31 August 2010

IRAQ IMPORTANT DATES

9 Sept 2010 End of Ramadan
27-28 September Oil & Gas Conference Istanbul, Turkey
8-10 October IMF Meet with CBI in Washington D.C.
24 October 2010 Iraq National Census
December 2010 DFI Account extended
December 2010 3rd Review Stand-by-agreement (IMF)
March 2011 Kurdistan Regional Elections
March 2011 Arab League Summit – Baghdad

It is possible that there will be a sharing of power between Dr. Iyad Allawi and Adil abd-al-Mahdi, who is a leading member in the Iraqi Islamic Supreme council (IISC). The term will be two years each however, now they have to decide who will be first to take the two years when already they have waisted six months. The State of Law political bloc has downplayed the agreement between the IISC and Al-Iraqiyah List. The agreement has the blessing of Al-Sadr.

There was no red line with the Iranians with the agreement between Dr. Allawi and Al-Mahdi. I would not say for sure that the agreement will be the final end to forming the government. PM Maliki still has a chance at the PM slot for a second term.

We all just have to keep an eye on all the developments between now and Id-ul-Fitr which is a celebration after Ramadan. There is the little ied and than the big ied.

There will be a International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington D.C. on October 8-10. The Central Bank of Iraq representatives will be attending. Dr. Shibibi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq has not decided if he will be attending. People are paying attention to the U.N. meet in October and I say pay attention to the IMF meet in Washington D.C..

More to follow.

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Ministry of Communications went the way of General Electric

Your probably thinking they are the governments Ministry, they have plenty of money. The truth is that they are broke and as the same way with not knowing how much electricity the Iraqi people are using to collect the money what is owed to the government they also can’t collect what is owed to them from landline phones.

The Ministry of communications has a problem of not knowing how much and unable to collect the fee’s for landline phones and other services the Iraqi’s used to add to the communications budget.

The MOC does not have a budget to pay the government employees and is seeking a loan from a private Iraqi bank.

Today, the Deputy Minister of communications for Technical Affairs, Ameer Al Bayati, said “The Ministry realizes the importance and seriousness of this issue. To us at the Ministry, this is about the people and not about the job. The Ministry has been waiting for the government to allocate our portion of the budget, however, the Ministry of Finance has not yet allocated a budget for the Ministry of Communications due to our Ministries’ lack of revenue sources when compared to other Ministries.”

There is no government and no budget allocated to this ministry. The Ministry of Finance did find the funds for the month of July to pay the government salaries of the MOC. You have to ask yourselves where did those funds come from?

The deputy Minister continued with his statement, “there are many outstanding debts owed to the Ministry from private citizens for landline phone service, even if all these outstanding debts were paid, it would not even cover the Ministry’s salaries for one month.”

At&T or Verizon would not set one foot in Iraq just like your favorite Company, General Electric, when they are paid by the usage of those services for the life of the contract. When I say contracts I mean 20-30 year contracts and at the end of the contracts the Iraqi government will nationalize those entities and then they would own them ie. Telecommunications, Power electrical grid, Oil refineries etc.

By the way, their are General Electric parts sitting inside a Iraq warehouse getting a little rusty.

Let’s hope the MOC has a plan to maybe use the Ministry owned companies and the financial resources of the Ministry to become self funded. We can only hope.

The Al-Sharqiyah Television Station broadcast news reports and I will list a few here.

- Violence: Violence kills 200-300 Iraqi civilians each month as a result of blasts and assassinations. It is worth mentioning that this figure is much lower than during the days of sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007, during which 3,000 civilians were killed each month.
- Refugees: Some 1.5 million Iraqis have migrated from their homes to other areas of Iraq as a result of sectarian violence, while some believe that the number of Iraqis residing abroad is perhaps as many as 3 million.
- Crime and justice: Extremist groups and militias commit crimes at an increasing rate and no reliable statistics are available on crime, however, it is believed that dozens of people, including children, are abducted for ransom. In addition, gunmen have launched bold attacks on jewellery shops, banks, and employees who carry government employees’ salaries.
- Economy: The official unemployment rate is 18 per cent; however, experts believe that it is closer to 30 per cent. It is worth mentioning that many contracts have been signed with international oil companies to develop the oil reserves of Iraq, which currently holds the third largest oil reserve in the world, but so far, no tangible results have surfaced.
- Services: The majority of Iraqi families only receive electricity for a few hours per day. The people’s main complaints revolve around electricity cuts. According to government statistics, which are used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, one out of every four cannot obtain safe drinking water.
- Poverty: Some seven million Iraqis or 23 per cent of the population live under the poverty line.
- Corruption: In 2009, Transparency International ranked Iraq number 176 out of 180 of the most corrupt countries in the world.
- Society: Some 300,000 Iraqi youths do not attend school. A recent survey conducted by the UN discovered that 65 per cent of Iraqi youths do not know how to use a computer.
- Hospitals and Health Services: Iraqi suffers from an acute shortage of hospitals and has 35,000 beds but needs 95,000, according to a report by the Ministry of Health.
- Mines: In a report issued last year, the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Children’s Fund said Iraq has one of the highest numbers of mines in the world.
- Widows and Orphans: After decades of war, there are still no official reports on widows or orphans in Iraq. However, Iraqi officials estimate the number of widows to be no less than one million while the number of orphans is three million.
- “The leadership of the Iraqi National Alliance [INA] has underlined the need to preserve its unity in its capacity as the largest bloc in the parliament. A statement issued by the Iraqi National Congress yesterday said that the leadership of the INA held an open meeting during an iftar banquet hosted by Ahmad Chalabi, a leading figure in the INA, on the occasion marking the first anniversary of the establishment of the INA.”
- “A number of tribal chieftains and prominent figures in Basra have called on the leaders of political blocs to expedite the formation of the government and to put the nation’s interests above narrow personal or partisan interests. The chieftains pointed out that the delay in the formation of the government has caused a negative impact on the security and economic situation in the country. They also called on the political blocs to direct their attention to the daily suffering of the citizens and to bear in mind their misery due to the delay in the formation of the government.”
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The talks of forming a government have reached a “Dead End.” This is what an Arabic newspaper is currently reporting.

As always more to follow:

Please take the time to read this article about the Iraqi government crushing labor unions.

Is the US Pulling the Plug on Iraqi Workers?
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Please send your comments and or feedback to the American Contractor at email:  americancontractor@gmail.com

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American Contractor has been living in the Middle East and Central Asia since 2003.
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The Iraqi National Allaince (INA) has a desire to nominate Ibrahim al-Ja’fari, has the next Prime Minister of Iraq. This is not concrete as other names are being discussed. Names such as Adil Abd-al-Mahdi, Al-Chalabi. The Sadrist assure that that outgoing Prime Minister Maliki will not be endorsed.

The leader of the Al-Iraqiyah list Dr. Iyad Allawi, has stated if the INA announces a candidate for the post of Prime Minister and removes the right of the Iraqiyah list to form the government the list will boycott the entire political process. The INA has granted positions in the government for the Iraqiyah list such as the Parliament Speaker and Chairman of the Strategic Political Council. Which these options do not agree with

Dr. Iyad Allawi, has sent several letters to the Arab league and the United Nations asking for intervention in the formation of the government.

I had told you before that the Kurdistan Blocs want the post of President, INA will get the PM position, and the Iraqiyah list will get the post of Parliament Speaker and Council for Strategic Policies. The Iraqiyah list is warning of bloodshed among lists constituents. The Iraqiyah list is thinking that they need three more months to name their candidates for cabinet positions. In my opinion the forming of the government between the political blocs is going to become much more heated in the coming weeks and months.

There are 35 members of the State of Law Coalition (SLC) who have contacted the IISC their willingness to break away from the SLC political bloc and join any alliance that includes the Iraqiyah List, Al-Sadr Trend, and the IISC. The out going Prime Minister Maliki insists that he be named the Prime Minister in the new Iraqi government.

The right hand man in the SLC, Tariq Najm Abdallah, has given his resignation from the outgoing Prime Minister’s Party. This is very bad for PM Maliki has Tariq Abdallah, knows all the secrets of Maliki’s political Party.

Don’t be surprised if the INA nominates PM Maliki. Eid al Fitr dinner they will announce during the Ramadan Feast.

More to follow…

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American Contractor has been living in the Middle East and Central Asia since 2003.
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IRAQ IMPORTANT DATES

9 Sept 2010 End of Ramadan
24 October 2010 Iraq National Census
December 2010 DFI Account extended
December 2010 3rd Review Stand-by-agreement (IMF)
March 2011 Kurdistan Regional Elections
March 2011 Arab League Summit – Baghdad

The Al-Iraqiyah List leader Dr. Iyad Allawi just finished his trip meeting the Russian President and now he is going to Kuwait. Dr. Allawi will be meeting with the Kuwaiti’s to strengthen ties between the two countries.

A protest about electricity in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah today. They call it the “Electricity intifada” over the deterioration of the basic service where very little electricity is given to the people. Some Iraqi’s do have some relief by using there own personal generators however, the fuel to keep them going is about 1,000 dinar a liter. At that price its is very expensive for Iraqi’s.

Today, criminals managed to rob the salary of government workers in the amount of 600k US Dollars from an Iraqi bank. This is a continuing problem for the banking industry as they still can not use paper checks to pay their employees. Actually its some ministries that are not willing to use safer methods and I am sure you can figure out why?

The Iraq North Oil Company has had to stop oil production in the north from the Kirkuk oil wells to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. They do not know if the problem was the result of sabotage or technical problems. They say should be down for only 72 hours. Several times this year the oil flow has stopped. I do believe the oil exports at the end of the year will be lower than expected.

This is going to be short as it was a long day! Be back up tomorrow.

As always more to follow…

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Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline flow halted
The flow of oil through the pipeline from Iraq’s Kirkuk oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan was halted yesterday morning, and repairs could last up to 72 hours, sources at Iraq’s North Oil Co said.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=381308&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28

Gunmen attack vehicle, steal Iraqi government employee salaries
Gunmen intercepted a vehicle carrying salaries of Iraqi government employees in western Baghdad and made off with nearly $600,000, police officials told CNN on Sunday. The robbers attacked the vehicle a few hundred meters from a local bank, where it had been loaded with money, police said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/22/iraq.robbery/index.html#fbid=Nqgns8K9hOo&wom=false

Iraqis stage violent demo over power rationing
Dozens of Iraqis violently protested in the southern city of Nasiriyah to demand better power supplies, wounding 16 people including 10 policemen, witnesses and officials said on Sunday.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=40768

IRAQ IMPORTANT DATES

9 Sept 2010 End of Ramadan
27-28 September Oil & Gas Conference Istanbul, Turkey
24 October 2010 Iraq National Census
December 2010 DFI Account extended
December 2010 3rd Review Stand-by-agreement (IMF)
March 2011 Kurdistan Regional Elections
March 2011 Arab League Summit – Baghdad

Just last week the government of Iraq announced the budget for 2011 would be approximately 90 trillion dinars during discussions with the cabinet. It does not really matter what the amount is as you have no government to enact any new legislation as the government is nonexistent. Plus, with the current report of oil exports down in the month of July to 1.8 bpd the government is going to have to recalculate the 2011 budget. The government has a target of 12 million bpd in six to seven years which I would think ten years is more realistic time frame considering the infrastructure of Iraq is in dire shape. The article mentions the lower export totals was due to domestic consumption and oilfield maintenance. I would also add attacks on the pipeline especially in the northern areas.

We all know the the northern Iraq pipeline operated by the North Oil Company, has been shutdown since Saturday due to technical reasons. The pipelines and the refineries are in bad shape and officials have stated the pipeline should be up and running on Thursday. There was more problems for the North Oil company has five employees were killed in a robbery as they were traveling to the work site with 453 million in Iraqi dinars. You have to wonder with sending a large amount of cash you would think they would have armed security guards traveling with them. In this case they had no security traveling with the North Oil Company employees.

The Iraqi and Kuwaiti government are going to try agin and solve their problems of war reparations and land disputes between the two countries. The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated he has no intention of giving up land that is owned by Kuwaiti’s that are on Iraqi land. Another dispute that needs to be resolved if you ever want to be released from U.N. resolutions of Chapter VII. The iraqi government is purposely slowing down the process of handling over documents to the properties to the land owners whom are Kuwaiti’s.

Dr. Iyad Allawi has left Russia after his meeting with the Russian President and also had a meeting with the officials of the Crescent Petroleum Company, of U.A.E.. The Russian Oil Company Rosneft, has invested $630 million dollars into Crescent Petroleum Company to drill for Gas in Sharja, U.A.E.. Next you will see both of these Oil Companies in Iraq has the U.A.E. is the largest state to invest in Iraq to date.

The Oil and Services Company Petrofac, U.K. has been doing services for an unidentified international oil company in Iraq. They are reporting growth profits this year. We will keep a eye on this company and hopefully learn which international Oil Company are getting there services.

I have mentioned this and I have said that the Cleric Ayatollah Sistani, does not get involved in politics. The cleric has sermons to perform on Fridays then worry about Iraqi politics.

Central Bank of Iraq Governor Dr. Sinan Al-Shibibi is calling for international banks to come to Iraq and partner with Iraqi banks. Al-Shibibi said “We are calling for them to come and help develop the financial system, this is the objective. I would prefer that they establish standalone branches but even if they do a partnership with Iraqi banks that would be fine.” When you have family owned run banks it is going to be tough to partner and let an outsider look at everything the bank has been doing for the last six years. I would like to see a western stand alone banking operation to show and demonstrate the banking practices of the 21st century.

By the way Prime Minister did send a letter of apology to Dr. Iyad Allawi.

This is all I have for now…it has been a long day again.

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American Contractor has been living in the Middle East and Central Asia since 2003.
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Iraq’s banks urge privatisation of state lenders
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5icVqlYnYgSYm8FbyoGIzcYQG7mCQ

MPs say Shia religious authority has not intervened in govt crisis
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/176639/

Five oil workers killed in armed robbery
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100824/twl-five-oil-workers-killed-in-armed-rob-3cd7efd.html

Iraq oil exports slip in July to 1.8 bpd
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/newsdetails.asp?Sn=OGN&artid=184920

Iraq-Turkish pipeline flow halted
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/newsdetails.asp?Sn=OGN&artid=184809

Kuwaitis to get Iraq land
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/158683/reftab/69/t/Kuwaitis-to-get-Iraq-land/Default.aspx

Rosneft to invest $630m in UAE
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/business/2010/August/business_August335.xml&section=business&col=

IRAQ BOOSTS PETROFAC
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/195135/Iraq-boosts-Petrofac/

IRAQ IMPORTANT DATES

9 Sept 2010 End of Ramadan
27-28 September Oil & Gas Conference Istanbul, Turkey
24 October 2010 Iraq National Census
December 2010 DFI Account extended
December 2010 3rd Review Stand-by-agreement (IMF)
March 2011 Kurdistan Regional Elections
March 2011 Arab League Summit – Baghdad

The State of Law Coalition (SLC) and Iraqi National Alliance (INA) resume talks with meeting between leaders of State of Law Coalition and Iraqi Islamic Supreme Council (IISC). This meeting is very significant and they are discussing very important issues.

Just so you all know the Al-Iraqiyah list is warning the SLC that they will suspend all talks if the SLC does not answer the letter that Dr. Iyad Allawi has sent a few days ago.

The (INA) are getting very close to naming the candidate to rival as they say or even name Maliki for the Prime Minister position.

This is the middle week nothing really major to write about.

I appreciate all the emails and questions lately.

Until tomorrow…

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If you like the commentary from the American Contractor please join the mailing list to get the latest copy in your email inbox. Click on the link and enter your email address or you can just send me an email. Thanks.
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Please send your comments and or feedback to the American Contractor at email:  americancontractor@gmail.com

American Contractor web site
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American Contractor has been living in the Middle East and Central Asia since 2003.
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