Normally thousands of Iranian tourists arrive in Karbala daily. But as Western sanctions on Iran hit, pilgrims are staying at home. And the ones that do come are not shopping. Karbala’s merchants say they’re facing financial ruin, according to this article from NIQASH.

Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

When textile merchant Fadel al-Bazzaz, ordered millions of Iraqi dinars worth of goods from China, he never expected that the rest of the world would cause him such a problem.

“I have a massive financial crisis,” al-Bazzaz, one of the longest established textile merchants in Karbala, said. “I imported goods worth millions of Iraqi dinars and I was hoping to sell these goods in Karbala, which has had a tourism boom with increased numbers of Iranian tourists coming to visit holy shrines.”

But with the recent economic sanctions imposed upon Iran by the US and European countries, as well as the boycott of Iranian oil imports and of the Iranian central bank, the value of the Iranian currency has plunged.

As news agency Bloomberg reported: “The sustained, global sanctions effort “has brought very substantial economic and financial pressure on the Iranian regime,” U.S. Undersecretary of Treasury David Cohen said in a speech in New York yesterday. That is reflected “most dramatically in its plummeting currency,” which has lost half its value since September, he said. It was a reference to the market rate that ordinary Iranians use to acquire a hard currency rather than the official rate.” The official rate has not actually moved much over the past few months but the unofficial rate certainly has.

The Government of the United States and the Government of Iraq strongly support the preservation and expression of Iraq’s rich heritage, the establishment of a strong Iraqi education system at all levels, and the continuation of robust educational, cultural, and professional exchanges between our nations. The U.S.-Iraq Joint Coordinating Committee on Cultural and Educational Cooperation met in March 2011 in Baghdad, and in February 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Higher Education:

The United States and Iraq are working together to build a strong Iraqi higher education system with long-term links with U.S. academic institutions. U.S. and Iraqi efforts helped increase the number of Iraqi students studying in the United States by more than 45 percent to 616 students in the 2010-2011 academic year over the previous year. An EducationUSA education advising event featuring up to 10 universities will be held in April 2012, building on the success of the first-ever fair in Erbil in October 2011.

Through educational advising, we will continue to provide accurate information about U.S. higher education to Iraqi students who aspire to study at U.S. institutions. Hundreds of Iraqi students and scholars have studied or conducted research in the U.S. through the Fulbright Program, with 35 students and 35 faculty expected to participate in the 2012-13 academic year.

Seven U.S. and seven Iraqi universities participate in the Iraq University Linkages Program, which pairs U.S. and Iraqi faculty and administrators to strengthen university curricula, enhance and update teaching methods and technology, and improve career services for students. The current linkages match Basrah University with Oklahoma State University; Salahaddin University with the University of Cincinnati; Tikrit University with Ball State University; Kufa University with the University of Kentucky; Baghdad University with Georgia State University; the University of Dohuk with Michigan State University; and the University of Technology with the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Seventeen stadiums in Iraqi Kurdistan are to be renovated, and new sports centres will be created, at a total cost of 20 billion Iraqi dinars ($17m), reports AKnews.

• 4.6 billion Iraqi dinars ($3.9m) will be used to refurbish stadiums in and around Erbil, while 991 million Iraqi dinars ($850,000) will go towards renovating Sulaimaniya stadium;
• Around 2 billion Iraqi dinars ($1.7m) will be used to finish the incomplete sports center in Sulaimaniya;
• A sports center worth 991 million Iraqi dinars ($850,000) will be constructed in the disputed Makhmur parish, and another one in Khabat parish worth 495 million Iraqi dinars ($425,000);
• Approximately 2 billion Iraqi dinars ($1.7m) will be allotted to Garmiyan administration where a 1.7 billion Iraqi dinars ($1.5m) sports hall will be built.

Funds have also been allocated to Kirfi, Kalar and other areas.

The project is to be put out to tender soon, and will be funded by the Ministry of Finance.

(Source: AKnews)

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Minister of Sports and Youth, Kawa Mahmoud, has announced that Spanish soccer club Real Madrid is to open four soccer schools in the region.

According to a report from AKnews, the opening of the schools has been seen by officials in Kurdistan Region as a significant project that will greatly raise standards of football in Kurdistan.

The schools will be opened in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Duhok and Kalar, each with capacity for 100 students.

Part of the contract signed between the KRG and Real Madrid involves the training of Kurdish referees, both in Kurdistan and in Spain.

The club currently has 62 soccer schools around the world and there are reequests from 136 countries worldwide to build more.

Daban Shadala, KRG representative to Spain said the KRG had also attempted to communicate with Barcelona, as well, to have them open soccer schools and academies in Kurdistan. “But we have not heard from them officially, yet.”

(Sources: AKnews, KRG)

The foundation stone of a five star hotel and shopping center was laid in Kirkuk on Wednesday, according to AKnews.

The mall and hotel,  the first project of its kind in the city, will cost $31.58m (36.8 billion Iraqi dinars).

Construction will take over three years and will be undertaken by the Rekani company, based in Kurdistan, and several Turkish companies.

(Source: AKnews)

The Iranian currency, the toman, or rial, has lost half its value against the Iraqi dinar in recent weeks following U.S. and European sanctions, according to a report from Azzaman.

Iraqi traders welcomed the slump saying it has made the import of Iranian goods much cheaper than before.

In the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, where demand for the Iranian currency is high, the dramatic depreciation in the Iranian currency was preventing some exchange bureaus from dealing in the toman.

The slump in the toman’s value was a shock and surprise to Iranian pilgrims who flock to Iraq in their tens of thousands every week; suddenly they found that they could not get the dinars they hoped for when exchanging their tomans.

Religious tourism, the backbone of the economies of Iraqi cities like Karbala, Najaf, Baghdad and Samarra, could be negatively affected.

(Source: Azzaman)

Wasit Provincial Council is currently puting a committee together to discuss plans to transform Damlaj Lake into centre for tourism, according to a report from AKnews.

The panel will discuss how to increase the 435 sq km lake’s capacity of water storage, and to attract and discuss investment opportunities with foreign and domestic companies.

The proposed plans include of a paved road to provide accesss to the lake, and will also take advantage of the abundant wildlife in the area such as fish and rare birds.

Salam Mazaal Ekalm, the deputy governor of Wasit’s Agriculture and Water Resources Affairs, told AKnews that there is already interest from Iran.

“The Commission accompanied an Iranian delegation representing a group of companies to the lake and they expressed their willingness to invest the site,” he said.

The committee will be comprised of representatives from the executive and legislative powers as well as representatives from the Agriculture and Water Resources, Environment, and Tourism departments of Wasit and the manager of the estuary project.

Eklam said they will be responsible for “making it an important economic and tourist landmark”, and is its hoped that the province will benefit from significant financial returns.

Two-thirds of Damlaj Lake lies in the Wassit province and the rest belongs to Diwaniyah.

(Source: AKnews)

AKnews reports that over 16 million pilgrims flocked to Karbala to mark Arbain, the 40th day after Ashura, which is the day Shiite’s believe Imam Hussein Ibn Ali was martyred in the 7th century.

The deputy leader of the Karbala Provincial Council Nassif, Jassem al-Khutabi, told AKnews that over half a million come from abroad, including from Europe, America, Australia, Iran, India, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Afghanistan.

Khutani called on the federal government and the Iraqi Council of Representatives to vote on Karbala City’s request to form a special body to deal with the millions of visitors to Iraq.

“The visitors need security and services that Karbala and other popular provinces cannot manage without the cooperation of their neighbors.”

(Source: AKnews)