By Ronald P Verdonk, Agricultural Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Iraqi agriculture, like other sectors of the economy, has a lot of catching up to do in order to create jobs and play a more significant role in boosting GNP. Production of grain, vegetables and fruit faces a range of challenges of which […]
By Chris Bowers, British Consul General in Erbil. This article was originally published by Rudaw, and is re-published with permission by Iraq Business News. Whenever I travel to downtown Erbil from our consulate in the northern reaches of the city, I am struck by the pace of change. Erbil, and much of the rest of […]
Following a successful and high-profile stint as France's Ambassador to Baghdad, Boris Boillon is being transferred to Tunisia. The Algerian-born Boillon has been very active in promoting the business and cultural relationship between France and Iraq, and Iraq Business News has recently reported on France's many successes in the country. At 41, Boillon is France's […]
Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has said in an interview with news agency AFP that Iraq will honour production-sharing contracts that the Kurdish regional authorities have signed with foreign companies. Shares in Norway's DNO, which has production in the region, rose 7% on the news. The report was not confirmed by the Oil Ministry and […]
The Grain Board of Iraq (Ministry of Trade) has announced another tender on Monday for the supply of 100,000 tonnes of grain. Some experts cite this tender as a factor in the 1.6% jump in grain prices on Monday. Reuters quotes Brett Cooper, senior manager for markets at FCStone Australia, as saying: "Iraq has tendered […]
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said he would give up half of his salary, and will not stand for re-election. According to Reuters, Maliki's media advisor, Ali al-Moussawi, said the premier would forego 50 percent of his $30,000 monthly paycheck to bring his salary closer to other government employees. "He feels there is a […]
A member of Najaf provincial council announced on Friday that Turkish Airlines will run four flights a week between Istanbul and Najaf airport, increasing to seven flight s a week from next month when services to five other Iraqi airports will begin. Abdul Hussein Abtan told AKnews that the civil aviation authorities in Iraq and […]
Iraq’s grain imports will decline after rainfall boosted crop production, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said. Bloomberg, citing a report from the UN’s Global Information and Early Warning System, says imports will fall to 4.91 million metric tons in the year ending on June 30, down 6.1 percent from the prior 12 months. […]
A spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity said on Saturday that resolving the energy crisis that has plagued the country in recent years will cost an estimated $6bn [7.2 trillion Iraqi dinars]. Musab al-Mudaris told AKnews that the ministry has asked parliament to provide appropriate funds in the 2011 budget to resolve the shortcomings […]
Reuters reports that the chief executive of private equity group MerchantBridge and two JPMorgan executives were among seven people killed when a small plane crashed in northern Iraq. The plane went down shortly after takeoff on Friday from Sulaimaniya airport in Kurdistan. MerchantBridge CEO Basil al-Rahim and Abdallah Lahoud, a partner in the company, died […]
DNO has reported oil flow at its Bastora-1 site in Iraqi Kurdistan. Drilling of exploration well Bastora-1 in the Erbil license commenced on 7 September. The well has been drilled to total depth of 3,600 meters. As previously reported hydrocarbons were observed while drilling through several of the prospective intervals. Two tests were undertaken in […]
On Thursday, Salah al-Din’s [Salahadin] deputy governor laid the foundation stone for the largest housing compound in the city of Tikrit. Valued at about $238 million [286 trillion Iraqi dinars], the project is being built by a Jordanian company, an official said. “Ahmed Abduljabbar al-Kareem laid the foundation stone for the project in the area […]
