Citigroup and Bank of Baghdad have announced a strategic partnership which offers corporate clients, with major business presence in Iraq, a seamless cash management solution and other relevant banking services.

The client offer encompasses account services, domestic and international payments and collections, liquidity management and electronic banking solutions, backed by a comprehensive customer service and streamlined documentation processes.

This key partnership leverages Citi’s state-of-the-art global cash management platform, as well as Bank of Baghdad’s franchise and extensive branch network. The partnership also gives Bank of Baghdad, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s Burgan Bank, access to Citi’s global network across more than 107 countries for cash management solutions and other banking services.

Steve Donovan, Head of Global Transaction Services, Middle East & Pakistan at Citi, said:

“We are delighted to announce this partnership with Bank of Baghdad which is in line with our commitment to Iraq as well as our strategy to bring the right capabilities to our clients through our own global network or through partnerships with prime local banks. This alliance certainly creates a win-win situation for our mutual client base.“

Dr. Younes Brouche, Executive Vice Chairman at Bank of Baghdad said:

“Bank of Baghdad has had a long standing and successful relationship with Citi. It brings together our bank’s extensive network in Iraq, our product suite and service excellence with the global reach of Citi. We look forward to working with Citi to provide valued clients with bespoke solutions to help them with their operations in Iraq.“

Eduardo Eguren, Chief Executive Officer at Burgan Bank Group, said:

“We are pleased to announce this winning partnership. Bank of Baghdad is a fast growing member of Burgan Bank Group and has successfully placed itself as one of the major players in Iraq. This partnership will indeed add value to both Bank of Baghdad’s and Citi’s clients as well as to Burgan Bank Group clients.“

Citi has been in the Arab World for nearly 50 years and views the region as critical to its global franchise. It currently offers full scale corporate banking services across ten Arab countries including Egypt, UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait as well as Pakistan. Its consumer banking services cover UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and Pakistan, while it maintains close relationships with high net worth clients in the region through the Citi Private Bank.

(Source: Zawya)

Iraq and Jordan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a rail line linking the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba with the Iraqi capital of Baghdad,

The Jordanian news agency Petra reports that the MoU was signed in Amman on Sunday by Jordanian Transport Minister Muhannad Qudah and his Iraqi counterpart Hadi al Ameri.

Jordan has plans for a $3.1 billion rail network running 950 kilometers (590 miles) to connect the kingdom with Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is due to start the first bids for the project by the end of June, according to Bloomberg.

(Sources: Bloomberg, Petra)

Best Western International, a leading international hotel chain, has announced its plans to open its first hotel in Erbil.

A signing ceremony was held recently with Glenn de Souza, Best Western International’s vice president international operations for Asia & the Middle East, and Halgord Azzo, CEO of Golden Mountains Company, owner of Best Western Premier Erbil Hotel.

“There are many positive points which have triggered the interest of Best Western in Iraq for its next step of brand expansion. Compared to other countries in the region, Iraq holds good promise when considering the economy, the people, the salaries and financial resources,” said de Souza.

“It is a promising destination that holds vast potential as both a major business centre and a fascinating tourism spot. With Best Western Premier Erbil Hotel, the destination will benefit from the global sales and marketing reach, revenue generation and promotional power enjoyed by Best Western.”

Construction is due to start in September, and the hotel is expected to open in the second quarter of 2014. It will be built in a prime location close to the recently built international airport, a statement said.

The hotel will offer 160 rooms in standard, junior suite, deluxe suite and executive suite categories – all appointed with the likes of free satellite TV, direct dial telephone, wireless internet access, tea/coffee set and 24 hour room service.

The hotel’s facilities will include a restaurant, lobby lounge, spa, meeting and conference facilities and a casino.

(Source: Trade Arabia)

The potential business opportunities in the reconstruction of Iraq are very significant, especially for the construction industry.

In this interview with Phil Blizzard, at MEED’s Arabian World Construction Summit, the procedures for conducting business in Iraq are highlighted by Thomas Donovan, Managing Partner, IRAQ Law Alliance, who states that these procedures do vary between the two jurisdictions of the country.

Please click here to see the full interview.

Shares in WesternZagros Resources are up 35% on Tuesday following the company’s announcement of an oil discovery in the Jeribe Formation at the Sarqala-1 exploration well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The cpmpany says the Jeribe Formation flowed light, 40 degrees API oil at a stabilized rate of 6,000 barrels per day over the 24 hours of the initial flow period. This rate was achieved through a 36/64 inch choke at a flowing well head pressure of 3,900 psi and without any stimulation. No water was produced during this flow.

Simon Hatfield, CEO of WesternZagros commented:

“We’re very excited to confirm an oil discovery in the Jeribe Formation. With these encouraging initial results, we will continue the testing to evaluate the full flow capability at the well and its potential for early production.“

A five-year project for French engineering group Alstom to build an above-ground urban metro line in Baghdad will cost $1.5 billion [1.8 trillion Iraqi dinars] and be funded by the French government and banks, according to Reuters.

The planned line will have capacity to carry 30,000 passengers an hour, will have 22 km (13 miles) of track and 14 stations linking northern Baghdad districts with the city centre, the Baghdad provincial governor’s office said.

France’s Alstom signed a memorandum of understanding for the deal in January, while a follow-up agreement signed in Baghdad on Monday paved the way for French financing for the project.

“The company has obtained agreement from several French banks and the French government to implement this project,” Shaker al-Zamili, head of the Baghdad Investment Commission, told Reuters.

A final accord on the Baghdad metro project would have to be approved by the Iraqi cabinet, he added. The loan would be repaid by Iraq after the railway started operating, through a mechanism yet to be determined.

As we reported in June of last year, Iraq’s southern city of Najaf awarded privately-owned Canadian consortium TransGlobim International a $600 million contract to build the country’s first monorail.

(Source: Reuters)

By Chris Bowers, British Consul General in Erbil. This article was originally published by Rudaw, and is re-published with permission by Iraq Business News.

We are approaching the time in the diplomatic calendar when British embassies around the world celebrate the Queen’s Birthday with, what else, but a party. We are no exception in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Fortunately, we are not expected to compete with the Royal Wedding! But it does give us an opportunity to reflect on the state of relations between the UK and its various hosts around the world.

This year will be special as we will celebrate the official opening of the Consulate General in Erbil: a great day and honour for us.

The struggle of the Kurdish people has been long and determined from before Mahabad and beyond but the UK was there at the modern birth of the KRG in 1991. It was former PM Sir John Major’s initiative to say no to Saddam’s tyranny and to establish the No Fly Zones that gave Kurdistan the space and chance to establish itself; an opportunity the Kurdish people grasped with both hands; as they did again when Saddam was finally toppled in 2003 with US and UK troops at the forefront with peshmerga.

That action sprung from a conviction within the UK that Iraqis and Kurds deserved better. That is a belief that does not go away from one day to the next. There is an unmistakeable warmth and commonality to UK-KRG relations that has been brewed over the years that gives a depth, respect and openness to meetings.

UK has been a partner for this part of the world for decades. Some of our shared history is open to interpretation. But I was reminded of the strength of people to people contacts during a visit to Suleymaniya Museum this week and saw for myself some of the stunning ancient artefacts – stone axes from 100,000 BC, painted pottery from 6,500 BC, legal contracts and the most exquisite cylindrical seals from 2,500 BC – that speak to the extraordinary depth of civilisation in this region. I was delighted to see the role that British archaeologists had played throughout the last hundred years in excavating at Shanidar, Fayda, Shamsara and equally pleased to hear of the role the British Museum hopes to play in the future.

The New York Times reports that two American businessmen have been charged with paying army officers more than $1 million in bribes to secure multimillion-dollar contracts to supply the American military and help rebuild Iraq.

A federal indictment against the men, George H. Lee, and his son, Justin W. Lee, was unsealed on Friday. Both are charged with four counts of bribery and one count of conspiracy.

The Lees are among nearly 60 contractors and military officers to face criminal charges stemming from the scramble for often poorly monitored government contracts in the early years of the Iraq war.

Federal officials have also blocked 120 people and companies accused of fraud and corruption from doing business with the government. The Lees’ company, Lee Dynamics International, was suspended in July 2007.

Justin W. Lee was expected to appear in federal court in Philadelphia as early as Tuesday, and George H. Lee is believed to be at large outside the United States, possibly in Kuwait or Dubai.

The 25-page indictment describes a relationship between the Lees and military contracting officers, where lucrative contracts to build warehouses in Iraq or provide American troops with bottled water and blankets could be bought for the cost of a first-class plane ticket or a wire transfer of several thousand dollars.

Court documents say that one Army major at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait received at least $225,000 in cash in exchange for funneling $14 million worth of military contracts toward the Lees’ business.

The major is identified only as “Person One” in the indictment, but according to the New York Times report, her description almost perfectly matches that of Maj. Gloria D. Davis, who shot and killed herself in Baghdad in December 2006 after telling investigators she had taken $225,000 in bribes from the company.

The indictment portrays “Person One” and the Lees as working hand in hand. It says that the Lees secured a job for the son of “Person One,” and that she and George Lee flew to Thailand together to establish a bank account to receive wire transfers.

She is quoted in a January 2005 e-mail to George Lee thanking him, “for everything you have done for me and my family.”

The indictment also ties the case against the Lees to another major corruption inquiry involving Maj. John Cockerham, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for taking $9.6 million in bribes while working at a contracting office in Kuwait. Seven other soldiers have been implicated in that investigation.

Court documents say that Major Cockerham received “at least $1 million” from the Lees in exchange for steering them business to provide troops with bottled water, bunk beds and mattresses, among other things.

(Source: New York Times)