Basra's Provincial Council has approved a new board of directors for the Basra Investment Commission (BIC), according to AKnews. Council Chairman Sabah al-Bazouni (pictured) told the news agency that the council endorsed two public sector candidates, Aladdin Tahir Najem and Basil Abbas Ali, and three private sector candidates: Mazen Dakhel Abed al-Zahra, Adel Abdul-Amir Laftah […]
Reuters reports that about 700 U.S. trainers, mostly civilian, will help Iraqi security forces when American troops leave, far less than the several thousand troops and contractors once under discussion between Baghdad and Washington. The number of U.S. troops and trainers to remain in Iraq was the subject of months of informal talks before President Barack […]
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is embarking on a water supply and sewerage programme worth $910 million USD (1 billion IQD), according to AKnews. Samir Abdullah [Samir Abdullah Mustafa, Samir Akrawi], Minister of Municipalities and Tourism (pictured), told a press conference that the Goptapa-Chamchamal water project will supply drinking water for 300,000 people in central […]
Karbala relies heavily on Iranian pilgrims to important religious sites in the area. But hotel owners are crying foul: they say Iranians are openly monopolizing tourism in Karbala and covertly buying up local properties, according to this article from Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views […]
In one of the largest deals of its kind in the Middle East, Zain, one of Iraq’s leading mobile telecommunications providers, has signed a US$650 million five-year network outsourcing agreement with Ericsson, the world's leading provider of telecommunications technology and services and its local partner SIM (Service in Motion). Under this agreement, Ericsson will optimize, […]
Groundstar Resources has announced that it is joining with its partners, Niko Resources and Vast Resources, in proceeding at Qara Dagh, where site-preparation, engineering and logistics will be carried out in the first half of 2012. The QD-2 well is anticipated to spud in the second half of 2012. Groundstar and partners are also exploring […]
More than 100 educators from all over Iraq attended a conference in Baghdad sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and the British Council November 17-19 to launch the country’s first association dedicated to professional development and networking for English teachers. The participants, representing the primary, secondary, and university levels, established an Iraqi affiliate of the international […]
GE marked the opening of its dedicated office in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with the first GE Day. The event underlined the company’s focus on strengthening public private partnerships, highlighted by the recent multi-million dollar, multi-year agreement with Mass Global Investment Company to support power distribution in Northern Iraq. GE […]
The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. […]
"The biggest opportunity coming up is Iraq. The stability and security is still an issue but that is a growth market, especially as hopefully the situation improves and they have great plans to increase oil output. It'll be a long-term opportunity, but it's out there. We see it as a big opportunity longer term," said […]
Reuters reports that Iraq signed a $349 million contract with Greek power plant builder Metka, a subsidiary of the Mytilineos Group, on Wednesday. The Shat-Al-Basra Power Plant Project will be a gas-fired, 1,250-MW power plant in southern Iraq. It comprises 10 units of 125 MW each, which were purchased from General Electric in a contract […]
Lafarge plans to triple cement production over the next two to three years at its plant in Karbala, according to Bloomberg. Eric le Blan, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge's partner MerchantBridge, told the agency that production at Karbala would increase from 576,000 tons of cement per year to at least 1.8 million tons by 2013 […]
