqi investors, as is the case for Iraq, especially with regard to long-term plans for the purpose of investing in the field of infrastructure, and connecting electric power, which are the most important points included in the agreements. link

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The Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council recommends providing financial facilities between the banks of the two countries

Today, Monday, the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council recommended providing financial facilities between the banks of the two countries, while calling for providing facilities for investment between the two countries.

The head of the Saudi side in the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council, Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Khorayef, said during the Iraqi-Saudi Business Forum held in Riyadh, and attended by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council initiated and launched many initiatives to promote investments and trade exchange, including the establishment of a data center For opportunities, an initiative to inventory preliminary studies, as well as working on an economic forum between the two countries and an initiative to encourage Saudi investments.

Al-Khorayef called for "facilitating the investment process between the two countries, especially the procedures, in a way that contributes to promoting trade exchange," noting that "Iraq and Saudi Arabia are neighbors and have a large volume of investment that deserves consideration of opening more than one port for the entry of goods."

He called "Iraqi and Saudi banks to provide financial facilities for communication between them, which will return to great results," pointing out that "the next stage requires that the private sector have a major role."

Al-Khorayef expressed his hope that "today's meeting will be the beginning of great economic cooperation between the two countries, and bilateral meetings will continue to meet the ambitions ink

Mot: -- Just Saying! ~~~