Cursor International executes projects and collaboration activities across several industries.
By John Lee.
A report from Bellingcat claims to have identified the source of a mysterious black sludge in Mosul Lake.
Analysis of open source satellite images suggest a combination of oil waste water, caused by either oil dumping or flooding of polluted rivers by the winter rains.
Click here to read the full report.
(Source: Bellingcat)
By Ali Mamouri for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
Iraqi officials stress need to boost Arab ties while balancing relations with Iran
The Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah hosted the sixth-annual Sulaimaniyah Forum on March 6-7, where discussions focused on Iraq’s strategic significance in the region. During the forum, Iraqi officials and their Arab counterparts called for Iraq to re-embrace strong ties with its Arab neighbors and strike a balance in its ties with Iran.
This year’s forum was held under the motto “Iraq and Its Neighbors: Toward a New Regional Order.”
Iraqi President Barham Salih (pictured) said on the first day of the forum that Iraq is striving to bring together different viewpoints in the region based on its depth of ties with Arabic and Gulf states, assuring that this will bring major economic developments to the country and help solve the security crisis. Iraq is capable of being an “arena for consensus and reconciliation among the countries of the region,” he noted.
From Al Jazeera. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
How will US sanctions affect Iran-Iraq economic relations?
The Trump administration is giving Iraq a few more months to continue buying oil and electricity from neighbouring Iran before the United States enforces sanctions against Tehran.
After years of conflict, Baghdad now relies heavily on Iran for goods and services.
And Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is visiting Iraq to solidify ties between the neighbours, trying to convince them to defy the US president.
Al Jazeera‘s Natasha Ghoneim reports from Baghdad:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will travel to Iraq on March 11 for an official visit.
Heading a high-ranking delegation, the Iranian president will be visiting the Arab country at the official invitation of Baghdad.
It will be Rouhani’s first official visit to Iraq during his tenure.
On Monday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met with Prime Minister of Iraq Adil Abdul-Mahdi in Baghdad to make arrangements for Rouhani’s forthcoming trip.
The Iranian president’s visit would come against the backdrop of Tehran’s efforts to boost its foreign trade in the US sanctions era.
Iraq’s foreign minister said recently that his country is “not obliged” to abide by sanctions imposed by the US against Iran and would be pursuing options to continue bilateral trade.
President of Iraq Barham Salih paid a visit to Tehran in November 2018 with a ranking delegation for a series of political and economic talks.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart at that time, Rouhani said the value of trade and economic interaction between Tehran and Baghdad stood at around $12 billion, adding that the two neighbors have the potential for a $20-billion trade target.
Earlier this month, governors of the central banks of Iran and Iraq signed an agreement to develop a payment mechanism aimed at facilitating banking ties between the two neighboring countries.
According to governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati, Iran is going to open euro and dinar-based accounts to process transactions for trade in oil and gas.
Describing Iraq as Iran’s major partner, Hemmati said the two countries have agreed to make the banking ties much stronger.
He also stated that Iraqi companies can reciprocally open accounts in Iranian banks and conduct transactions in dinar.
In December 2018, Chairman of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce Yahya Ale-Eshaq said the central banks of Iran and Iraq were finalizing negotiations to begin trade in their own currencies.
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alhakim has made it clear that his country cannot cut off trade ties with Iran under the US sanctions.
(Source: Tasnim, under Creative Commons licence)
By Adnan Abu Zeed for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
Accusations are flying about oil smuggling in Iraq’s Ninevah province, and many accusers say government officials, armed factions and other powerful parties are involved.
Representatives of the province, including parliament member Ahmed al-Jubouri, have said recently that oil is being smuggled from the Ninevah wells.
That news coincided with Osama al-Nujaifi, head of the Iraqi Decision Coalition, telling the media Feb. 1, “Security forces sent out military vehicles to halt the smuggling operations, but armed parties controlling the wells stood in the way.”
By Bruce Riedel, Brookings Institution.
The opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
What Iran’s Revolution meant for Iraq
The collapse of the shah’s government in Iran in early 1979 impacted the entire world but no country was more affected than Iraq.
Saddam Hussein’s regime was the shah’s deadly enemy and had hosted the Ayatollah Khomeini in exile for years, but Saddam became the top foreign target of the revolutionaries in Tehran once they took power.
Many countries were caught off balance by the Iranian revolution but none got it as wrong as Iraq. Its response—war—led to decades of conflict which have yet to end.
The full report can be read here.
(Source: Brookings Institution)
In December 2017, Iraqi authorities announced that they had completely freed areas previously controlled by the Daesh terrorist organization.
Today, Iraq has entered a crucial phase of national reconciliation, stabilization and reconstruction of freed regions. These actions are essential for a lasting victory against terrorism and the return of displaced persons.
France and its partners have continued their efforts, and are standing alongside the Iraqi people and Government in order to assist the most vulnerable populations, revitalize the economy and rebuild the country. For example, multi-sectoral emergency assistance (food aid, basic healthcare and essential goods) was provided to almost 200,000 displaced persons during the battle of Mosul.
Since 2017, France has dedicated €60 million to humanitarian and stabilization assistance activities in Iraq, including €20 million to the stabilization of the city of Mosul.
During a visit to Iraq on 26 August 2017, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, also confirmed that a budgetary loan of €430 million would be granted to the Iraqi Government.
In addition, France runs humanitarian and stabilization assistance activities through United Nations agencies such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP). It has contributed €7 million to tools developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Iraq.
Restoring security is essential to ensure that displaced people can return voluntarily to regions freed from Daesh control.
As part of the Global Coalition Against Daesh, France is providing military support to local forces working to secure recently freed Iraqi regions, in order to prevent the resurgence of the Daesh terrorist movement.
France is also helping to train Iraq’s internal security forces in the fields of democratic crowd management, mine clearance (including chemical and underwater mines), and post-attack scene management.
In the projects supported by France, special emphasis is placed on the health of Iraqi people. In addition to contributing emergency humanitarian assistance, France has implemented programmes to support health infrastructure (hospitals, health centres in camps and mobile clinics) and provide psychological treatment to populations, who are often traumatized.
France is also strongly committed to rehabilitating the University of Mosul’s College of Medicine, which trains medical staff throughout the Nineveh Plains and beyond. The College was badly damaged during fighting. Today, as a result of France’s commitment and UNDP support, it has been completely rebuilt. It has welcomed a number of students since the start of the 2018 academic year.
Education is a priority of France’s assistance. In addition to supporting the University of Mosul, France has committed to programmes rehabilitating schools in the most hard-to-access areas.
It has financed informal educational support projects for children who had no access to education during the Daesh occupation, with a view to reintegrating them into Iraq’s public school system.
Child protection training and campaigns raising awareness of children’s rights have also been implemented by NGOs.
A united Iraq, where all components of society are respected, is essential to ensure that the stabilization process is inclusive and has lasting results. The country must not only focus on physical reconstruction, but also on reconciliation.
France therefore pays special attention to the victims of ethnic and religious violence. A special fund finances projects led by NGOs aiming to respond specifically to the needs of these communities and to encourage their return to their home villages, towns and cities.
At the Paris Peace Forum in November 2018, the French President lent his support to Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2018, who has launched a fund to rebuild Iraq’s Sinjar region, which suffered heavily under Daesh. France will contribute €2 million to this fund, which will be used to build infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, create revenue-generating structures, foster the return of displaced Yazidi populations to their lands, among other activities.
The ties between France and Iraq when it comes to preserving cultural heritage and archaeology are long-standing.
Three priorities have been identified in recent years in coordination with local authorities: combating trafficking, protecting works and safeguarding the memory of sites. Several training activities for Iraqi heritage preservation professionals have been planned in partnership with the Institut National du Patrimoine (INP) and the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities at the Louvre Museum to improve techniques to combat the trafficking of cultural goods and artefacts.
The Institut Français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) in Iraq, which has a branch in Erbil, has established cooperation with academic institutions in the areas of archaeology and cultural heritage.
In 2018, the Institut Français de Recherche à l’Étranger (IFRE) conducted several digitization and preservation projects on Iraqi sites with funds from the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH).
France is committed to fighting impunity for crimes committed in Iraq and has taken every opportunity to make progress on this issue, particularly in the Security Council and other UN bodies. It is funding projects to document the crimes committed to provide information for investigations. Training activities to improve the skills of Iraqi law enforcement authorities are also being conducted to make criminal prosecutions more effective.
Eric Chevallier, Director of the Ministry’s Crisis and Support Centre, explains France’s action to support the country’s stabilisation and reconstruction, and the humanitarian aid that we are providing.
(Source: French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs)
From The Economist.
America is trying to get more out of its relationship with Iraq
US President Donald Trump thinks America is being ripped off. “We have spent $7trn—trillion with a T—$7trn in the Middle East,” he told a crowd last year, exaggerating slightly. “You know what we have for it? Nothing. Nothing.”
To right this perceived wrong, Mr Trump has long favoured seizing Iraq’s oil. But after he hinted at the idea with the Iraqi prime minister (who demurred), his aides admonished him. “We can’t do this and you shouldn’t talk about it,” said H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser at the time, according to reports. Still, Mr Trump may be getting what he wants from Iraq in other ways.
When America reimposed sanctions on Iran last year it gave some countries extra time to stop buying Iranian oil before they would lose access to the American market. Most were given 90-day exemptions. In November Iraq, which shares a long border with Iran, was given half that time to cut off electricity and gas imports.
As it negotiated for extensions, American companies made a push for Iraqi contracts. In December, Rick Perry, the energy secretary, led America’s largest trade delegation to Iraq in over a decade. “It was a quid pro quo,” says an oilman. “You give us priority and we’ll give you an exemption.”
IOM, the UN Migration Agency, released the Integrated Location Assessment (ILA) III report.
The Integrated Location Assessment – Round III provides an in-depth look into both displacement and return movements in Iraq, putting a special focus on profiling the locations these groups live in and the social dynamics they are immersed in.
The latest round of the ILA study, completed from 6 March to 6 May 2018, includes the demographics of the displaced and returnee populations, their current conditions, movement intentions, vulnerabilities, sectorial needs and the state of social cohesion in the locations they currently live in. It covers 4,177 locations, reaching approximately 1,491,792 IDPs (248,632 families) and 3,585,210 returnees (597,535) across Iraq.
Key findings of the assessment are summarized below:
Compared to May 2017, the number of IDPs has reduced by approximately one third (-34%, 1,017,048 individuals). Decreases were recorded across all Iraqi governorates hosting IDPs, particularly in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Salah al-Din, but except in Sulaymaniyah.
Among those who remain displaced, 48% are hosted within their governorate of origin, 35% in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), 14% in other north-central governorates and 3% in southern governorates – nearly all in Najaf. Over half of current IDPs (54%) have been in displacement for more than 3 years, 38% between 1 and 3 years and 8% for less than one year.
Access to employment/livelihood opportunities continues to be the main concern of IDPs in nearly all locations – and more so compared to last year. In fact, it was cited among top 3 concerns in locations where 93% of IDPs are currently hosted – it was 63% in May 2017.
For IDPs, lack of access to employment/livelihoods translates into the related difficulty of accessing food (51%), household and non-food items (NFIs, 66%) and shelter (42%). In fact, basic needs were generally rated as far more important than recovery needs.
In addition, nearly three fourth of displaced families report the lack of a shelter to return, around one in five does not have enough money for the journey back (reportedly most IDPs originally from Anbar and Baghdad) and/or is afraid to lose aid/humanitarian assistance.
Most IDP families intending to voluntarily stay in area of displacement in the long term (12% of current IDPs) can be found in southern governorates. Between 28% and 38% of IDPs hosted in Baghdad, Kerbala and Kirkuk, are also willing to voluntarily stay. Involuntary stay (10% at country level) is more prevalent in Sulaymaniyah, Babylon and reported, to a lesser extent, in Diyala.
IDPs are mainly re-settling in the South by virtue of its safety and the presence of extended family and friends, whereas staying in north-central governorates is mostly involuntary – families have lost everything at home or have no means to return. Safety, services and job opportunities are the most important reasons to relocate in the KRI.
The most frequently reported vulnerable categories are persons with disabilities, female-headed households and minor headed households – overall, between 53% and 72% of IDPs and returnees live in locations where the presence of at least one of the above groups was reported.
The most frequently reported minor vulnerability is work. Overall, around 70% of returnees and IDPs live in locations where the presence of minors working was assessed. In addition, around one fourth of returnees and IDPs live in locations where children are married, children are begging, and/or they were born during displacement, and hence do not have birth certificates and other documents.
(Source: IOM)
By for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
Putin eyes visit to Baghdad amid growing Russian-Iraqi contacts
Lately, official Russian-Iraqi contacts have been intensifying noticeably.
On Nov. 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iraqi President Barham Salih met behind closed doors within the agenda of the Mediterranean Dialogue in Rome. On Nov. 20-21, Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian deputy foreign minister and special presidential envoy for the Middle East and North Africa, met all of Iraq’s key decision-makers when he was in Baghdad. The sides agreed to further develop relations and make efforts to hold a meeting on the highest level.
Russian officials’ increased contacts with their Iraqi counterparts have become a virtual necessity as a result of the changes in Iraq’s domestic politics brought about by the latest electoral cycle. The number, level, and scale of the meetings are indeed exceptional, and all the more so considering the constant foreign trips Iraqi politicians themselves make.