Iraq Update 19 August
Important Iraq Dates
August 21st to September 19th 2009 – Ramadan
September 8, 2009 – New incoming Parliament Holds First Session
October 16-17, 2009, Getenergy for Iraq 2009, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey
October 24, 2009 – National Census
October 2009 – International Compact with Iraq– Date to be Announced – Baghdad
December 7-9, 2009 Iraq Petroleum Conference London U.K.
December 31, 2009 – Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) expires
December 31, 2009 – Article Seven U.N. Charter expires
December 2009 – Article 140 Vote
January 16, 2010 – Iraq Referendum Vote (SOFA Security Agreement)
January 16, 2010 - National Parliamentary Elections
You remember last April when an Iraq delegation went to Syria and signed economic agreements in reference to double taxation and the parameters on free zones between the two countries. They also signed three executive programs on cooperation in the fields of health, culture and environment, and lastly two memo's of understanding on housing, construction, and scientific projects.
All this information is as reported in the State run media SANA based out of Damascus this is important as there is another element worth noting that is coming out of Baghdad media.
The Prime Minister of Iraq Nuri al-Malki had been invited to Syria by Prime Minister Muhammed Naji Itri, last spring and now on the 18 August PM Maliki will visit Syria. This is not the first time PM Maliki has visited Syria. This meeting is coming on the tail end of another meeting between the Iraq Finance Minister and Syrian officials. What has transpired between this meeting of the Iraq Finance Minister and the Syrian officials is establishing direct links and agreements with Syria and Iraqi commercial banks and very soon you will see the creation of a Syrian-Iraqi bank inside Iraq.
Iraq needs more banks and bank branches inside Iraq since the Iraqi banking industry as a whole is small and fragile and doesn't have the capacity to conduct loans for reconstruction because of lack of capital to invest or maybe I should say unwilling to risk the capital. The high interest rate from the CBI stops most Iraq bank owners from investing other than parking their money inside the Central Bank.
There is approximately 500 bank branches inside Iraq for a population of 28 million which is low by any western standards and I am just waiting on that one Iraqi based company to raise the needed capital from the U.K. investors very soon.
The International Compact Iraq will be held in Baghdad in October and I expect this time around will net some great loans and agreements to assist Iraq in the rebuilding process due to the significant improvement in security. Members of the International Compact Iraq most likely will provide funding to assist Iraq in it's reconstruction effort. We can only hope anyway.
This is how the sequence will go over the next 90 days. Ramadan, New members of Parliament in September, International Compact Iraq. And in between maybe we can get some legislation pass such as where the Iraq Parliament left off before the summer break.
The Iraqi Parliament left for the summer break with a lot of legislation unresolved such as the Iraq and Gas Law, which when the Iraq Parliament, the new members will place the Oil and Gas Law high on the list to get resolved and we all hope passed. Just to give you an idea on other pending legislation, well how about the Political Parties Law, the Investment Law, Complementary budget, the infrastructure draft law and others.
When the Iraqi Parliament returns 8 September, the Iraq Parliament Speaker Iyad al-Samarra'i will definitely have his work cut out for him especially with the national elections just a few months away.
I am keeping this short more to follow later. Join the mailing list!