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By Madeleine White, educationalist, writer and Head of Strategic Partnerships, Whizz Education.

Last month saw the US Ambassador Fund offering grants from $200k to £2 million in order to find “creative and effective approaches to promote reconciliation and stability in Iraq and to improve the institutional capacity”. Other events include next month’s signing of a five year Education Strategy in Kurdistan and a newly stated desire by members of the Global Banking Alliance for Women to create sustainable finance initiatives in the region. The driving force behind these initiatives is both internal and external with powerful Iraqi voices leveraging global ideas and influence.  With this in mind, I thought it would be worth examining the role of the diaspora,  looking particularly how the creation of a ‘cyber’ environment, created by focused access to the internet,  could create a shared forum which links the voice, skills and experience of Iraqi born global citizen into regional development needs.

Estimates vary, but there are probably between four and five million Iraqi-born emigrants living in a wide range of countries. Wissal Al Allaq, translator and currently living in the UAE is one of these. She translated my presentation at the Global Education Forum in Dubai last week and, because I had referenced Iraq in my presentation, wanted to respond:

“What you said hurt my heart, deep inside. You rightly point out the genocide in Kurdistan was terrible, but Kurdistan is not the only part of Iraq that experienced atrocities. I want you to hear this too. I am an Iraqi Arab who grew up with shared lives and friendships, both Sunni and Shia. Sadly, yesterday's friends are enemies now due to the sectarian divide, something we never experienced in the past. To me, what is happening between Sunnis and Shias is another form of genocide.

"I don’t have a home because home is where you feel a sense of belonging. I've been in the UAE for the last 15 years. The irony is that most people here will eventually head home, while I can't. I am still looking for that home of my heart and don’t know where to find it. I feel I'm stuck at a train station where I see people off and welcome new visitors – whilst never myself being able to board the train that will take me home."

By John Lee.

Iraq's Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) has announced that seven international oil companies (IOCs) have been selected to bid for the development of its Nasiriya oilfield and refinery:

1. Zarubezhneft, from Russia (Up and Downstream);
2. CNPC, from China (Downstream);
3. Brown Energy, from US (Downstream);
4. Reliance Industries, from India (Up & Downstream);
5. Lukoil, from Russia (Downstream);
6. Total, from France (Downstream);
7. JGC and Tonen General,  from Japan (Up & Downstream).

Fourteen companies submitted their qualifications for the Nasiriya Integrated Project between 1st November 2012 and 28th February 2013, and they were judged on four criteria -- Technical, Financial, Legal, and HSE.

The eventual winner will develop the giant Nasiriya oilfield and build a new 300,000 bpd refinery.

Reuters reports that the Ministry of Oil plans to hold a roadshow to discuss the contract model on 8th and 9th April in Amman, Jordan.

(Sources: Ministry of Oil, Reuters)

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

The Iraqi government is awaiting the parliament’s approval of the 2013 federal budget to pay Russia the money owed for the weapons deal. Meanwhile, Iraqi and Russian officials have confirmed that they will not cancel the arms agreement between the two countries, despite accusations of corruption.

The dispute over the deal intensified when Ali al-Mussawi, the media adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, announced in December 2012 the cancellation of the arms deal with Russia, worth $4.2 billion, due to “corruption concerns.”

At the time, Mussawi said, “Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who had visited Moscow to sign the agreement, was determined to renegotiate.”

Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari (pictured) noted: “Iraq and Russia will proceed with the arms deal signed by Maliki during his most recent visit to Moscow.”

When the prospects of signing the contract turned bleak due to corruption concerns, Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi appeared before the media to take responsibility for any corruption in the deal. He also denied that the government had signed the agreement or that any money had been paid.

In a press statement released on Feb. 22, 2013, Zebari affirmed that “the government is waiting for parliament to approve the 2013 budget to settle a down payment on the deal.”

The Iraqi parliament has been holding heated sessions for the past three weeks. However, it is still unable to ratify the budget due to disagreements between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds over financial shares.

By John Lee.

The Kurdistan Regional Government is reported to have signed new agreements with Gazprom Neft, the oil-producing subsidiary of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom.

"We are satisfied with Gazprom Neft's work in the region. New agreements have been reached with this Russian company in recent days," KRG President Masoud Barzani (pictured) was quoted as saying by news agency Interfax.

Gazprom acquired interests in two Kurdistan blocks last August, but also has a contract with the Oil Ministry in Baghdad for the Badra oilfield in the South of the country.

(Source: upstreamonline)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hosted President Masoud Barzani in the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday for discussions on "bilateral relations" and the situation in Iraq and Syria.

In today’s meeting, both sides emphasized the need to strengthen relations between Russia on the one hand and Iraq and the Kurdistan Region on the other.

Foreign Minister Lavrov echoed President Putin’s words yesterday that Russia wants to establish strong ties with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The two sides also discussed developments in Syria and the impact of this crisis on both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. President Barzani said more than 75,000 Syrian refugees now reside in Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Regional Government now sends humanitarian aid across the border to refugees in Syria. He added that while it is for the Syrian people to decide their future, the rights of Syrian Kurds must be respected.

President Barzani and Foreign Minister Lavrov also talked about economic cooperation, particularly the role of Russian energy companies in Kurdistan and Iraq.

(Source: KRG)

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has participated in the first session meeting of the Arab - Russian Cooperation Forum in Moscow.

The session was chaired by the Russian Federation Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov. Present at the meeting were Hoshyar Zebari, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs as Iraq is current President of the Arab Summit, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon, Adnan Mansour whose country heads the Arab Ministerial Council, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Russia, Nasser Al Mizian, as Kuwait was the last president of the Ministerial Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Mohamed Kamel Amr, as Egypt will be the next President of the Ministerial Council, and Nabil Al Araby the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States.

The Arab Ministers and the Secretariat General of the AL stressed the unified Arab position towards the essential issues like the Palestinian cause, the Syrian crisis, and the issue of turning the Middle East into a zone free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. They also discussed a plan of action to implement the principles and objectives of the Arab - Russian Cooperation Forum in the political, economic, cultural, social, educational, scientific, and media fields for the period 2013 to 2015.

(Source: MOFA)

Russian President Vladimir Putin received President Barzani in Moscow for discussions on strengthening bilateral relations and to build on the historic friendship that exists between the people of Russia and the people of Kurdistan.

Today’s meeting focused on economic and cultural cooperation as well as on the role of Russian companies in the reconstruction process in both Kurdistan and Iraq.

Both sides reaffirmed that the historic friendship between the peoples of Russia and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq must be further strengthened. President Barzani said that the Kurdistan Region is committed to the Iraqi Constitution and, as part of Iraq, it strives to reach out to the outside world for mutual benefit and cooperation.

For his part, President Putin stated that he is aware of the struggle of the Kurdish people and of the struggle of Mulla Mustafa Barzani, President Masoud Barzani’s late father, who in the 1950s lived in exile in Moscow for several years.

President Barzani, together with a high-level Kurdistan Region delegation, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday on an official two-day visit, where he is also due to meet Foreign Minister Lavrov and other Russian government officials.

During his stay in Moscow, the President also visited the headquarters of the oil and gas company Gazprom and met with the Chairman of the Management Committee, Alexey Miller. The meeting focused on establishing a long-term partnership between Gazprom and the Kurdistan Regional Government that will include cooperation on energy and power. Both sides said that this cooperation will benefit all of Iraq.

(Source: KRG)

President Masoud Barzani departed from Erbil International Airport on Tuesday with a high-level delegation to make his first official visit to the Russian Federation.

During the visit, President Barzani is expected to meet senior Russian officials to discuss a number of important matters, including relations between the Kurdistan Region and the Russian Federation, political developments in Iraq, and the greater region in general.

The accompanying delegation includes Mr Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council; Dr Fuad Hussein, Chief of Staff to the President; Dr Ashti Hawrami, Minister of Natural Resources; Mr Kamaran Ahmed Abdullah, Minister of Housing and Reconstruction; Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, as well as other senior staff members.

(Source: KRG)

By Madeleine White, educationalist, writer and Head of Strategic Partnerships, Whizz Education.

I love books. The sense that I am holding something that belongs to me is precious - even down to the physical smell.  This sense of ownership was extreme in my teenage years. I refused to lend anyone my books - somehow they were a part of me. Now, in my forties, and after years of exposure to shared, digital information and content via the internet (and more lately my Kindle), this has relaxed.  I do still need something though, that validates my personal experience of this acquisition of knowledge. Sharing my thoughts by blogging and writing goes some way towards making this happen - however, I still feel slightly adrift.  At an event I attended last week it suddenly struck me that other people might feel the same.  The topic under discussion was ‘the competitive market for digital content providers’. The need for ‘knowledge ownership’ was only referenced in terms of the attachment that many educational purchasers have to physical books. The concept was not addressed at all within a digital landscape. This mirrored discussions I had had during my visit to Iraq around educational strategy and procurement decisions.

Put another way, a lovely new textbook one can physically hold, implies the potential of knowledge in a way that information presented on screen just doesn’t. Even if we don’t yet know the contents of a book, the fact that we can hold it presupposes future acquisition of – or even a right to - that knowledge. Digitalisation of content, especially when it is then shared via the internet, creates a completely different experience. Even though this medium offers a much wider repository (as opposed to the pages of a printed book) knowledge can no longer be owned in the same way. This is a radical shift and has far-reaching consequences as it supposes parity, i.e. all participants are shareholders in each other’s experience of - and access to - knowledge. In this brave new world for example, although his knowledge and experience is valued, an Oxford Don has no more or less of an important role than, say, young Malala Yousufzai from Pakistan. This teenage girl, shot by the Taliban a few months ago, is an equally important contributor to the overall pool of experience and knowledge. The same goes for the CEO looking for a workforce able to manifest his vision, the worker who cleans his building or indeed the teacher who facilitates both learning and a desire to learn.

This is completely contrary to the historical educational paradigm – which is essentially elitist. In this model ownership is retained by the few who then disseminate the commodity (in this case knowledge) in a controlled way, with ‘top down’ rewards. The right qualifications lead to the right university. A top degree leads to a top job, knowing the right people will get you to the right places… This has always worked in the past and many would argue it still does. However, the significant drawback is the limit that this model places upon the pool of human resource that can be drawn upon. This is particularly apparent when set against the almost infinite talent that exists when factors such as geography, gender or economic resource are not factored in.

What does this have to do with ownership of knowledge? The model above applies if knowledge is a commodity - in which case the scarcer it is, the more value it has.

However, in a world which sees a population increase of 150 every minute this paradigm is no longer sustainable. Making something freely available also has its pitfalls though, as it is often perceived as worthless. This is where the sea change comes in; today value is starting to be given to the vehicle which leads to scalable transfer and sharing of knowledge. Good educational technology makes innovative use of content and tools that are free.  This is a service. Recognising the value of this service by commoditising it, drives the knowledge economy and allows us to make the most of human capital on a global scale.  By delivering content, reporting usage and then communicating the return on investment, Educational Technology makes the sharing and transfer of knowledge sustainable. This reflects the fact that knowledge is the sum of all parts, as are we.

I will be chairing a panel which explores the role of the private sector in creating a sustainable education and skills pipeline. Hosted by the Middle East Association on 27^th February in London, this event features many high profile speakers from both business and government sectors, including Rt Hon Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, Salah Khalil founder of the Alexandra Trust, Hiwa Jwanroyi, Director of Education and Cultural Affairs, Kurdistan Regional Government in the UK and corporate representatives, including Accenture. This will be the first in a series of three events and focus on Building Human Capacity in MENA.  Please join us!

Madeleine White is Head of Strategic Partnerships for Whizz Education.  A former teacher and mother of, 3 she is passionate about education, communication and CSR and has written extensively around her experiences.

Since starting in 2004, Whizz Education’s mission has been to raise standards in Maths. Maths-Whizz is used by thousands of 5-13 year olds in 8 countries, with major growth coming from the USA, the Middle East and Russia. By mid-2013, Maths-Whizz is expected to have launched and rolled out into 10 markets. To support this model of sustained, positive growth, Maths-Whizz is supported by Whizz Education offices in London, Seattle and Dubai. Additional support is provided through authorised international partners. Whizz Education is looking forward to other international market entries in 2013 and always welcomes strong partner approaches to support further international expansion.

By John Lee.

Iraq has risen two places to rank 150th out of 179 countries in the World Press Freedom Index for 2013, but this followed a fall of 22 places last year.

The security situation for journalists continues to be very worrying, with three killed in connection with their work in 2012 and seven killed in 2011, according to the assessment from Reporters Without Borders. Journalists are constantly obstructed, it added.

The result puts Iraq behind countries such as Russia and Oman, but ahead of Iran and Burma. First place went to Finland, with Eritrea coming last, just behind North Korea.

You can download the full report here.

(Source: Reporters Without Borders)