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US Secretary of State John Kerry (pictured) announced today at the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Qatar that the United States is providing nearly $62 million in additional humanitarian assistance to Iraqis who have been affected by violence and are in urgent need of assistance from the international community.

This new funding brings the total U.S. humanitarian assistance for Iraqis in the region to more than $477 million since the start of Fiscal Year 2014.

This funding aims to assist millions of Iraqi civilians affected by the conflict – including more than 3 million internally displaced persons and 370,000 refugees who have had to flee their homes since January 2014 – providing them with critically needed relief commodities, shelter, clean water, psychosocial services, medical services, livelihoods support, cash assistance, child protection, legal documentation, and other essential goods and services.

A range of UN and international non-governmental agencies are receiving the funding, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and other international and nongovernmental organizations.

(Source: US State Dept)

Penspen, a leading global provider of engineering and management services to the energy industry, has underlined its commitment to growth in the Middle East with three new appointments and investment in a new office in Iraq.

Ahmed Al-Dadah and Na’el Barghouthi have this month joined the company from other engineering providers, whilst Michael Simm, EVP of Engineering and Project Management, has been newly appointed to the role of Regional Director for Penspen’s Middle East business.

A new Iraq office, located in Basra will expand Penspen’s geographical reach and become the fourth location in the region joining Abu Dhabi, Doha and Khafji.

Peter O’Sullivan (pictured), Chief Executive of Penspen said:

“This is an exciting time for Penspen as we continue our substantial growth in the Middle East. I am confident Michael, Na’el and Ahmed will play a key role in strengthening our 300-strong team in the region.

"Their industry expertise and leadership skills will drive our strategic objectives to grow our engineering, project management, field development and asset integrity businesses. ”

Ahmed Al-Dadah has been appointed to the role of Business Development Director for E&PM. He joins the company from Amec Foster Wheeler, where he spent 12 years working in various project delivery and business development roles. His experience includes working in the successful execution of study, pre-FEED, FEED, EPC phases across both new build and modifications projects

Na’el Barghouthi joins Penspen as Director of Asset Integrity, Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. Na’el’s career spans over 15 years working in the oil and gas industry with experience in management, offshore engineering and integrity. He has previously worked for Wood Group Kenny, GE Oil & Gas, Al Shaheen Holding Joint Venture, and Occidental Petroleum of Qatar.

Regional Director of the Middle East, Michael Simm, said:

“I’m delighted to welcome Ahmed and Na’el to the team. Their skills and experience in delivering key services that our clients require in today’s lower-oil price economy will be of great value in further expanding our Middle East presence.”

(Source: Penspen)

By John Lee.

The Qatari Foreign Minister, Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, arrived in Baghdad on Thursday on an official visit.

He is scheduled to meet a number of Iraqi government officials to discuss relations between the two countries, and the latest developments in the region.

He was met on arrival at Baghdad International Airport by Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari.

(Sources: Peninsular Qatar, QNA)

By Mohammed A. Salih for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

As a coalition of Sunni Arab states led by Saudi Arabia targets Shiite Houthi forces and their allies in Yemen, Iraqi Kurds are watching with concern and caution, wondering how the repercussions of the region's deepening sectarian conflicts might affect them.

Sandwiched geographically between opposing Shiite and Sunni regional powers such as Iran and Turkey, Iraqi Kurds wonder how long until they are dragged into the unfolding regional hostilities.

"If the struggle reaches its pinnacle and leads to an even deeper polarization, Kurds might be forced to become part of it," said Muthana Amin, a member of the Iraqi parliament from the Kurdistan Islamic Union. "If Kurds become part of this struggle, then we will be serving outside agendas and will end up empty-handed."

In recent years, Kurds have shown signs of division in face of regional polarization. The eruption of the Syrian revolution in 2011 divided the largely united Iraqi Kurds regarding the Kurdish response to Syrian events. The two major Iraqi Kurdish groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), appeared to be aligning themselves with opposite regional camps.

The KDP, led by Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, adopted a pro-opposition stance, as did most of the Sunni states in the region, from Turkey to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The PUK, led by former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, refrained from supporting that policy and has been seen as closer to the Iran-led camp.

While most other regional actors possibly chose allies based on sectarian identities, Iraqi Kurdish politics are hardly defined in terms of Sunni-Shiite affiliations. In fact, both the KDP and PUK are heavily dominated by secular elites.

Qatar Airways has has announced that it will double the frequency of flights to Basra and Najaf.

There will be eight flights per week to Basra from 16th May, and 8 per week to Najaf from 2nd June.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said:

“Qatar Airways is committed to developing access to a number of destinations within our network which are popular with both our business and leisure travellers."

(Source: Qatar Airways)

By Adnan Abu Zeed for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen has stirred the Iraqi sectarian divide.

While the Shiite majority opposes the campaign, the Sunnis are voicing support for it. These differing positions, expressed for the Shiites by the National Alliance and for the Sunnis by the Union of Nationalist Forces, led to a disagreement at a meeting of Iraqi political forces held at the home of parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri on March 29, when the Sunnis rejected a Shiite alliance proposal to issue a statement condemning the Saudi-led military operation.

Vice president Osama Najafi, a Sunni, had on March 28 announced his support for the “Arab alliance, which aims to undermine the Houthi influence in Yemen.” In an April 1 TV interview, Ammar al-Hakim, a Shiite and head of the Islamic Supreme Council, described the military intervention in Yemen as “a costly adventure with uncalculated consequences.”

Laith Shubbar, an academic researcher and presidential adviser, told Al-Monitor, “This war has effectively contributed to fueling sectarianism not only in the Iraqi conflict, but in the entire region. The ​​wars, disputes and media fuss plaguing the area clearly reflect ongoing sectarian mobilization, which distracts the people of the region with internal fighting and conflicts in a bid to weaken them.”

Operation Decisive Storm has also divided Iraq's religious institutions. The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars announced its backing of the campaign in a statement issued March 29, referring to it as the “Arab effort aimed at supporting the Yemeni people and confronting the Iranian tide.” On the other hand, the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadrist movement, categorized the operation in a March 27 interview as “interference in the affairs of the Yemeni people.”

By John Lee.

A new privately-owned Iraqi airline carrier is expected to start international flights by July.

Deputy Transport Minister Bangen Rekani told Bloomberg that FlyBaghdad, owned by Iraqi investors, will operate two Airbus Group NV A320 narrow-body planes and a Bombardier Inc. CRJ-200 regional jet. Start-up costs of are estimated at $25 million to $30 million (30-36 billion Iraqi dinars), and the airline is expected to make a profit in its first year.

Airlines including Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways have suspended flights to cities such as Baghdad and Erbil due to security concerns.

“Local carriers are making up for the gap left by the international ones,” the Deputy Minister added. “Travel in Iraq depends on security — if the situation improves the number of passengers will increase significantly.”

Iraqi Airways currently operates a fleet of about 30 aircraft. The country’s six airports are also served by four other small privately-owned carriers: Al Naser Airlines, ZagrosJet, Bawabat Al Iraq, and Al Burhan Airways.

Iraq is also studying the feasibility of setting up a low-cost airline and experts from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) are assessing the market, the Rekani said.

(Source: Bloomberg)

By John Lee.

Qatar-based Ooredoo has reported that its Iraqi subsidiary, Asiacell, substantially grew its customers during the year, increasing by 15% to 12.3 million compared to 10.7 million at FY 2013.

In its 2014 Full Year Results, it said Asiacell faced the challenge of the growing security issue in the country during the year, in addition to the heightened levels of competition in the market.

Consequently, revenue for FY 2014 was QAR 6,298 million (FY 2013: QAR 7,071 million), a decrease of 11%; EBITDA was down by 19% to QAR 2,939 million and EBITDA margin was reduced to 47% from 51%. Net Profit stood at QAR 1,031 in 2014 (QAR 1,734 in 2013).

Asiacell continues to operate Iraq's strongest network with the best coverage although continuity of service in some areas was affected during 2014. Strategic initiatives focused on data revenue and the B2B market.

Data initiatives implemented during the year generated strong growth in data revenue in advance of the launch of 3G. Asiacell's B2B customer base increased significantly during the year. The company continued to focus on a number of cost efficiencies. Asiacell monitors the political situation carefully and has a range of contingency plans in place to ensure the continued operation of the business.

(Source: Ooredoo)

By John Lee.

Shell has reportedly signed a deal with Iraq worth $11 billion (12.8 trillion Iraqi dinars) to build a petrochemicals plant in Basra.

On Wednesday, Industry Minister Nasser al-Esawi [Nasser al-Issawi] told a press conference that the Nibras complex would make Iraq the largest petrochemical producer in the Middle East.

The news comes two weeks after Shell announced that it will not proceed with the proposed Al Karaana petrochemicals project in Qatar.

The Nibras project is expected to come on line within five to six years.

(Source: Reuters)

This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraq’s Media Cold War: Why Arabs Don’t Understand Kurds, And Vice Versa

Although it has quite possibly never been more important, the potential for conflict and misunderstanding between Iraq’s Arab population and its Kurdish one remains high. Part of the reason for this is the lack of Arabic-language media in Iraqi Kurdistan and the lack of desire on the part of the Kurds to publish or broadcast in Arabic.

In the spring of 2014, Saleh al-Sughayer and his family holidayed in Erbil, capital city of the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan. He says that when he arrived he and his wife and children were surprised to find what they thought seemed like a whole other country.

They were equally surprised to see the Kurdish flag flying everywhere and to hardly see the Iraqi flag at all – despite the fact that, although Iraqi Kurdistan has its own military, government and judiciary, it is actually still part of Iraq.

Al-Sughayer and his family were not alone. A lot of Iraqi Arabs don’t know much, or enough, about their Iraqi Kurdish cousins in the north. The same may also be said of many Iraqi Kurdish when it comes to Arabs in the south. And all of it might partially be blamed on the media situation in Iraq.

Baghdad doesn’t pay a lot of mind to publishing news about what they do in Kurdish, which is closer to Persian than Arabic. There was a Kurdish language radio station in Baghdad broadcasting in the 1950s but this service faltered when tensions between the Kurdish and Arabs worsened in the 1960s and many of the Kurdish leaders fled into the mountains in northern Iraq.

So often the Iraqi Kurdish population don’t hear much about what’s going on in Baghdad outside of international media, the content of which is translated into Kurdish by Iraqi Kurdish media outlets.

Perhaps because they are the junior partner in the arrangement, the Iraqi Kurdish have been more interested in broadcasting their news in Arabic. The Al Hurriyah radio and television network was set up by one of Iraqi Kurdistan’s two biggest political parties, the PUK, or Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in Baghdad in 2003 and it is still broadcasting today. The PUK and the region’s other major political party, the KDP, or Kurdistan Democratic Party, also publish two daily newspapers in Arabic.