A tourist resort has been opened this week in central Amara, 150km north of Basra, at a cost of more than 12 billion dinars, reports Aswat al-Iraq. It is part of a 2007 plan to construct a tourist town in the southern city, which is better known for its marshes and Mesopotamian sites. “Adan tourist resort […]
Committees don't just sit around in Iraq. On 19th October the Iraqi government created a committee to increase business and economic relations with Turkey. Now, a member of the committee has said that the two countries are going to increase commercial exchange up to $12bn in 2011, reports AKNews. This is a more than three-fold increase on previous […]
An Iraqi ministry has said that Australia supports its quest for World Trade Organisation membership, according to NINA. WTO membership will significantly boost investment in Iraq as well as increasing its access to goods and services due to fewer restrictions from WTO member countries. WTO membership takes almost as long to attain as agreement at a UN […]
Baghdad's airport road was considered the most dangerous motorway in the world, but the city is now turning it into "the most beautiful street in the world", according to AFP. The US military had called it "RPG alley" (that's rocket-propelled grenade), as road users were at the receiving end of particularly frequent attacks during 2006 and 2007. […]
It may be that the International DBX Trade Fair in Sulaymaniyah city in the Kurdistan region was one trade fair too many in Iraq, as it was unable to draw in the numbers that it wanted to in the four days to Sunday, 14th November. And yet, despite being held in the middle of nowhere easy […]
By Stan Harbison, Vice President of Research and Analysis at energy consultants EPRINC. The current efforts to dramatically increase Iraq’s oil production are huge in scale and revolutionary in forming a working partnership between Iraq’s own oil industry and the world’s largest oil companies. But more important at the present is the fact that they […]
Iraq has just signed more orders for 100,000 tonnes of wheat from the USA, another 100,000 from Australia, and 50,000 from Ukraine. Iraq imports lots of wheat, with which it manufactures flour to use with its ration cards. The ration cards are seen by some Iraqis as better than money and for many are essential support. […]
After the main factions agreed a government-forming deal on Wednesday it was followed by a two-day Parliament walkout, but the new government now seems a little firmer. Shiite Nouri al-Maliki will remain prime minister and Kurd Jalal Talabani will stay on as President, while Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni Arab, has been selected as parliament speaker. Other […]
Further to our reports of major gas contracts being agreed in principal on 20 October for three fields holding 11 trillion cubic feet of gas (4 trillion cubic metres), most of them have now been signed. Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), Kuwait Energy and Kogas won the right to operate Iraq's Mansuriyah gas fields and have committed to producing 320m cubic feet of […]
Iran's oil ministry has said that prices of US$70-$90 would not hurt the global economy, and even $100 might be safe. "Consumers and producers are unanimous that the oil at $70-$90 prices are suitable prices and will not hurt the global economy," Mohammad Ali Khatibi said. "There are thoughts that an increase in the price of oil […]
Property prices rose fast in Baghdad in recent years, going up 50% and even 100% in many places. Now, Nina News reports that property-price rises in Wasit Province, halfway between Baghdad in central Iraq and Basra in the south-east, are "insane". Prices in the province are far exceeding those of neighbouring ones. The price per […]
Water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, two of Iraq's main water sources, are falling and temperatures in Iraq are rising, according to the UN Interagency Information and Analysis Unit. The rivers have dropped to less than a third of normal capacity and desertification is spreading. "The tendency of rainfall in general is continuously declining," said Deputy […]
