18 September 2009
KUWAIT and IRAQ
Currently Iraq is still continuing with efforts to remove themselves from the U.N. Charter Chapter VII as outlined in the U.N. Secretary General Report (July 2009). The Iraq and Kuwait relations is not all as severe as you would be led to believe in the media reports. I want to point out the Kuwaiti government assisted with transporting of the wounded Iraqi's involved in the 19 August terror attack in Baghdad to medical treatment centers in Kuwait.
The Iraqi government has formed committees to solve the issues between the two governments. If you have been reading there are several issues the Iraqi government has to resolve with the Kuwaiti government. Such as;
The Missing Kuwaiti's and notifying the families of what happened to them
The return of the Kuwaiti archives
Land and border issues to include water
The war reparations
The return of all property that was removed from Kuwait
Kuwait is still adamant of leaving Iraq under the Chapter VII for the foreseeable future. Kuwait has not given an answer on using the war reparations as investments inside Iraq. This does not mean that after Iraq resolves all the issues listed above that Iraq will have UN Chapter VII lifted there are other matters under Chapter VII to be resolved.
There are rumors going around that after 1 October the U.S. dollar will be outlawed in Iraq and the answer is no. The U.S. currency is not being outlawed or forbidden in Iraq. You can still go into any Iraqi bank and obtain U.S. dollars and even at the local markets. The Iraq government and the U.S. government are trying to limit the amount of U.S. dollars inside Iraq and to force the upgrades of the ETF electronic funds transfer of the select few Iraqi banks. Hopefully, more Iraqi banks will also upgrade or acquire the required ETF systems and participate also. Plus, all contracts are still numerated in U.S. currency this has not changed.
IRAQ JOINING GCC
Another rumor is that Iraq is going to be joining the GCC very soon.
It is a nice thought in your forum world and makes for great conversation. However, let's look at this just by using common sense.
Why would the Kingdom (Saudi Arabia) who despises the Iraqi Shia led government offer a place in the GCC in the first place?
Also the last time I checked the Kingdom, has not opened an Embassy inside Iraq which is one of the requirements to even get the opportunity to join the GCC.
I have said this before and I'll say this again everything you see that is happening inside Iraq is all preparation for the National Elections we all hope will be held in Iraq in January 2010, which is 104 days from today.
Ramadan is about over and will have the EID celebration after and than September will be over with no significant movement in the currency, which I've predicted for you in my RV updates.
Inflation is on the way up as Iraq continues to import all goods and services into the country. Unemployment is still at an all time high. The Iraqi government is still subsidizes all those State workers that are not currently working or helping with the reconstruction efforts. Iraq government is still trying to pass badly needed legislation through the new Iraqi Parliament which is not going very well.
That is all for now and more to follow..
American Contractor
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