By John Lee. Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, famous for housing foreign journalists during the US-led invasion of Iraq, has since undergone a makeover. Hotel manager Fadhel Salman Hassan told AFP: "We are a five-star establishment ... We have 405 rooms, three bars [and] by order of the minister of electricity, the power never cuts." The hotel […]
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NIC holds Iraqi-Singapore Investment Forum
By John Lee. Iraq's National Investment Commission (NIC) recently held the Iraqi-Singapore Business and Investment Forum in Baghdad, in order to brief the Singapore delegation on investment opportunities in Iraq, as well as to promote economic and commercial exchange between the two countries. Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Reform, Dr. Rowsch Shaways, confirmed in his opening […]
Weekly Security Update
By Tom Walker, Director, Assaye Risk COUNTRY OVERVIEW This brief covers an extended reporting period from 11 – 20 March in order to coincide with the anniversary of the Iraqi invasion and a week which has seen heightened levels of violence, especially in Baghdad and surrounding provinces, but also notably in Basra. In line with […]
Contractors Get $138bn from Iraq War
By John Lee. Research by the Financial Times shows that the top 10 American and foreign contractors in Iraq have secured business worth at least $72 billion between them, with the total for all contractors coming in at $138 billion. Top of the list is KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown and Root), which was once run […]
Tags: 'Your Country' - United States, Agility, KBR, Kuwait, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, SIGIR, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
Video: Iraqi Marshlands Restored by Nature
From Reuters. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Drained by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, Iraq's southern marshlands are undergoing a remarkable transformation. Saddam's attempt to destroy the wetlands came in response to an uprising by Marsh Arabs after the […]
Tags: marshes
LUKoil Continues Social Program in Iraq
LUKOIL has begun supplying computers and other equipment for schools of Madeina and Izzaldin-Salim municipalities under the social program of West Qurna-2 project. The program aims at developing facilities of educational, medical and sports institutions in the districts bordering on the contract area. This work is based on agreements concluded with the administrations of Madeina, […]
Sunni Endowment Official Arrested for Bribery
By John Lee. A team from Iraq's Commission on Integrity (CoI) has arrested an official of the Sunni Endowment for taking bribes to from investors in return for the use of a property owned by the Endowment. The official is accused of taking a bribe of $250,000 in return for the use of the Sara […]
Ten Years is an Eternity
The British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said that a week is a long time in politics. If that's true, then ten years is an eternity. As we mark the tenth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, everyone has had plenty of time to consider the pros and cons of the military action, and […]
Investment Opportunity in Nassiriya
By John Lee. Iraq's Ministry of Construction and Housing has announced an investment opportunity in the governorate of Nasiriyah to build a residential complex for Ministry staff and state employees. The project is located on a 250,000 m2 site on the island of Kushmarah, on the highway in the northern part of Nasiriyah city, adjacent […]
10 Yrs After Invasion, Iraq Still Imports Oil Products
Translated from Azzaman Iraq for Al-Monitor by Naria Tanoukhi. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Former Iraqi oil minister Issam al-Jalabi says that although Iraq is an oil-rich country, it still imports petroleum products from abroad to meet its needs 10 years after […]
Tags: petrol, Refineries
Goods Without Cert of Origin Prevented Entering Iraq
By John Lee. Authorities at Traibeel [Tirbil, Tarbiel] border crossing (pictured) between Iraq and Jordan have said that trucks carrying goods without an official certificate of origin certified by the Iraqi Embassy will not be allowed to enter Iraq. Yaseen al-Falahi, Director of the border post, told NINA that the measures are to prevent sub-standard […]
Tags: borders, Jordan, Pre-Importation Inspection Testing and certification of Goods into Iraq (ICIGI), Tarbiel, Tirbil, Traibeel
Iran's Role In Iraqi Dinar Devaluation
By Omar al-Shaher for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. There were conflicting accounts of the reasons for the rise in the value of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar earlier this month. Politicians and economists have said that Iranian […]