By Robert Tollast. Luay al-Khairullah has reason to be optimistic. As Chairman of the Dhi Qar Provincial Investment Commission, I spoke to him last year about the planned Nasiriyah Integrated Project (NIP) a 300,000 barrel a day capacity refinery not far from his home town. It's a project that will create much needed jobs and provide […]
By Robert Tollast. “How is electricity?”, I asked. “Excellent” replied Marwan, a young student of Physics at the University of Dhi Qar. Marwan (not his real name) is studying wireless transmission, and one of his lecturers is currently in Leicester studying with a British Council initiative to bolster the academic capacity of Iraqi universities. Will […]
By Anne-Laure Barbosa at Constellis Consulting On 16 September, Iraq’s parliament rejected two appointees to head the critical defence and interior ministries, two of the most sensitive positions which remain to be filled. The opposition of the Shia Alliance prevented the parliament from reaching a majority vote, which would have been necessary to approve the appointments […]
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. New Iraqi Govt Doomed To Spend All Year Fixing Problems Caused By Previous Regime During his last days in power, Iraq's former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (pictured) made senior appointments […]
By Padraig O'Hannelly. The world has broadly welcomed the approval by the Iraqi parliament of the new cabinet of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. While the formulation of the new cabinet attempts to keep all factions involved and working together, it was clear from al-Abadi's speech that his arm was twisted in the negotiations, and that […]
The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford. 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. The new Iraqi cabinet headed by Haydar al-Abbadi [Abadi] has been approved by the […]
By Mustafa al-Kadhimi for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Abadi's Balance Draws Praise, but Governing Iraq a Tightrope Act Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi has not sought media attention or stirred up political, sectarian and nationalist sensitivities in speeches and statements […]
Iraq-watchers are eagerly awaiting the announcement of Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi's proposed cabinet, which is due to be put before parliament in the coming week. As always, it will be a difficult balancing act, but now more than ever it will be crucial to get that balance right. Under 'normal' circumstances, it would seem sensible […]
By John Lee. Iraq's Ambassador to the US Lukman Faily has given an interview with the journal Foreign Policy speaking of his long term friendship with Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi. We learn that Amb. Faily and Abadi were students together in England in the 1980s and both campaigned to raise awareness of the crimes of the regime […]
By John Lee. Fox News have reported that the former commander of US forces in Iraq, General Lloyd Austin (pictured, far right) has met with Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad. The two men were discussing the changing nature of US-Iraq security cooperation in the face of the ongoing offensive of the Islamic State of Iraq […]
By John Lee. Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi has issued a statement saying that government formation is going well and that on the security front, all militias loyal to the government must come under government control. The remarks are another sign of the PM's departure from the governing style of Nouri-al-Maliki, who originally appeared tough on […]
By John Lee. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has recently given an interview with Rudaw English discussing his hopes for a new Iraqi government that can improve the relations between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government. Despite a joint Kurdish--Iraq security operation to re-take Mosul dam with US air cover (initially reported as being solely Kurdish) […]
