$21m Silo Under Construction in Erbil
A new silo with a storage capacity of 60,000 tons of wheat is under construction in Erbil province, according to AKnews. An advisor to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Ministry of Trade and Industry, Faris Majid, told the news agency that the new project, worth $21 million, occupies a 70-acres site on the Erbil-to-Gwer road in […]
India's new Ambassador to Iraq Visits Kurdistan
India’s first ambassador to be appointed to Iraq in the last nine years yesterday made his first visit to the Kurdistan Region, to meet President Masoud Barzani and to discuss economic partnership opportunities with the Kurdistan Regional Government. The three-day visit was Ambassador Reddy’s first trip to the Kurdistan Region since assuming his post in […]
Dar Es Salaam Sells Insurance Unit
Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank, a 70.1% owned subsidiary of HSBC Asia Holdings BV, has sold its 19.465% equity interest in Iraqi insurance company Dar Es Salaam Insurance to Gulf Insurance Company for a cash consideration of IQD1.557bn (approximately US$1.33m). The sale took place on 18 December 2011 and represents the disposal of a non-core […]
Kurds Challenge Maliki Ally in Parliament
The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. […]
Iraq's Small Business Development Centers Create New Jobs
Business training offered in Iraq’s Small Business Development Centers is helping shape a new generation of Iraqi entrepreneurs whose companies someday may become significant private sector employers. So says a survey published this month of 4,329 trainees who graduated last year from SBDC programs that include the two most popular courses, ”How to Start a […]
12 Dams to Save 20bn Cubic Meters of Water
Authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan are planning to build 12 dams in the semi-autonomous region in an attempt to save about 20 billion cubic meters of water per year, according to a report from AKnews. Currently, there are three main dams in the Kurdistan Region, two in Sulaimaniya province, and one in Duhok province, but these […]
KRG granted 1,500 Agricultural Loans in 2011
The Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) gave loans to almost 1,500 individual projects in 2011, reports AKnews. Nuri Ismael, The Ministry's loans and marketing director, told the news agency that the agricultural banks in Sulaimaniya, Erbil, and Duhok provinces as well as Garmiyan area have given a total of […]
Kurdistan Quadruples New Year Tourism
More than 40,000 tourists entered Iraqi Kurdistan Region for the New Year celebrations, roughly four times as many as the previous record, AKnews reports. The press secretary for the Kurdistan General Tourism Board, Nadr Rosti, told the news agency that in 2011 more than 10,000 tourists visited Kurdistan during the New Year. But in the […]
UAE’s Piling Tech wins $10m West Qurna-2 Contract
Piling Tech, a subsidiary of the UAE-based business conglomerate Tech Group, said that it has won its first oil sector contract in Iraq, valued at $10 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Piling Tech will be involved in the installation of piles, foundations and wells for the West Qurna-2 oil field in southern Iraq. […]
Central Bank Defends Weak Iraqi Dinar
Iraq's Central Bank says it will not allow the Iraqi dinar to depreciate and has been selling hundreds of millions of dollars to keep the currency stable, according to a report from Azzaman. The dinar weakened in December, prompting the bank to sell dollars in a bid to withdraw cash from Iraqi markets. The bank […]
Erbil to Host 10 Int'l Expos in 2012
AKnews reports that there will be fewer international expos in Erbil this year. . Latif Aref, head of Erbil International Fair, told AKnews that in the previous year 13 international expos were held in Erbil, while only 10 are planned for 2012. An expo will be organized every month except for July and August, because […]
Nabucco 'of Great Importance for Iraq'
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has told the Trend news agency that his country was keen on taking part in the planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline. "Iraq is able to propose its resources for this strategic project, which is of great importance for the country," he was quoted as saying. UPI reports that Europe aims […]