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By John Lee.

According to various media reports, Iraqi lawmakers have said that they might ban US nationals from entering the country in retaliation against Donald Trump's executive order to deny Iraqis entry to the United States.

The parliament’s foreign affairs committee called on the government to act after Trump controversially ordered that citizens from Iraq and six other predominantly Muslim countries be refused entry to the US for at least 90 days.

Time magazine suggests that an Iraqi ban could affect thousands of American aid workers, contractors and journalists currently working in Iraq, "as well as more than 5,000 U.S. military personnel there to aid Iraqi forces in their effort to oust ISIS from Mosul and the country."

According to Iran's Tasnim News Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) have called on the Iraqi government to ban US nationals from entering Iraq and to expel those who are already in the country.

Meanwhile, a British MP who was born Baghdad has said he feels “demeaned and discriminated against” by the US's border clampdown. Nadhim Zahawi, a director of Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), which has operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, called for President Trump to "think again" about the "hugely discriminatory" policy.

(Sources: Time.com, Reuters, Tasnim News, Evening Standard)

By John Lee.

US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order that will deny refugees and immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia entry to the United States.

The action, which has immediated effect, places a 90-day block on entry to the US for citizens from those countries.

It also stops indefinitely all refugee admissions from Syria.

According to a report from The Guardian, it is unclear whether the measure would apply to citizens of those countries on trips abroad who already have permission to live and work in the United States.

(Sources: The Guardian, Reuters)

By John Lee.

ABC News cites sources as saying that US President Donald Trump could suspend some immigration from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, either temporarily or "indefinitely".

They also say that the move by Trump, who is expected to visit the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, could also impact refugees from countries with Muslim populations.

(Source: ABC News)

By John Lee.

Iraqi oil minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi [Allibi] met with ExxonMobil senior executive Brad Corson, to discuss development of the Iraqi oil industry.

Mr. Allibi said that the ministry of oil is aiming to develop relations with Exxon Mobil to develop the oil and gas sector in Iraq.

Mr. Corson said that his company is aiming to open new horizons of work with the ministry of oil to develop the work and go forward to achieve the desired goals.

Exxon's CEO, Rex Tillerson, is to join the incoming Trump administration as Secretary of State.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced Dec. 2 the formation of a high-level committee to start implementing the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA).

This reflects Iraq’s readiness for the era of US President-elect Donald Trump and to invest in the change of the US administration to garner support for its war on terror and for the reconstruction process.

The agreement, which was signed by both the United States and Iraq in 2008, affirmed political, diplomatic, defense, security and cultural cooperation in the fields of the economy, energy, health, technology and judiciary. However, Ahmed Jamal, the spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, told Al-Monitor, “What has been achieved is merely limited to some security areas and the war on terror.”

He said, “The non-implementation of the agreement items falls mostly on the Iraqi side, especially in terms of technological, cultural, security, health and trade cooperation. This is due to the fact that the Iraqi ministries lack the plans and programs to implement cooperation and coordination with the American side, which prompted Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to work on the formation of a committee under his chairmanship in November 2016 — dubbed the SFA Implementation Committee. Said committee includes many ministries’ undersecretaries as members.”

Jamal added, “The committee held a meeting last month and will continue to do so in order to prepare drafts for the plans that are being discussed with the Americans, to be converted into formal agreements that will be implemented within specific time frames.”

He also noted, “The Iraqi Foreign Ministry will work on starting coordination with the US State Department,” stressing that “Iraq expects Trump’s administration to attach great importance to supporting Iraq in the war on terrorism — namely in terms of armament — and to provide Iraq with US experience in the reconstruction of war-affected areas.”

Iraqis paid close attention to the US presidential race, especially to the candidates' positions on their country. Many Iraqis welcomed Donald Trump's presidential victory, as well as his anti-terrorism and anti-chaos rhetoric on Iraq.

Once the announcement came that Trump had won, many Iraqi politicians and citizens expressed joy. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated the new US president for his victory, and said that he looks forward to further cooperation between the two countries in all fields, particularly on security issues and the fight against terrorist groups in Iraq.

Iraqi President Fuad Masum and parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri also sent Trump congratulatory messages. Jabouri anticipated a Trump presidency to "bring gains for the Middle East and Iraq, particularly in the fight against terrorism and elimination of the Islamic State [IS] organization, in a way that brings about security and stability to the region and the world."

The government-funded Iraqi Media Network welcomed the Trump victory in an article that mentioned previous speeches of Trump, in which he said that he would defeat IS and that nobody would be tougher on IS than him, and so on. The author perceived Trump's Middle East policy to be closer to Iraq, as well as a deterrent to religious extremism in the region and the tide of Saudi Wahhabism.

Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, a leader and parliamentarian for the National Alliance and former national security adviser under the presence of US troops in Iraq, said Nov. 9 that Donald Trump's victory "is a good sign for the Middle East in general, and Iraq in particular."

He argued, "Obama withdrew US troops from Iraq in late 2011 without guarantees, which caused the return of terrorism to Iraq. Thus, Trump's victory would be a good thing for Iraq." He said that, in general, "Republicans are better than Democrats for Iraq, because everything that has happened to Iraq occurred under the Democrats' era."

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

Iraq considers proposal of agricultural licensing rounds for foreign investors

On Oct. 23, the Iraqi parliament’s agricultural committee reported that Iraq imports more than 75% of its vegetables and animal products.

Meanwhile, agriculture experts conducted a study that they presented to the Cabinet on Oct. 22, calling for organizing agricultural licensing rounds to save the agricultural sector from its miserable situation and putting an end to the foreign currency pullout by inviting foreign companies to invest in agricultural land.

On July 19, the Ministry of Agriculture estimated the cultivated land in the country for 2015 at nearly 6 million acres, while the overall arable land is 52 million acres. Agriculture contributes about 7% to the gross domestic product (GDP), which has reached, according to the World Bank, $168.6 billion; this is considered to be a very low percentage, especially since Iraq is classified as an agricultural, oil-rich country.

The person behind the idea of agricultural licensing rounds and inviting international companies to invest in Iraq, agricultural expert Riad Farhan Abdul Karim, told Al-Monitor, “The country is suffering from the agriculture sector’s failure because it still follows methods used by the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians when it comes to agriculture and irrigation. Developing this important sector is everyone’s responsibility.”

He said, “I have presented a comprehensive study to the government about agricultural licensing rounds. The government welcomed the idea and said it will be studying it in the coming days, but we are still waiting. For agriculture to prosper, we need to improve how workers do their jobs, increase land production and use modern methods. This can only be done by bringing in international companies.”

Al-Monitor contacted the Ministry of Agriculture, asking the status of the proposal in the Cabinet. A senior adviser in the ministry told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that it has received the proposal and asked the council of ministers to discuss it in the Cabinet. He said the ministry approved the proposal and that it now needs Cabinet approval; then it could be passed by the parliament.

Iraq succeeded in organizing licensing rounds for oil in 2009, when it was exporting 1.9 million barrels per day, in an attempt to increase production in 2017 to about 13 million barrels per day. So far, it has only produced 4.7 million barrels a day.

The Iraqi government has said that the election of Donald Trump as US president will not change its relationship with the United States.

Government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi told Rudaw:

“The Iraqi-American strategic agreement, including the economy and war on terror are all mutual files between the two countries and these ties will remain as they are and will not change anything between Iraq and the United States.

“There are common interests and mutual relations between Iraq and America and I don’t expect any of this to change with Trump’s victory.

“For the past eight years the democrats have been in power in the United States and today the republicans have won, but this is only the change of people and names and not policy. Politics will stay as they are now.”

He also told the Associated Press that Iraq is keen to develop its relations with the U.S. and "boost cooperation in the fight against terrorism."

(Sources: Rudaw, AP)

A recent poll found that support for popular conspiracy theories is strongest among Donald Trump supporters.

But is it also true that Trump supporters are more likely to believe that the Iraqi Dinar will re-value by something of the order of 1,000 times, turning a $1,000 'investment' into $1,000,000 overnight?

Please tell us your opinion in the following, entirely unscientific, reader poll:

[poll id="9"]

By John Lee.

Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York, and current advisor to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, has defended the Trump’s statement that the US should have taken Iraq’s oil.

When asked in an interview if that was legal, Giuliani, a lawyer, said: “Of course it’s legal. It’s a war. Until the war is over, anything is legal.”

But Giuliani went on to explain: “[Trump] didn’t say we should take [the oil] for ourselves necessarily. He said we should secure it, so it doesn’t get taken by terrorist forces.”

(Source: Rudaw)