The media secretary at the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry for  Tourism said on Saturday that nearly 37,000 tourists visited Kurdistan during Eid al-Adha.

Kan’an Baha’addin told AKnews during the four days of the Eid 15,000 tourists visited Erbil province, 13,000 Dohuk, and 8,500 Sulaimaniya.

Eid al-Adha is an Islamic celebration that takes place at the end of the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca), when Muslims traditionally commemorate the trials and sacrifices of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) through the sacrifice of a goat or a sheep. This year the Eid was marked on Nov. 16.

Most of the visitors were Iraqi Arab holidaymakers from south and central Iraq, while others were Iranians, Baha’addin said.

The official stressed their statistics were “accurate”. There were also many people from outside Kurdistan who came only to visit their relatives. Those who stayed with their relatives instead of going to hotels and those who stayed less than 24 hours were not registered as tourists, the official added.

(Source: AKnews)

The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government,  Barham Ahmed Salih [Barham Saleh], laid the cornerstone of the second largest shopping complex in Kurdistan.

The ceremony in the city of Sulaimaniyah city underlined the region’s growing economic power.

The complex will be built by the Kurdish investment group, Hiwa, owned by Ahmed Majidi, who opened last year the luxurious Majidi Mall shopping center in Erbil.

It will cover an area of 100,000 square meters and will cost US$150 million [175 billion Iraqi dinars].  The project is to be completed in 30 months.

“Now the investment volume in Kurdistan Region has gone beyond US$13.5 billion” said Salih, “and there are many other companies who would like to come this region to do business. This is an achievement for Kurdistan”

Many international companies are expected to open branches in the luxurious shopping mall.

In Erbil, the renowned Kuwaiti Hypermarket City Centre sells 450,000 products on 13,000 square meters of floorspace.

The parking lot of the center can accommodate 2,500 cars. The shopping mall will be the second branch of Erbil-based Majidi Mall.

During the opening ceremony, Salih urged the company to carry out similar projects in Dohuk and Kirkuk as well.

Majidi Mall’s second branch in Sulaimaniyah will become one the largest shopping complexes in Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Nazim Mutallib, supervisor of the project said: “50,000 sq m of the area will be dedicated for the three-story building”

Erbil’s Majidi Mall is built on 130,000 sq meters.

(Source: AKnews)

A new wireless broadband network is to be launched in Iraq by Fanoos Telecom.

Fanoos will begin deployment of the WiMAX network in Sulaimaniyah, Mosul and Kirkuk, using the existing tower infrastructure from AsiaCell. Rollout is expected to be complete by the end of the year. The network will address both the residential and enterprise markets and address a market with a population of more than 10 million.

Aptilo Networks is providing the complete backend of the network, including prepaid billing capabilities, using its WiMAX CSN System. Aptilo will enable a multitude of different business models including payment via premium SMS and vouchers.

Additionally, the WiMAX CSN System will serve as a foundation to enable a future Wi-Fi hotspot network, providing a cost-effective means to connect Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Iraq with WiMAX infrastructure as backhaul and opening up new market opportunities for Fanoos. Aptilo’s solution also enables full interoperability between the various WiMAX vendors and products involved in the Fanoos deployment, to improve scalability and streamline costs.

“Aptilo’s WiMAX solution allows us to rollout the network very quickly, and positions us well for future network expansion, including into a secondary business model of offering Wi-Fi hotspots,” said Hiwa Rauf, CEO, Fanoos Telecom. “The technology is ideal for this large-scale, growing network, which we hope to build into the largest in Iraq.”

The CSN System is the first pre-integrated, ready to deploy wireless broadband data and voice services solution for mobile WiMAX AAA and service control. Unique multi-access, multi-service support allows for management of bundled data and multimedia services over WiMAX and Wi-Fi networks within the same platform.

“Fanoos Telecom is paving the way for advanced communications in Iraq,” said Jan Sjonell, Managing Director, Asia/Middle East, Aptilo Networks. “With a quarter million voice subscribers, Fanoos can tap into this established market leadership to deliver advanced 4G mobile broadband to help bring this next level of connectivity to residents and businesses, which will also spark new economic growth.”

Business is booming at Sulaimaniyah International Airport, with more than 2,000 flights since the beginning of 2010.

From January 2010 to the end of August, there were 2,381 flights to and from the airport, Dana Mohammad the media director of the airport, told AKnews.

A total of 107,581 passengers have flown through the airport during this period. Of this figure, 55,060 were inbound passengers, including 40,962 foreigners, according to Mohammed.

On average there were 10 flights daily through the airport in the first eight months of 2010.

In Nov. 2003, the current prime minister of Kurdistan, Barham Salih [Barham Saleh], laid the foundation stone of Sulaimaniyah International Airport and two years later in July 2005 the airport was inaugurated.

(Source: AKnews)

The American University in north Iraq’s Sulaimaniya city has decided to grant Bachelor degrees in Civil and Mechanical Engineering, according to a report from Aswat al-Iraq.

All Iraqi students have been invited to join it, whatever their national, racial or religious background may be, the University’s Academic Adviser said on Tuesday.

“The University shall accept any student in the above faculties,” John Achresto told a news conference, adding that the level of study will be up to the highest international levels.

He said that his University “is the first university of its kind to get the approval of the U.S. High Liberal Education Academy in this respect.”

The American University in Sulaimaniya was established in 2007, has 375 students, and uses the English language in its studies.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)