Hussein says Iraq looks forward to Guterres’s thesis on the region and the Secretary-General confirms: You will overcome the challenges

PoliticiansBreakingFouad HusseinAntonio Guterres

2023-02-28 16:09Font

Shafaq News / Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said on Wednesday that Baghdad is looking forward to the proposals of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the situation in the region, shortly after his arrival in Iraq.

“This visit was based on our invitation, the relationship between Iraq and the United Nations is interactive, and we thank the role of the Secretary-General for his support in the various stages of the political and democratic process in Iraq,” Hussein said at a joint press conference with Guterres.

He added, “We look forward to holding intensive meetings and talks with the Secretary-General on the developments of the political situation in Iraq, the situation in the region and the world, there are great national, regional and global challenges, we need to exchange views, and we look forward to the support of the Secretary-General to face these challenges, and to hear his ideas and proposals, especially on the situation and regional security.”

For his part, Guterres said, “I am delighted to be in Baghdad. Solidarity with Iraq means supporting institutions and expressing my confidence that Iraqis will be able to overcome the challenges and difficulties they face.”

“I express my solidarity with the Iraqis and I hope that Iraq has a future of prosperity and stability,” he added.

Guterres is scheduled to meet with the Iraqi presidencies, after which the Kurdistan Region will travel to hold meetings with Kurdish officials and leaders in Erbil.

https://shafaq.com/ar/سیاسة/حسين-يقول-ن-العراق-يتطلع-ل-طروحات-غوتيرش-حول-المنطقة-وال-مين-العام-ي-كد-ستتغلبون-على-التحديات

Advertisement

KDP, PUK REACH AGREEMENT ON ELECTION ZONES

HEADLINES:

PM:05:27:28/02/2023 

SULAIMANI — The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said they have agreed on activating the Electoral Commission and dividing the Kurdistan Region into four voting zones.

The head of the KDP bloc in Kurdistan parliament, Zana Khalid, and the deputy head of the PUK bloc, Luqman Wardi, said in a press conference both parties discussed the solution to most of their disagreements over the election issues.

Khalid and Wardi said after hours of discussion during the meeting, they have agreed on four voting zones and that they will meet again on Saturday. 

Both party members said they will meet with representatives of other parties to talk over the elections. 

The Kurdistan Region’s elections were supposed to be held in October 2022, but the PUK and KDP could not agree on the election law and the Kurdistan Region’s parliament extended its term, which ended on October 6, 2022. 

(NRT Digital Media)

nrttv.com

Antonio Guterres arrives in Baghdad

PoliticiansIraqBreakingThe United NationsAntonio Guterres

2023-02-28 15:24Font

Shafaq News / Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al-Sahaf reported the arrival of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Baghdad.

In a statement after midnight on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein was receiving Guterres at Baghdad International Airport, the journalist said in a statement after midnight on Wednesday.

Guterres is scheduled to meet with the Iraqi presidencies, after which the Kurdistan Region will travel to hold meetings with Kurdish officials and leaders in Erbil.

https://shafaq.com/ar/سیاسة/نطونيو-غوتيريش-يصل-بغداد

Official: Iraq’s foreign currency reserves hit $115 billion high

Official: Iraq’s foreign currency reserves hit $115 billion high

 28 Feb 2023 07:07 PM

Mubasher: Prime Minister Mazhar Mohammed Saleh’s financial adviser said that Iraq’s foreign currency reserves have reached their highest levels in Iraq’s financial history and currently touched 115 billion US dollars.

Saleh explained on Tuesday to the Iraqi News Agency (WAA), that the management of foreign reserves is subject to international standard investment guides.

He added, “The coverage of reserves from foreign exchange to the issued national currency is approximately 150%, which is very high and represents optimal efficiency in the standards of managing reserves, as well as covering the external debt obligated to pay to Iraq about five times.”

He stated, “Almost half of the amount of reserves is in the currency of the United States of America (US dollar) and a high percentage of the country’s dollar reserves are invested in secure financial instruments, most of which are short-term US treasury bonds and carry interest of more than 4% per year currently on average and have a very advanced credit rating, and can be converted into liquid dollars immediately when needed.”

“The management of foreign reserves is all subject to international standard investment evidence issued by international multilateral financial institutions, within the management of an optimal investment portfolio that avoids risks, the most important of which is the avoidance of legal risks, the risk of exchange rate fluctuations, interest rates and other operational risks,” the Prime Minister’s adviser said.

He continued by saying: “The rest of the remaining foreign reserves, which are 50% (other than the dollar) are deposited with reliable European global central banks and global monetary institutions and in currencies such as the pound sterling, the European euro, the Chinese yuan, the Japanese yen and the currency of the International Monetary Fund called special drawing rights units, in addition to cash gold, which is more than 132 tons or more as officially announced and deposited in the safe global gold cellars.”

https://www.mubasher.info/news/4082096/مسؤول-احتياطي-العراق-من-العملة-الأجنبية-يبلغ-أعلى-مستوى-عند-115-مليار-دولار/?currentUserCountryCode=US

Baghdad and Erbil agree on the share of the Kurdistan Region in the 2023 budget

PoliticiansErbilBaghdadBreakingPolitical Agreement2003 Budget

2023-02-28 11:20Font

Twilight News / A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Haitham Al-Mayahi, revealed on Tuesday that Erbil and Baghdad reached a final agreement on the region’s share in the 2023 budget.

“After the meetings held by the delegation of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Baghdad with the federal government, especially in the last visit, the two sides reached the determination of the share of the Kurdistan Region in the 2023 budget,” Al-Mayahi told Shafak News Agency.

He pointed out that “the agreed percentage so far is 12.67%,” adding that “during the meetings it was agreed to solve the problems that delayed the 2023 budget, which are renewed in every period, represented by oil and gas, Peshmerga salaries and the dues of the Kurdish component, in addition to the need to legislate the oil and gas law within the dome of parliament, and this is what we agreed on.”

Al-Mayahi stressed that “it is in everyone’s interest to end differences and enter under the dome of parliament in order to vote and start providing services to the Iraqi street.”

The share of the Kurdistan Region, salaries of the Peshmerga forces, the oil and gas law and other problems are a renewed obstacle whenever negotiations to prepare the annual federal budget begin, and usually end with an agreement between the political blocs leading to the passage of the budget law in the Council of Ministers and then sending it to the House of Representatives for approval.

https://shafaq.com/ar/سیاسة/بغداد-واربيل-تتفقان-على-حصة-اقليم-كوردستان-في-موازنة-2023

Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union reach agreement on points of contention

Politics – 28-02-2023 08:43 PM – Number of readings: 317

The two main parties in the Kurdistan Region, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union, announced on Tuesday that they had reached agreement on most of the points related to amending the electoral law and activating the High Commission for Elections and Referendum in the region.

A joint statement by the Elections Department of the Democratic Party and the Election Foundation of the National Union said that the two sides met on Tuesday in Erbil with the aim of dialogue on topics related to amending the election law of the Kurdistan Parliament and activating the High Electoral Commission and Referendum in the region, indicating that they exchanged views and positions on all issues that constitute points of disagreement between the two

The statement added that the dialogues between the two sides led to agreement on most of the points related to amending the Kurdistan Parliament Elections Law and activating the High Electoral and Referendum Commission in the region, pointing out that a common understanding took place between the two side

https://www.dijlah.tv/index.php?page=article&id=324998

UrgentSources reveal details of Baghdad-Erbil budget agreement

• Time : 2023/02/28 19:35:37
• Read: 455 times

  

{Political: Al-Furat News} Sources reported that the Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government reached an agreement on the draft budget law 2023.

The sources said that “the Kurdistan Region’s governments and the federal government agreed on the draft budget law 2023, in which the share of the Kurdistan Region will reach 12.67%.

She added that “if the general population census expected to be held in October this year shows that the proportion of the population of the Kurdistan region is more than what was stated in the budget, the federal government will pay the difference to the Kurdistan region.”

The federal government will also pay, according to the sources, “the wages of oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region, and approve the legal sale of oil by the Kurdistan Region, and stop the work of all decisions of the Federal Supreme Court towards the Kurdistan Region until the adoption of the oil and gas law in the House of Representatives.”

Also according to this information, a bank account will be opened in which the Iraqi government will deposit the Kurdistan Region’s share of the budget, which the Kurdistan Regional Government alone is entitled to dispose of.

Under this agreement, the Kurdistan Regional Government has obligations, which it must implement as is.

On the allocations of the Peshmerga forces, the sources said that “it was agreed to be within the sovereign expenditures.”

https://alforatnews.iq/news/مصادر-تكشف-تفاصيل-اتفاق-بغداد-وأربيل-على-الموازنة

Al-Mandalawi calls on the private banking sector to support the government’s efforts and work to stabilize the market

• Time : 2023/02/28 17:45:19
• Read: 78 times

Mr. Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, considered the banking sector one of the most important factors in promoting the economic reality of countries, calling on its departments to exercise their active role in supporting the government, its decisions and endeavors aimed at regulating the banking reality, stabilizing the market and fighting currency smugglers.

This came during an expanded meeting held on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, with a number of managers of Islamic private banks in the presence of a number of heads of parliamentary committees and deputies, to discuss a number of files related to activating some laws related to the work of banks and monetary policy.

Al-Mandalawi called on banks to launch advanced banking services to serve citizens and economic sectors, and expand them to include all the promising opportunities waiting to be delved with, provide direct support for them and work to contribute to sober development events to serve all segments, while calling on the management of the Central Bank, banks and authorities concerned with financial and monetary policies to study and the possibility

https://alforatnews.iq/news/المندلاوي-يحث-المصارف-الاهلية-على-اطلاق-خدمات-مصرفية-متطورة

The Secretary-General of the United Nations arrives in Baghdad today on an official visit

political| 04:41 – 28/02/2023

Baghdad – Mawazine News
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al-Sahaf confirmed on Tuesday that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will arrive today in Baghdad on an official visit.

Al-Sahhaf said in a statement, received by Mawazine News, a copy of it, that “United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will arrive today in Baghdad on an official visit and will meet with the three presidencies, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.” Finished

https://mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=220574

Guterres in Baghdad on Wednesday and Erbil on Thursday to discuss a number of files

Arabic reports

Baghdad

Adel, the deputies

February 28, 2023

This is Guterres’ second visit to Iraq (Fabris Coffrini/AFP)

⁺the line^–

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to visit Iraq on Wednesday, at the head of a United Nations delegation, on his second visit to Iraq, after he visited Baghdad for the first time after taking office on March 30, 2017.

“United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will arrive on Wednesday in the capital Baghdad, and will hold meetings with the three presidencies and a number of political leaders,” informed Iraqi sources familiar with the New Arabi told Al-Arabi.

The sources added that “Guterres will head next Thursday from Baghdad to the Kurdistan region, to hold meetings with Kurdish officials and leaders in Erbil.”

Informed Iraqi sources revealed that “during his visit to Iraq, he will discuss files related to climate issues, health and poverty issues, the water crisis, political files related to Iraq’s political and security situation, government preparations for holding elections during the next phase, in addition to the file of displaced persons, and stressing the need to resolve this file soon.

For his part, the head of the Parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, Amer Al-Fayez, said during a phone call with Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that “Guterres’ upcoming visit to Iraq is an affirmation of the great international support for the government of Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani, which is evidence that Al-Sudani and his government are working to establish balanced relations with all regional and international parties, and this visit is important to support Iraq in various fields.”

Al-Fayez pointed out that “this visit is important, especially in light of the crises in Iraq at the water and climate levels, as well as the issues of displaced persons and migrants, as these files need international and international support to achieve the Iraqi government successes in them during the next phase.”

The head of the Parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee stressed that “the visit will not be without discussing the political situation, especially since Iraq is about to hold local elections (provincial councils) and elections for the House of Representatives, in addition to the security file, there is an international affirmation on the need to protect civilians, in addition to the file of fighting corruption and reform processes in state institutions,

It is noteworthy that Guterres earlier welcomed the formation of a government in Iraq headed by Al-Sudani, supported by the “Coordination Framework”, which brings together blocs and parties close to Tehran.

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/politics/غوتيريس-في-بغداد-الأربعاء-وأربيل-الخميس-لبحث-عدد-من-الملفات