Tag Archives | United States

Iraq needs to Import 2m Tonnes of Wheat

By John Lee. Despite this year’s drought, Iraq has reportedly bought more than 300,000 tonnes of domestic wheat this season, and maintained its estimate of 2.5 million tonnes of local purchases for the 2018 season. According to Reuters, this implies an import gap of 2 million tonnes, as the country uses between 4.5 million and […]

Startup Bootcamp: ‘Entrepreneurship for All’ Programme

Startup Bootcamp, an entrepreneurship training to promote development of innovative business ideas among young innovators, entrepreneurs and software developers from displaced, refugee and host communities, took place on 4-5 May in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The event was supported by IOM Iraq, and organized by Five One Labs, a start-up incubator based in Iraq that assists displaced […]

Applications Open for Humphrey Fellowship Program

The United States Embassy in Iraq is pleased to announce the annual competition for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program. This one-year Fellowship program is offered to young and mid-career professionals who have a proven track record of leadership, a public service commitment, and the capacity to take full advantage of a self-defined program of […]

ExxonMobil, PetroChina "Agree Terms" on South Integrated Project

By John Lee. According to a report from Platts, Iraq has reached "key preliminary terms" with ExxonMobil and PetroChina on the South Integrated Project. The project involves the development of the Nahr Bin Umar and Ratawi oil fields in southern Iraq, with gas plants at the two fields, a multi-field water injection project, storage, pipelines […]

US returns thousands of Ancient Artifacts to Iraq

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) returned 3,800 ancient artifacts, including cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals, and clay bullae, to the Republic of Iraq. The artifacts were smuggled into the United States in violation of federal law and shipped to Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc, a nationwide arts-and-crafts retailer. Many of the tablets can be shown to […]

4,000 Smuggled Artifacts to be Returned to Iraq

By John Lee. Nearly 4,000 ancient artifacts illegally acquired by a US-based arts-and-crafts retailer are to be returned to Iraq on Wednesday. In July of last year, Hobby Lobby agreed to pay a $3 million fine for illegally importing thousands of ancient Iraqi artifacts smuggled into the US through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel. […]

US Closes Ground Ops Command in Iraq

The Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command headquarters was deactivated today at a ceremony in Baghdad, signifying the end of major combat operations in Iraq against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and acknowledging the changing composition and responsibilities of the coalition. CJFLCC was responsible for coalition land force operations in support of Iraqi […]

New Contracts Signed to operate Majnoon Oilfield

By John Lee. Basra Oil Company (BOC) has signed contracts with the Chinese company Anton Oilfield Services Group (Antonoil) and the US company KBR to operate and maintain the Majnoon oil field. A statement from the Ministry of Oil put the value of the contracts at $118 million, adding that there would be "other secondary […]

Saudi Arabia eyes Anbar for Potential Investments

By Omar al-Jaffal for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iran Business News. Saudi Arabia is considering investing in 2.5 million acres of agricultural land in Iraq's western province of Anbar, which has suffered both economically and otherwise after the bitter war to regain control of the province from […]

US Central Command Chief discusses Post-IS Iraq

Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, discusses stabilizing Iraq and Syria post-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria at the U.S. Institute of Peace conference panel in Washington: (Source: US Dept of Defense)

GE "Helps Najibiya Power Plant Reduce Downtime"

GE Power has installed its Advanced Gas Path (AGP) gas turbine upgrade solution at the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity’s (MOE’s) Najibiya Power Plant. The solution is expected to enable the MOE to increase the duration between the maintenance inspections of the gas turbines. This will decrease the downtime of the turbines and improve the availability […]