Fouad Hussein: Baghdad and Washington will monitor the movement of the dollar through a mechanism and we still need US forces

PoliticiansThe American DollarBreakingVisit WashingtonForeign Minister Fouad HusseinThe Iraqi Delegation

2023-02-16 12:33Font

Twilight News / Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein revealed on Thursday the establishment of a mechanism to monitor the movement of the US currency (dollars) through the Iraqi government and the US Treasury Department, and indicated that each country has its own policy of dealing with countries such as Iran, he stressed that Iraq still needs US forces to provide advice, training and exchange security information.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said in an interview with the Kurdish service on Radio “Voice of America” and seen by Shafaq News that “Washington and Baghdad agreed on a mechanism that will make it difficult for dollars to move without the knowledge of the Iraqi government and the US Treasury Department,” adding that “he did not go to visit Washington, to say that the dollar

“Voice of America” radio added that “the radio interview with Hussein dealt with his country’s strategic relations with the United States, the presence of foreign forces, and the influence of Iran,” while the Iraqi minister said that “he discussed in Washington the issue of the sharp decline in the value of the dinar, and that the Central Bank of Iraq took a number of measures that appear in this regard,” expressing his belief that “the currency price is slowly stabilizing.”

Hussein pointed out that “a system has been put in place through which Baghdad and Washington can monitor the destination of funds,” explaining that “under the new system, it will be difficult for dollars to move without the knowledge of the Iraqi government and the US Treasury Department,” adding that “a mechanism has been put in place to regulate the flow of dollars” from Iraq.

On the most important objectives of the visit to Washington and the dinar issue, Hussein explained that “the main reason for our coming is to strengthen ties, especially in the fields of finance and economy, and from these issues related to currency, I think the discussions we had with the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve have reached a good result. The Central Bank of Iraq has taken a number of measures that appear to be supported.”

When asked by the radio about the steps taken by the Iraqi government to prevent the money from going to Iran, the Iraqi minister explained that “Iraqi society buys everything from abroad, from agricultural materials to foodstuffs, medicines and industrial goods, and if you look at Iraq’s trade or trade balance with other countries, you will find that everything comes from abroad as the Iraqi market and

“Therefore, going abroad is good if it is linked to trade, but there was no mechanism for how to issue the dollar from the Central Bank, who will get it from the Iraqi market and how it will go abroad, but now, a mechanism has been put in place to regulate the movement of the dollar,” the Iraqi Foreign Minister said. This mechanism slowly controls the flow of dollars through smuggling or other purposes.”

When asked by the US radio if this mechanism would prevent dollars from entering Iran through Iraq, Hussein said, “We did not come to say that the dollar should not enter this country or that country, we came here to regulate the conditions of the dollar in the Iraqi market, when it is organized in the Iraqi market, it means that dealing in the US dollar will be normal.”

“Under the new system, it will be harder for dollars to go elsewhere without the knowledge of the Iraqi government and the US Treasury Department,” the minister continued.

Asked about issues that were not agreed with the Americans, Hussein said: “We didn’t come here to agree on everything, they have their own policies, for example, they have their own policy towards Russia, they have their own policy towards Iran. For us Iran is a neighboring country and we are treating it differently. That’s a fact.”

On the position of the Iraqi factions on the presence of foreign forces, Hussein said that “it is clear that there is a need for the survival of US forces that are still in Iraq, in order for the security and military interests of Iraq.” “Let me clarify something: these are not combat forces, based on mutual agreement, these US forces are advising and training to the Iraqi army and Peshmerga forces, they have also helped us share intelligence, especially with regard to Barhabei (ISIS),” he added.

https://shafaq.com/ar/سیاسة/ف-اد-حسين-بغداد-وواشنطن-ستراقبان-حركة-الدولار-عبر-لية-ولازلنا-بحاجة-للقوات-ال-مريكية

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US, Iraq hail ties, following Foreign Minister’s visit

Hussein was in Washington to work out a way to deal with the issue that would allow the US to counter Iran’s abuse of Iraq’s banking system, without imperiling Iraq’s currency.

 Laurie Mylroie   11 Minutes

       

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein speak to the media prior to a meeting, in the Treaty Room of the US State Department in Washington, DC, on February 9, 2023. (Photo: AFP)

Kurdistan USA Fuad HusseinAntony Blinken Krg Iraqi Foreign Minister

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – As the visit of an Iraqi delegation led by Fuad Hussein, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, drew to a close, the US and Iraq issued a joint statement affirming their shared interest in maintaining and strengthening relations between the two countries.

Hussein’s visit, which began last Thursday, was the first senior Iraqi delegation to the US since the formation of Iraq’s new government last October, after a year-long stalemate following national elections.

A major item on the US-Iraqi agenda involved Iran’s exploitation of Iraq’s banking system to circumvent US sanctions. Indeed, John Hannah, National Security Advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, and Joel Rayburn, former US special envoy to Syria, describedthis in scathing terms.

Following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the US established a process, known as the “dollar auction,” to facilitate Iraq’s access to dollars “at preferred rates to finance badly needed imports,” Hannah and Rayburn explained.

The system, though well-intentioned, was soon badly corrupted and exploited.

“For over a decade, Iraqi politicians have abused their easy access to US dollars to steal from their people on a historical scale,” Hannah and Rayburn wrote. “Even more threatening, successive Iraqi governments have colluded with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to circumvent US sanctions and funnel billions to finance Iran’s nuclear program, terrorism, and regional aggression.”

Last fall, the US began to scrutinize the foreign transactions of Iraqi banks much more closely in order to stop that abuse. That had the effect of restricting Iraq’s access to dollars, and it precipitated a sharp decline in the value of Iraq’s currency.

Hussein was in Washington to work out a way of dealing with the issue which would allow the US to counter the abuses in the current system, without imperiling Iraq’s currency.

US-Iraqi Joint Statement

The meetings between the US and Iraq were held under the auspices of the US-Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee (HCC.) They were led by Fuad Hussein on the Iraqi side and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the US side, and the two parties issued a joint statement late on Wednesday.

“The delegations reaffirmed their determination to deepen the strategic relationship across the full range of bilateral issues,” their statement said.

“This meeting marked the first HCC focused on economic cooperation, energy sector development, and climate change,” it noted, calling this “a sign of a maturing strategic partnership under the SFA”—the Strategic Framework Agreement, concluded in 2008, as George W. Bush prepared to leave office.

The joint statement gives the impression that Washington and Baghdad have reached some understanding on coordinated efforts to tackle key issues, including Tehran’s diversion of US dollars through Iraq’s banking system.

“The United States welcomed the Iraqi government’s efforts to enact economic and monetary policy reforms, modernize the financial and banking system, combat corruption, and prevent manipulation of the financial system,” it stated, while Washington promised to assist Baghdad in those efforts.

Both sides also seek to improve Iraq’s energy use. That includes diminishing its dependence on Iran for natural gas, as well as addressing its chronic electricity shortage, which regularly becomes acute in the hot summer months.

Iraq flares natural gas in the course of its oil production, because it lacks the facilities to capture the gas. It then imports natural gas from Iran to fuel its electricity plants.

In December, Iraq’s new Oil Minister, Hayan Abdel-Ghani, announced that Iraq planned to eliminate gas flaring within four years.

In their joint statement, the US and Iraq “resolved to accelerate efforts to capture flared gas, upgrade natural gas distribution infrastructure and reduce methane leakage.”

They also stressed the importance of connecting Iraq’s electricity grid to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority, one more step in drawing Iraq further from Iran and closer to the Sunni Arab states which are aligned with the US.

Finally, “the United States welcomed positive developments in relations between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government and the ongoing negotiations over the 2023 federal budget and the hydrocarbons law,” the joint statement said.

However, nothing in the statement—or any other news from the visit of the Iraqi delegation—addressed a key problem. Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court (SFC) has been suborned by Iran through the President of the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, Faiq Zaydan, and former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki.

In early 2022, the head of the IRGC’s Qods Force, Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, visited Baghdad and, along with Maliki, met with Zaydan. Since then, the SFC has issued a series of dubious rulings, contrary to the interests of the Kurdistan Region.

A Congressional letter, written last week, asked the Biden administration how it intended to address this problem.

Read More: Congressmen call for more US support for Kurdistan Region, tougher position toward pro-Iran elements in Iraq

The Congressmen gave the administration until Feb. 24 to answer that question, along with several others, and the response should be quite interesting. So far, there has been no indication, at least publicly, that it has developed a way to deal with this problem at all.

kurdistan24.net

Regional Government: Satisfactory solutions with the federal government on oil and gas law

political| 03:59 – 16/02/2023

Baghdad – Mawazine News
The Kurdistan Regional Government announced on Thursday that it is seeking satisfactory solutions with the federal government on the oil and gas law, while noting that there are positive understandings with the central government on the budget law for the current year.

Government spokesman Gutiar Adel said during a press conference that “the territorial government is committed to the provisions of the constitution,” noting that “there are good understandings between the governments of the center and the region, especially with regard to the subject of the budget law for the current year.”

He explained that “the region has put forward its point of view on the oil and gas law, and there is seriousness on the part of the two parties to resolve the issue,” expressing his hope to “become satisfactory solutions in accordance with the Constitution.”

He stressed “the seriousness of the Kurdistan Regional Government in reaching an agreement with Baghdad, explaining that “some issues and issues need to be resolved and discussed.”

He continued, “There is an agreement between the Office of Financial Supervision in the region and the Center, as they were provided with all the private data, and there is progress in this area.” Finished 29/m99

https://mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=219521

Euphrates News source: Near the expansion of dollar outlets and a new package for the Central Bank

• Time : 2023/02/16 10:53:32
• Read: 2,912 times

  

{Economic: Al-Furat News} An informed source revealed the imminent expansion of the outlets for selling the dollar at the official price of 1320 dinars.

The source told {Euphrates News}: “Soon, the outlets for selling dollars to citizens to government banks and other parties will be expanded to include commercial centers, malls and others.”

He pointed out that “the imminent issuance of a new package of measures of the Central Bank of Iraq to control the exchange rate, including the movement of transactions in dinars in all fields instead of the dollar with regard to buying and selling.”

The governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, announced two days ago that the bank “will issue a number of instructions and directives to banks and other financial institutions in order to make things clear and easy, so that they can access the platform as soon as possible, the faster you join this platform, the more there is a balance between supply and demand.”

He pointed out that “the official price should not exceed 1320 dinars against the dollar in the market, we believe that there is no reason or justification to sell the dollar at more than this price.”

https://alforatnews.iq/news/مصدر-للفرات-نيوز-قرب-توسيع-منافذ-بيع-الدولار-وحزمة-جديدة-للبنك-المركزي

The Kurdistan government will send its delegation to Baghdad next Sunday

Politics – 16-02-2023 12:49 PM – Number of readings: 1559

The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq announced on Thursday that its negotiating delegation will visit Baghdad again next Sunday to complete dialogues with the federal government in order to resolve differences and outstanding issues between the two sides.”The meetings of the delegation of the negotiating region that visited Baghdad recently were with the Ministries of Oil and Planning, considering that the head of the delegation of the federal government is Minister of Planning, Mohammed Tamim, while the head of our delegation, Minister of Finance and Economy Awat Sheikh Janab Nouri,” KRG spokesman said in a press conference held today.He pointed out that “on the first day of the visit, we met with the Ministry of Oil, and discussed the vision of the Kurdistan Regional Government on the legislation of the oil and gas law, and discussed a number of important topics for me,” stressing that “this law should be legislated in partnership, based on the Constitution and the concluded political agreement, and in coordination with theHe also pointed out that “the delegation of the Kurdistan Regional Government is scheduled to return to Baghdad again next Sunday if there is no change in order to maintain dialogues with the Ministry of Oil.”

https://www.dijlah.tv/index.php?page=article&id=324392

Sudanese leaves Iraq for Germany

political| 01:01 – 16/02/2023

Baghdad – Mawazine News
Prime Minister Mohamed Shiaa al-Sudani headed to Germany on Thursday at the head of a senior government delegation.

“Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani left Iraq for Germany at the head of a high government delegation,” Al-Sudani’s office said in a statement.

The visit aims, according to the statement, to “participate in the 59th Munich Security Conference.” Finished 29/n33

https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=219503

After Siemens.. Details of GE’s memorandum to repair Iraq’s electricity reform revealed

EconomyIraqGeneral ElectricMohammed Shiaa Al-SudaniThe Electricity CrisisSiemens Company

2023-02-16 04:36Font

Twilight News / A senior government source revealed, on Thursday, new details about the terms of the recent memorandum of understanding signed between the Iraqi government and the American company General Electric (GE), after signing a memorandum of understanding with the German company Siemens last January.

According to the source who spoke to Shafaq News, the government’s directions included contracting with sober international companies manufacturing equipment such as Siemens, in addition to (GE), noting that “the signing of a memorandum of principles of cooperation with (GE) aims to address the obstacles that faced the procedures for implementing projects that have already been included in the memorandums of cooperation signed between the Ministry of

He explained that “the obstacles that accompanied the previous understandings relate to the inability to finance fossil fuel projects through the stabilization of projects included in the ministry’s plan, which will contribute to increasing energy production and reducing severe shortages in energy processing, as well as addressing bottlenecks in the transport sector, improving the efficiency of performance of units currently operating and establishing a control center for them

The government source indicated that “contracting with (GE) for long-term maintenance work for a period of five years to maintain the work of the energy production units equipped by the company, and to increase the efficiency of the work of the energy production units currently operating through the modernization of the systems attached to them, in addition to conducting studies to exploit associated gas.”

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Electricity signed a memorandum of understanding with the American company General Electric/GE, within the framework of the government program aimed at developing the electricity sector in Iraq, under the auspices of Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office, and responded to Shafaq News.

https://shafaq.com/ar/اقتصـاد/بعد-سيمنس-كشف-تفاصيل-مذكرة-جنرال-لكتريك-ل-صلاح-كهربا-العراق

US supports Iraq’s Central Bank measures to tighten dollar transfers, says foreign minister

“The system is in the interest of Iraq and its currency,” the minister added.

 Kurdistan 24   1 Hour

       

Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Fuad Hussein speaking to Kurdistan 24 during an exclusive interview in Washington, DC, Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Iraq Iraq Fuad Hussein US dollar CBI

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The US supports the Iraqi Central Bank’s efforts to regulate the transfer of dollars aimed at preventing siphoning the currency and other illegal transactions, the country’s foreign minister has recently told Kurdistan 24. 

The remarks by Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs came during an exclusive interview with Kurdistan 24’s Issa Chomani in Washington, DC, which is set to be aired soon.

Hussein is currently heading a high-ranking Iraqi delegation to the US, where he had held several meetings with the country’s officials, including Secretaries of State and Treasury.

In a bid to thwart money laundering and illegal transactions, the Iraqi CBI last year introduced an “electronic platform” through which traders who want to pay for their imports shall enter detailed information on the transaction as well as the end-recipient of the greenback.

“The US supports Iraq’s economy and the measures taken by the CBI,” Hussein told Kurdistan 24, adding the country’s officials had told him during the meetings.

“The system is in the interest of Iraq and its currency,” the minister added, saying it would “reduce” illegal transactions in the economy which is heavily reliant on imports.

At least 100 employees of the bank have been trained by the US Federal Reserve on the system, according to an Iraqi premier’s advisor.

Introducing the system, which had rejected about 80 percent of the requests in the beginning as they were not fitted with the new regulations, had caused a fluctuation in the IQD value for months.

For a while, a US dollar was being traded up to 1,750 IQD at some street exchange markets in the country, causing a public outcry as the prices of commodities were going up.

“It would take some time for the value [of Iraqi] currency to stabilize,” the minister said, adding the US dollar value has been depreciating since the delegation reached a “good deal” with the US officials during the visit.

The Iraqi government has recently revalued the currency, setting the new official exchange rate at 1,300 dinars to a US dollar. At the street vendors, the IQD is still traded at around 1,500 dinars to a dollar.

kurdistan24.net