Samson: Improving Erbil-Baghdad relations great for US investors: trade official
4th July, 2019 VIDEO in English on link
Recent improvement in the relationship between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have created an attractive business environment for US companies to invest, a US trade official told Rudaw.
A memorandum of understanding was recently signed between the US Chamber of Commerce and the KRG to enhance investment and trade relations.
The memorandum “focuses on how can we as two different business communities work together”, Steve Lutes, vice president of Middle East Affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, told Rudaw’s Omar Muradi on June 27.
“It is all about engagement and exchange.
So, some of that is on an information basis. It is letting US companies know what the opportunities are here for investment and commercial activity across the range of the economy. And some of that is also informing businesses here about how they can pursue partners and even opportunities in the United States,” Lutes said.
“In addition to the information exchange, it is also about what we are doing here, looking to accomplish with our business delegations visit, which is actually bringing people here, business leaders to see things first hand,” he added.
The Kurdistan Region and Iraq are emerging from a costly war with the Islamic State group (ISIS), which seized large swathes of territory in the summer of 2014. Many cities were devastated in the battle to retake these territories. The jihadist group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017. Much of the territory previously ruled by ISIS lie in ruins and in dire need of reconstruction and basis services.
Iraq is trying to attract foreign companies to invest in the country. American firms want to expand trade with Erbil and Baghdad, which are slowly rebuilding relations after the Region’s referendum for independence from Iraq in late 2017 led to a brief armed conflict and embargoes on the Region’s trade, travel, and diplomacy. The crisis further damaged the Region’s economy, already wounded by budget cuts and a financial crisis.
The improvement in relations between the KRG and the federal government in Baghdad has created good conditions for foreign companies to invest, Lutes said.
“We know that Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are at a pivotal moment. We think it is an opportune time for American companies to be looking to come in to invest and do business,” the trade official said.
“We are hopeful that we will see not only more energy companies, but more healthcare companies, more IT companies, more agriculture companies, running that range of the economy coming here and looking at those types of commercial and investment opportunities.”
Lutes said US companies can also help modernize Iraq’s antiquated financial sector. “Modernizing the banking system in Iraq is one of the most important things that we as the business community, as a business advocacy organization, should be focusing on,” he said. LINK
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Samson: Chinese bank president calls for accelerated yuan conversion of world currency
6th July, 2019
China’s Export and Import Bank Chairman Hu Xiaolian called on Saturday to speed up reforms aimed at turning the Chinese currency into a global currency and warned that external risks associated with global trade protection could hurt the financial sector
“There have been barriers in terms of trade, investment, inter-firm cooperation, technology exchange and so on. This makes us really fear that the financial sector, which is fueling the economy and an important supporter of globalization, will be adversely affected,” she said
China is locked in a trade war with the United States, which has led to the exchange of goods by the two countries for hundreds of billions of dollars. The US administration also tightened control over Chinese companies, including telecom giant Huawei, which was barred from entering the US market and effectively curtailed its ability to buy US technology
The change in the trade and investment environment points to the country’s need to better plan for any potential problems, Hu said
“I think the pace of converting the yuan into a global currency should move at a faster pace,” she said
China’s currency conversion to a global currency has suffered a setback since 2016 due to tougher government restrictions to curb overseas capital outflow under the yuan’s weakness
Hu stressed the need to strengthen the ability of the Chinese financial sector as a whole to compete as a precondition for the Chinese currency to become global, including efforts to modernize financial institutions, expand opening up and financial modernization, and remove distortions in loan pricing LINK
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Samson: Erdogan dismisses central bank governor
2019/7/6 8:32
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dismissed Central Bank Governor Murad Gintinkaya early Saturday morning, and his deputy, Murad Oisal, was succeeded as Turkish lira registered a new decline.
The Turkish president’s decision comes about three weeks after his opposition to his country’s policy of tightening credit restrictions and pledged to cut the current 24 percent high interest rates.
The Turkish lira recorded a new fall last week, to 5.77 lira against the dollar, with news of an amendment requiring the transfer of the central bank reserve to the general budget.
A few days ago, the Federation of Turkish Chambers of Commerce and Stock Exchanges announced that the rate of closure of companies in the country increased by 20.94% compared to the previous month, where 878 companies were closed, the number of cooperatives decreased by 36%, the number of private companies by 5.85% Corporate enterprises increased by 0.34%, compared to the previous month. LINK
Boom, Right On Schedule, The Finger Pointing Continues – Episode 1909a –
X22 Report: Published on Jul 5, 2019
