Shilan Khanaqa, Kurdistan Region’s representative to the United Arab Emirates told AKnews that the two-day conference will be held under the auspices of the Dubai Emirate and Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

No exact date was mentioned, but officials from Kurdistan, including ministers for tourism, and trade and industry, heads of investment boards and chambers of commerce, as well as a considerable number of Kurdish businessmen are expected to attend.

The conference will spotlight the high security and stability in Kurdistan to attract more investors, Khanaqaa added.

(Source: AKnews)

SGS and Iraq signed a contract in January 2011 whereby the Swiss company provides product conformity assessment services for qualifying products allowing their importation into Iraq in line with Iraq’s Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC) requirements for pre-importation inspection, testing and certification scheme.

“The Ministry decided today to end SGS contract after the company refused to send a statement of position about its lagging behind in the process of assessing imported products” spokesperson for the Planning Ministry Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi told Aknews.

Iraq will sign the contract with other more committed world companies “who have the ability to enforce the articles of the agreement” he said.

Iraq Business News understands that Bureau Veritas was also appointed last year to implement the scheme.

(Source: AKnews)

According to AKnews, Bin Hili arrived in Baghdad on 30th January to inspect the preparations for the summit, which has been postponed several times since March of last year  due to the wave of uprisings across the Arab world.

He told a joint press conference with the Iraqi Foreign Mnister Hoshyar Zebari that “all the preparations are there to make the next Arab Summit in Baghdad successful.”

The Arab League and the Iraqi Government have agreed on 29th March as the date for the Summit. Bin Hili said the agenda will be different this time, being more open and more interactive with the Arab [Spring] events.

Iraq’s Hoshyar Zebari said there was a real “desire and willingness” among many of the Arab countries to have an active participation in the summit in Baghdad.

The hosting of the Summit in Baghdad has been hailed by Iraqi leaders as a “national achievement” and symbolic of Iraq’s return to the Arab arena; Iraq last hosted the Summit in May 1990.

(Source: AKnews)

Since initial fielding more than six years ago, the C-RAM system is credited with saving hundreds of lives through its ability to provide early warning of incoming indirect fire. C-RAM is a capability that integrates existing field artillery and air defense sensors, a commercial off-the-shelf warning system and a U.S. Navy-developed interceptor to protect U.S. and coalition personnel from indirect fire threat. Working closely with the U.S. Army, Northrop Grumman helped to take the C-RAM capability from concept to reality in less than 18 months.

“C-RAM is exemplary for smart integration of existing technology to serve critical needs,” said Mike Twyman, vice president and general manager of the Defense Systems Division, Northrop Grumman Information Systems. “We will continue our collaboration with the Army to enhance this system that has provided timely warning of more than 2,000 rocket and mortar attacks against our FOBs.”

Under this contract, Northrop Grumman will provide systems engineering, production, deployment and logistics support for the C-RAM systems. The contract was awarded by the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Program management and technical direction will come from the Program Director, C-RAM, in the Army’s Program Executive Office, Missiles and Space.

(Source: Northrop Grumman)

The number of individuals accused in those cases was 5,682.

The statistics, made by the Legal Office/CoI, showed the number of the distribution of these referrals is as follows:

These numbers represent cases that were processed by CoI investigation offices, (not including the Kurdistan Region), and which were referred to the appropriate court of law.

(Source: Commission of Integrity)

The company’s Global Communications Officer, Klaus-Peter Martin, told Fox that the number was up from just 1,000 vehicles five years ago.

General Motors manages the Middle East region from an office in Dubai, and markets its cars and trucks in Iraq through several dealers serviced by local distributor Al-Mansour Automotive Company.

Precise market data from Iraq is not available, but overall new car sales for 2011 are estimated to be around 115,000, with GM likely to take the number one position. Martin expects the market size to roughly double by 2015.

Chrysler currently works with one dealership in Baghdad that sells Town and Country minivans and the 300 luxury sedan, while the Northern Iraq Vehicle Agency sells Fords through its office in Sulaimaniyah.

Although Chevy and GMC pickup trucks and SUVs may be the most visible products on the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere, GM’s regional office in Dubai reports that its top sellers are actually low-priced small cars like the Chevrolet Aveo.

(Source: Fox News)

Iraq Ministry of Oil, is urging all companies to pre-qualify to do business with ministry by participating in Iraq Energy EXPO and Conference, April 23th – 26th, 20121 at Baghdad International Convention Center.

While worldwide demand for oil continues to grow as world population grows, unfortunately significant new major opportunities for oil supplies do not exist anywhere in the world prior to Iraq opening its doors and welcoming international oil companies in the past few years.

According to Mr. Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq Deputy PM for Energy stated recently “estimate on the Iraq proven oil reserves sharply increased to 143.1 billion barrels, an almost 25 per cent increase, the world’s second-largest proven reserves , that can be extracted by available techniques in the country”. Adding that this total is based on reserves in 66 oil fields and there are other areas to be explored that are expected to add more to the reserve total.

Iraq for decades was left behind the rest of the world with dilapidated infrastructure and no capital investment to grow its energy sector, many reasons contributed including three major wars. Today billions of dollars are being invested by major oil companies from around the world and the work just started, many more billions for years to come will be spend to level the playing field with other oil producing countries.

Unprecedented energy business opportunities exist today in Iraq, unmatched anywhere in the world, and we invite you to participate through Iraq Energy EXPO and Conference, April 23th – 26th, 2012 at Baghdad International Convention Center.

The government of Iraq invites you to participate, five ministries are involved in the staging and planning of this event, let us show you how easy and safe it is to be part of this historic event, we will handle all your logistics.

Your company will be able to encage face to face with top decision makers, be prepared to do business in Iraq, make the next step.

(Source: Iraqi Ministry of Oil)

Developed in partnership with the U.S. Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and Rollins College, the Global Links program will sponsor a female Iraqi professor in the United States for one year. The two-part program includes a hands-on externship at Tupperware’s headquarters in Orlando and an academic year in residence at nearby Rollins College, where she will participate in a specially designed curriculum focused on entrepreneurship, women business ownership and financial self-sufficiency. Using a “train-the-trainer” model, the program will enable the professor to return to Iraq and impart her training on hundreds of Iraqi university students.

Tupperware, which operates globally and invests in the social, economic and educational empowerment of women all over the world, identified a need for the Global Links program during a site visit in Iraq. The company wanted to invest in Iraq’s long-term future by leveraging the untapped potential in women, who can play an important role in helping to drive recovery and growth.