By Robert Tollast. Luay al-Khairullah has reason to be optimistic. As Chairman of the Dhi Qar Provincial Investment Commission, I spoke to him last year about the planned Nasiriyah Integrated Project (NIP) a 300,000 barrel a day capacity refinery not far from his home town. It's a project that will create much needed jobs and provide […]
By Padraig O'Hannelly. Yesterday in London, the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) held its annual conference, this year under the banner: "Iraq -- Accentuating the Positive". And in contrast to the prevailing media depiction of Iraq, the tone was indeed very positive, with a full house of senior executives, diplomats and public officials sharing their […]
By Robert Tollast. “How is electricity?”, I asked. “Excellent” replied Marwan, a young student of Physics at the University of Dhi Qar. Marwan (not his real name) is studying wireless transmission, and one of his lecturers is currently in Leicester studying with a British Council initiative to bolster the academic capacity of Iraqi universities. Will […]
Throughout August 2014, Iraq Business News polled readers for their opinions on the state of Iraq. As expected, the results indicate a more challenging environment in the country over the preceding year. But while the sample size and methodology do not allow us to claim statistical significance, the results tend to show a long-term commitment […]
Despite media reports to the contrary, business is still being done in Iraq, and Iraq Business News is the place to learn about it. Some random examples from the past week include further progress and stage payments to Hanwha for the construction of the Bismaya New City housing development, a $278-million drilling contract for Halliburton […]
If Iraq didn't face enough challenges already, the slump in the price of crude oil is another unwelcome development for the new Abadi government to deal with. At a current price of $81.78, the benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude is down nearly 25 percent from its June high, driven in part by a strong […]
By Mariam Zara. This article was original published by Nina Magazine, (www.nina-iraq.com) and is republished here with their permission. I am a 14 year old Iraqi lady with a big dream for my country. Although I live in Turkey now, all my life I was very interested in my family’s background, but now, to my […]
By Padraig O'Hannelly. What are we to make of the current situation in Iraq? The country has a new government, which is a positive development, but the Prime Minister's nominations for some key posts have been rejected. Meanwhile, the US is hitting the Islamic State (IS) with airstrikes, but President Obama confirms that there will […]
By Padraig O'Hannelly. The world has broadly welcomed the approval by the Iraqi parliament of the new cabinet of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. While the formulation of the new cabinet attempts to keep all factions involved and working together, it was clear from al-Abadi's speech that his arm was twisted in the negotiations, and that […]
Madeleine White is a capacity building specialist and Editor-in-Chief of nina-iraq.com In the last few weeks Nina has run three major interviews. We have spoken to Iraqi civil society leader and global Vital Voices winner Suaad Allami, women’s rights activist and MP Mayson Damaluji as well as Kurdish politician and business leader Parwen Babaker. All […]
Iraq-watchers are eagerly awaiting the announcement of Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi's proposed cabinet, which is due to be put before parliament in the coming week. As always, it will be a difficult balancing act, but now more than ever it will be crucial to get that balance right. Under 'normal' circumstances, it would seem sensible […]
As the situation in Iraq changes day by day, we are more interested than ever to hear your views on the developments in the country. Many of you have been kind enough to participate in our first online survey -- State of Iraq 2014 -- and we'd like to say a big "Thank You" for […]
