The Mayor of Baghdad, Sabir al-Issawi, met representatives of the French company Sistra [Systra] to discuss the studies and designs for the Baghdad Metro Project, a Mayoralty statement reported on Wednesday, according to Aswat al-Iraq.

“The Mayoralty’s Designs Department had prepared over the past few months the detailed dossiers about the transportation problems in Baghdad, for which the Company was supplied necessary documents from Baghdad Mayoralty, the Ministries of Transport and Planning, as well as other ministries,” the statement added.

Reuters reported in January that France’s Alstom would lead the Baghdad Metro Project, while AKnews reported in July that the project had been suspended.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

Poland’s Ambassador to Iraq Mr Stanislaw Smolen met KRG’s Head of Foreign Relations on Wednesday to discuss establishing a Polish representative office in the Kurdistan Region.

Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Head of Foreign Relations, and Ambassador Smolen discussed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that is due to be signed between the Małopolska region and the Kurdistan Region later this year. The MOU’s purpose would be to strengthen relations and deepen cooperation between the two regions.

In a further display of the desire to improve cooperation between the two regions, both parties discussed the planned opening of a representative office in Kurdistan.

“We see many sectors in which we as the KRG can benefit from Poland’s expertise, such as in education, tourism, archaeology, agriculture, and industry, and we believe that there are many opportunities for Polish business and investment in the Region as well,” Mr Bakir said. “The opening of an official Polish representative office would greatly enhance our ability to coordinate these and similar initiatives,” he added.

Minister Bakir also urged Ambassador Smolen to help ensure that the Halabja attacks and the Anfal campaign committed by Saddam Hussein’s regime receive international recognition as genocide and crimes against humanity. Currently Poland holds the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union, which gives it a platform to highlight the Kurdish genocide, so that genocide is never allowed to happen again in Iraq or anywhere else.

Ambassador Smolen announced a forthcoming archaeological mission to Iraq. Next month, Poland will send a team of archaeologists to train their Iraqi counterparts from various universities throughout Iraq, including Salahaddin University in Erbil. A series of workshops will be conducted by the Polish scientists, allowing them to share their expertise in the field. Simultaneously, Poland will send a team of experts to collaborate on restoring one of the homes in Erbil’s historic citadel. The citadel house project will be joined to the archaeological mission and will give the participants from Kurdistan an invaluable training opportunity.

The ambassador hoped that Poland’s universities will be included in the KRG’s postgraduate scholarship programme. The KRG launched the Human Capacity Development Programme in 2010, with an annual budget of $100 million US dollars for Masters and doctoral scholarships to renowned international universities. The aim is for Kurdistan’s scholars to apply their experience and knowledge gained abroad towards Kurdistan’s development.

The Ambassador was accompanied by Counsellor Jerzy Zielinski. They met with the Minister of Trade and Industry Sinan Celebi; the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Jamil Sleiman Haider, and with the President of the Diwan of the Council of Ministers Fawzi Hariri. They also visited Salahaddin University and Iraqi Institute for Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage in Erbil.

(Source: KRG)

Between 18 and 23 September, Baroness Nicholson visited Baghdad in her capacity as Chairman of the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC).

She stayed at the British Embassy with the Ambassador, Michael Aron, and met a range of influential Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and two of his three Deputies.

She also met Iraqi and international business leaders, including Robert Dudley, CEO of BP and Sami al Araji, Chairman of the Iraqi National Investment Commission.

The visit highlighted the potential of international investment in Iraq, and helped strengthen the relationships that have already resulted in profitable opportunities for British and international business in Iraq.

It also prepared the ground for forthcoming IBBC conferences in Basra (17/18 October), London (16/17 November) and Erbil (January). These will broaden further the partnerships between British, International and Iraqi businesses.

The IBBC has delivered real benefits for its members, and is supporting the economic growth that will offer all Iraqis a brighter future. It is an excellent example of co-operation among a charitable organisation, the FCO, UKTI and the British Council, and one that promotes the British Government’s prosperity agenda.

(Source: FCO)

AKnews reports that 22 different types of vegetables are not longer banned from being imported into the Kurdistan Region.

The ban had been imposed in May in order to boost local production.

The KRG’s Minister for Agriculture, Jamil Suleiman, said, “since the local production of these vegetables has decreased, the banned items are allowed to be traded in, beginning on Monday”.

The banned vegetables include marrow, tomato, okra, leek, onion, green beans, pepper, egg planet, watermelon, melon, striped cucumber, grapes, apple, fig, peach, potato, sunflower seeds, cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce.

However, Iranian potatoes are still banned. “It is harmful for health,” Suleiman said.

(Source: AKnews)

Australia’s Ambassador to Iraq Ms Lyndall Sachs visited Erbil this week to exchange views with President Masoud Barzani and Prime Minister Barham Salih on political and economic developments and to discuss increasing economic relations.

President Barzani met Ambassador Sachs, who reaffirmed Australia’s full support for a democratic and pluralistic Iraq and commended him on the Kurdistan Region’s economic progress. She expressed the Australian government’s eagerness to work together and to assist in several sectors, including agriculture, education, trade and industry.

President Barzani thanked Ambassador Sachs for Australia’s role in overthrowing the former regime, and hoped that the Australian government will encourage private companies to participate in economic and investment projects. Ambassador Sachs said that Australia’s role in helping Iraq overcome its tragic past extends to assisting in the reconstruction of its infrastructure and enhancing economic development.

They also discussed the current political situation between Erbil and Baghdad and the developments in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Salih met Ambassador Sachs to discuss the political and economic developments in the Kurdistan Region and in Iraq as a whole, and to talk about ways in which Australia and the international community can help in the development of both the public and private sector.

Prime Minister Salih said he hoped that more Australian universities will become involved in the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Human Capacity Development Programme of scholarships, so that students from the Kurdistan Region can gain knowledge and expertise from Australia’s institutions.

Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, the KRG’s Head of Foreign Relations briefed Ambassador Sachs on the foreign representative offices present in the Kurdistan Region and the type of relationships that the KRG enjoys with the international community.

During her three-day visit Ambassador Sachs also met separately with the Minister of Natural Resources Dr Ashti Hawrami, Minister of Higher Education Dr Dlawer Ala’Aldeen, Minister of Education Safeen Dizayee, Minister of Trade and Industry, Sinan Çelebi and the Governor of Erbil Nawzad Hadi.

(Source: KRG)

The following report was published on 26th September 2011 by the International Crisis Group. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

To download the full report, please click here.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

After years of uncertainty, conflict and instability, the Iraqi state appears to be consolidating by reducing violence sufficiently to allow for a semblance of normalcy. Yet in the meantime, it has allowed corruption to become entrenched and spread throughout its institutions. This, in turn, has contributed to a severe decay in public services. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government has exacerbated the problem by interfering in anti-corruption cases, manipulating investigations for political advantage and intimidating critics to prevent a replication of the type of popular movements that already have brought down three regimes in the region. The government’s credibility in the fight against corruption has eroded as a result, and this, together with troubling authoritarian tendencies, is giving ammunition to the prime minister’s critics. To bolster its faltering legitimacy, Maliki’s government will have to launch a vigorous anti-corruption campaign, improve service delivery and create checks and balances in the state system.

As violence spread following the 2003 U.S. invasion, the state suffered in equal measure to the general population. In an environment of escalating kidnappings, explosions and assassinations, public services were thoroughly devastated. In the wake of the dramatic February 2006 Samarra bombing, entire ministries were empty, as officials dared not travel to work. Longstanding projects were abandoned overnight. Judges and parliamentarians found they had become targets. Oversight agencies, which should have been less exposed to risk because of their lack of direct contact with the general population, were forced to roll back their operations, leaving state institutions without effective safeguards against corruption or abuse. As a result, state output declined dramatically for a number of years, even as the annual budget steadily increased due to elevated oil prices. The state’s paralysis contributed to the proliferation of criminal elements and vested interests throughout the bureaucracy.

Over the next 18 months, the U.S. Embassy in Iraq will provide approximately $580,000 toward establishing the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) center at the Commission on Integrity (COI). These funds will provide English-language training for 100 COI employees. The investigators and prosecutors in the program will receive a minimum of 288 hours of instruction, with most taking 600 hours of classes. The beginning students will study with COI English experts, while the U.S. Embassy will provide a native English-speaking teacher for the advanced courses. At the end of the program, 20 students will be chosen to participate in a 90-day English-language immersion opportunity in the United States. Testing at the TOEFL center will be a critical tool in ensuring that the selected participants are ready for that experience.

This training will help Iraqi law enforcement institutions fight corruption, financial crimes, and terrorist financing. Since English is the primary world language for law enforcement, investigators and prosecutors who are fluent in English are better able to develop a truly successful international anticorruption entity that can effectively coordinate and cooperate with foreign law enforcement authorities.

The inauguration of the TOEFL Center at the COI on September 21 constitutes a milestone in the Commission’s programming to achieve that goal, as well as a measure of the growing partnership between the governments of the United States and Iraq to combat corruption. By opening the center to the public as well, the COI will share this resource with other Iraqis hoping to apply for English language-based studies and employment.

The TOEFL Center will also be critical to the Commission’s ability to ensure proper scoring of English ability of employees in the Commission’s “Timooh” program. The goal of this five-year program is to teach 500 of the Commission’s staff to speak, read, and write English. The first students in the program began to study English this summer, with the help of a grant from the U.S. Embassy.

English teaching cooperation is only one aspect of U.S. support for the COI over the past seven years. Embassy technical advisors have worked with investigators and administrators in Baghdad and 15 provincial offices to develop the COI’s capacity to combat, prevent, and investigate corruption. Among many projects in support of this goal, the U.S. Embassy trained over 2,000 COI staff in up-to-date methods for investigating corruption and helped the Commission to establish Iraq’s first internationally accredited polygraph unit.

(Source: US Embassy)

Levels of violence rose in Iraq for the fourth week in a row last week, with a number of people killed and injured in nationwide attacks. Violence was concentrated in Baghdad, Mosul and the districts surrounding the capital. As warned in last week’s Security Update on Iraq Business News there were several attacks conducted against predominantly Shi’ah parts of the country, including the holy city of Karbala, as religious worshippers observed the anniversary of the death of revered cleric Imam Sadiq on 23 September. There was also a spike in kidnappings last week, with eight people abducted around the country, although some may simply have been murdered rather than taken for a ransom exchange. Those kidnapped include three Christian men abducted on a hunting trip in Ta’mim province, two Yazidi civilians taken from Ninawa province and three Bangladeshi women kidnapped in Diyala province. AKE will be issuing its next quarterly kidnap report at the beginning of October. If you would like a free trial of the service please enter your details here.

Weekly Violence in Iraq - the last 6 months

North

Turkish and Iranian military operations continue around the borders of Kurdistan, but there were no reported casualties or damage as a result of their activity last week. The confrontation between Ankara, Tehran and the Kurdish rebels based in the Qandil Mountains does not look set to ease any time soon with a number of attacks on Turkish interests in recent weeks and an agreement between Iran and Turkey to co-operate on the matter. Previous years have seen fighting continue until winter conditions make fighting almost impossible in the mountains.

Centre

Levels of violence have risen in the central provinces to the highest level seen in 10 weeks. As warned, terrorists conducted a number of attacks against Shi’ah civilians over the past week, with the normally quiet province of Karbala amongst the targets. While responsibility has not yet been claimed the attacks may have been conducted by radical Islamist groups from a Sunni background intent on stirring up sectarian tensions; government sources believe this to be the case. The attacks may have been timed to coincide with a Shi’ah religious event on 23 September (25 Shawwal) which marked the anniversary of the death of revered figure Imam Sadiq, although the Karbala attacks took place two days later. Baghdad also saw an increase in the number of targeted shootings against ministry employees and senior members of the security forces. Businessmen were also targeted in suspected criminal attacks in some parts of the capital. Local national employees are advised to exercise caution and remain on guard.

South

There were no major developments recorded in the south of the country last week and it remains far quieter than the central and northern provinces, which should be particularly encouraging for the many companies looking to move into the region to do business. However, the lack of incidents and distraction of more mundane issues such as a lengthy visa application process should not lead to any complacency on behalf of those responsible for the health, safety and security of an organisation operating in the region. Sporadic terrorist attacks, kidnappings and other militant and criminal activities will continue to occur.

John Drake is a senior risk consultant with AKE, a British private security firm working in Iraq from before 2003. Further details on the company can be found here while AKE’s intelligence and political risk website Global IntAKE can be accessed here. You can obtain a free trial of AKE’s intelligence reports here. You can also follow John Drake on twitter here.