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By John Lee.

European traders said on Monday that Russian wheat was offered lowest at $231.00 a tonne c&f free out in the tender from Iraq's state grains board to buy at least 50,000 tonnes of hard wheat for shipment between 15th August and 13th September and delivery between 14th September and 28th October.

According to a report from Reuters, the tender closed on Sunday and offers must remain valid up to 18th June 18.

Russian wheat was also reportedly offered at $233.00 and $236.50 a tonne c&f free out, with one offer for US wheat at $285.42 a tonne c&f free out; the lowest offer for Australian origin was $267.50 c&f free out and the lowest from Canada was $266.00 a tonne c&f free out.

Iraq plans to become a net exporter of wheat by 2017.

(Source: Reuters)

By John Lee.

During his visit to Moscow, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi received the presidents of three major Russian oil and gas companies: Soyuzneftegaz group, Lukoil, and Gazprom.

At the start of talks with Abadi in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is expanding cooperation with Iraq in the area of military technology, describing Iraq as an "old and reliable partner in the region".

(Sources: Office of the Prime Minister, Reuters)

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has received a delegation from the Russian Federation that included President Vladimir Putin’s Envoy to the Middle East and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Chairman of Gazprom Neft, Alexander Dyukov, and Deputy Energy Minister, Yuri Sentyurin.

The delegation highlighted historic relations between Kurdistan and Russia, and their intention to strengthen those relations, particularly in the economic and cultural fields.

The Chairman of Gazprom Neft, Mr. Dyukov, briefed Prime Minister Barzani on the activities and progress the company has achieved in the Kurdistan Region, expressing his satisfaction with the level of cooperation his company receives from the Kurdistan Regional Government, KRG, especially the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Mr. Dyukov announced that Gazprom Neft plans to raise the volume of his company’s investment in the Region.

Prime Minister Barzani expressed to the delegation his appreciation for their visit and for organizing the inauguration ceremony for introducing of the book, “The Nation of Epics:  Kurdish Culture in the Eyes of Russian Scholars”, which was compiled and written by scholars from the Russian Institute of Oriental Studies and the Russian Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, and published by Gazprom Neft.

He reiterated that cultural relations will lead to strengthening political and economic relations. He expressed his appreciation to the Russian Federation for its readiness to further develop relations with Kurdistan Region.

Prime Minister Barzani also discussed the war against the Islamic State terrorist organization, also known as ISIS, and the courage and bravery of Peshmerga forces who counter this threat.

He pointed out that due to this brutal conflict the Kurdistan Region endures a heavy economic burden that has been made even more difficult due to inadequate receipt of agreed Budget share from the Iraqi Federal Government.

He emphasised this shortfall is occurring at the time when  the KRG serving the needs of more than 1.5 million displaced people who fled to the Region seeking refuge from the conflict.  The dramatic decline in oil prices has compounded the burden.

Prime Minister Barzani expressed his hope that the Russian Federation will assist the Kurdistan Region to effectively pass through this very difficult period.

(Source: KRG)

Madeleine White with Nouriel Roubini

By Madeleine White, capacity building specialist and co-founder of Nina Magazine

“Emerging markets will be a driving force in sustainable economic growth. If civil society is fully and inclusively engaged in the economy, the significant population growth rate will lead to greater consumption and therefore greater economic growth.  Cash rich emerging markets with an inclusive approach to prosperity will be ideally placed to become economic trailblazers.”

Nouriel Roubini, global macroeconomic strategy expert and former senior White House economist

Vancouver, May 7^th, The Next Billion Conference.

A unique opportunity, a global dialogue – with the aim of moving gender inclusion  beyond the 'nice to have', to the 'must have', driven by a hard financial evidence. The conference aligned global thought leaders, policy makers and economists with key data. With women cited by experts as the largest emerging economy in the world, the question of the power of long term strategic investment in inclusion and diversity is beyond doubt. What is less clear though, is how to realise this potential for growth in terms of national and economic advantage –  the Next Billion Conference was all about taking steps to make it happen…

To contexualise this in terms of Iraq. In March’s Middle East Congress, the region’s richest oil resources were cited as belonging to Iraq. At the moment 50% of its other richest natural resource - its people, are not engaging within the country’s economic activity. Less than 1% of managers in Iraq are women, just 17% of women are engaged as entrepreneurs or employees.

Alexander Meira da Rosa , VP for countries of the Inter-American Development Bank, was able to explain that the significant economic growth enjoyed by countries such as Brazil, which at one point had battled with a similarly challenging gender gap, was driven in part by the burgeoning economic participation of its women. By understanding that gender is an economic development issue and instituting a pro-women policy in dealings in partnership with government and private sector investors, he shared that regionally this gender gap had closed by  70%.

Indeed, the importance of partnerships was at the heart of most discussions. The idea of a collaborative national and international approach in terms of closing the gender gap - with policy advocacy, business profits and social impact forming a triangle of success, was championed by many speakers, including former US Ambassador for Global women’s issues, Melanne Verveer, and Accenture’s Marianne Schoenig. Other key points of peer-to-peer guidance, within this strongly evidenced-based dialogue, included:

• Women in leadership and on boards – the significant financial return was highlighted (40% greater profitability with women on the board)
• Women as successful entrepreneurs
  • Access to finance needed to be improved– examples of significant return on investment by assessing risk levels of women-owned business and answering their specific needs, led to marked profitability for  Itau Unibanco for example.
  • By ensuring women-owned business were part of the inclusion and supply chain, stronger communities and more profitable business practices were shared by the corporations, including HP and Accenture.
• Unilever cited significant return on investment by providing a safe working environment for women; project Shakti which has created 50,000 rural women entrepreneurs in India, was given as an example of how women focused policy could drive corporate brand message and profits.
• The importance of a relevant, forward-looking education came up frequently with responsibility for individual learning and access to technology being particular priorities.
• Large corporations incorporating horizontal and vertical strategy in terms of work culture:

By John Lee.

The Iraqi Council of Ministers has approved the expenditure needed to drill 23 oil wells in the West Qurna area.

The drilling had been recommended by the Economic Ministerial Committe, and is to be carried out by the South Oil Company (SOC) and the Russian company Lukoil.

(Source: AIN)

(Oil drilling image via Shutterstock)

By John Lee.

Russian oil company Lukoil was asked to "sharply reduce" output at West Qurna-2 this year, reports Reuters.

Ravil Maganov (pictured), head of the company's upstream division, told reporters:

"We've got the letter to curb our enthusiasm ... We were restricted to 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to weather and level of sulphur, we are dealing with the problem."

He said Lukoil's current production at the site was 380,000 to 390,000 bpd, adding that it is building a pipeline with a capacity of 1.6 million bpd to the port of Faw.

(Source: Reuters)

Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari arrived in the Belarusian Capital, Minsk, on Wednesday on an official visit upon an invitation from his Belarusian Counterpart, Vladimir Makei.

Minister Jaafari stressed that the aim of the visit is to bolster Iraqi-Belarusian relations as part of the Iraqi foreign policy due to the joint interests in addition to working on opening the Belarusian Embassy in Baghdad.

Issues for discussion include terrorism and the necessity to support Iraq in its war against terrorism, and agreements are expected to be signed in the areas of agriculture and sports.

The Minister will meet a number of Belarussian officials; the Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko, Chairman of the Republican Council, Michael Vladimirovic, Prime Minister Andre Kobykov, and Foreign Minister, as well as meeting the Iraqi community there.

(Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Russia's Bashneft has completed field seismic surveys at Block 12 as part of the geological exploration programme approved by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.

The Oil Exploration Company, an Iraqi company specializing in geological and geophysical exploration, which won the open tender in the spring of 2014, has been employed as a contractor to conduct seismic surveys at Block 12; during the six months, the company performed 3D seismic surveys covering an area of 849 sq. km and 2D seismic surveys along two lines with a total length of 192 linear kilometres.

Currently, seismic data processing and interpretation is underway; the data will serve as a basis for seismic and geological modelling aimed at identifying formations that are potentially oil- and gas-bearing. The start of exploration drilling at Block 12 has been scheduled for late 2016.

The five-year geological exploration programme at Block 12, which may be extended for two years, involves conducting 2D and 3D seismic surveys and drilling one exploration well. Investments in the geological exploration programme to be made during the five-year period are to total US$ 120 million.

Under the service contract, before the start of seismic surveys, Bashneft had conducted an environmental impact assessment and a survey of the site designated for seismic exploration in order to detect unexploded mines and shells. Given that operations in Iraq entail considerable risk, the Company gives priority to ensuring the safety of its employees and contractors working at Block 12.

Block 12 has an area of 7.68 thousand sq. km and forms part of the Western Desert, an unexplored region having the greatest oil potential in Iraq. The Block is located in the Najaf and Muthanna provinces, approximately 80 kilometres to the south-west of the city of Samawa and 130 kilometres to the west of the city of Nasriya.

Bashneft gained the right to operate hydrocarbon exploration, development and production at Block 12 following a licensing round in June 2012.

To implement the project, a consortium was established, with Bashneft being represented by its wholly owned subsidiary, Bashneft International B.v. , which owns a 70% stake in the consortium and acts as the operator of the project.

Bashneft’s partner in the consortium, Premier Oil, is represented by its subsidiary, Premier Oil Exploration and Production (Iraq) Ltd., holding a 30% stake.

On November 8, 2012, the consortium signed a 25-year exploration, development and production service contract (EDPSC) with the Iraqi state-owned South Oil Company; the contract may be renewed for five years.

(Source: Bashneft)

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.

The offensive to re-take Tikrit from extremists seems to have stalled as troops surround the city but cannot go further. The same thing is happening elsewhere. And there are three main reasons why.

While stopped on the edges of the city of Tikrit, Captain Ahmad Mahmoud says he told the soldiers under his command about the battle of Stalingrad, which started in Russia in 1942 between the attacking Germans and the Russians during World War II and did not end until early in 1943.

Despite the fact that the German army, led by Nazi commanders, had surrounded the city they were not able to take it from the Russians over months of prolonged, intensive and close fighting.

Mahmoud and his soldiers are part of a major military offensive in the province of Salahaddin which aims to take back territory currently controlled by the extremist group known as the Islamic State.

Earlier in March the Iraqi government sent the Iraqi army, alongside unofficial Shiite Muslim militias and with aid from local Sunni Muslim tribes, into the province of Salahaddin to take on fighters from the Islamic State, or IS.

At first progress of the offensive, ostensibly the Iraqi government's first major campaign against the IS group, was good and within a week the forces were able to re-take the areas of al-Dour, al-Alam and Albu Ajil. But when it comes to the major city of Tikrit, which has been mostly abandoned by residents to the IS fighters, progress has slowed.

And Mahmoud seemed to think the same thing was happening to the Iraqi army in Tikrit as had happened in Stalingrad. The city was surrounded but, as he told NIQASH during a telephone interview, “we are just not trained to fight this way, on the street.

Even the Shiite militias, who are known for their street fighting skills, haven't been able to break into the city and now the Islamic State is launching attacks on the surrounding troops, exhausting the men and inflicting casualties in a similar way to the Stalingrad scenario.”

Secretary-General Appoints Ján Kubiš of Slovakia as His Special Representative for Iraq

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Ján Kubiš (pictured) of Slovakia as his Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Mr. Kubiš succeeds Nickolay Mladenov of Bulgaria to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedication and leadership of UNAMI, serving in one of the most challenging United Nations duty stations and at a time of important political and security developments in the country.

Mr. Kubiš, who served as Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), from 2012 to 2014, brings with him several years of experience in diplomacy, foreign security policy, and international economic relations both internationally and in his own country.

Mr. Kubiš served as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) from 2009 to 2011, as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovakia from 2006 to 2009, as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from 2007 to 2008, and as Secretary-General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from 1999 to 2005.

Mr. Kubiš also served as the European Union’s Special Representative for Central Asia with the office in Brussels and as the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office of OSCE for Central Asia, as the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Tajikistan and Head of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan from 1998 to 1999. He was previously the Director of OSCE’s Conflict Prevention Centre.

Mr. Kubiš worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the former Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992 and thereafter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia. In 1993 he served as Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva.

Mr. Kubiš is a graduate in International Economic Relations of the Moscow State Institute of International Affairs and speaks Slovak, Czech, English, French and Russian.

Born in 1952, he is married and has one daughter.

(Source: UNAMI)