CandyKisses:  Turkish Transport Minister announces a four-way summit on the “development road” project soon

 ISTANBUL (NINA) – Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uroglu announced that a four-way ministerial summit between Turkey, Iraq, the UAE and Qatar will be held soon regarding the “development road” project.

The Turkish minister said in a press statement: The memorandum of understanding signed yesterday between Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and the UAE in Baghdad to cooperate on the “development road” project was a bilateral agreement, but with joint Turkish and Iraqi efforts that also included the UAE and Qatar.

He added that weekly meetings are taking place between officials of both Turkey and Iraq, and a four-way summit will be held in the next two months.

Uraloglu said they would open offices in Iraq and Turkey as part of the project in the coming months, noting that with the operation of the development road, trade volume will rise from $20 billion to $40 billion.

Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and the UAE signed in Baghdad yesterday a four-way memorandum of understanding for cooperation on the “development road” project, under the auspices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani.

The “Development Road” project is a road and railway extending from Iraq to Turkey and its ports, with a length of 1,200 km inside Iraq, and aims to transport goods between Europe and the Arab Gulf countries.

Tishwash:  Venezuela Hires Rothschild as Adviser on Defaulted Debt Pile

 Venezuela’s government has hired Rothschild & Co. as a financial adviser to provide an overview of its foreign debt obligations, according to people familiar with the matter.

Rothschild is working to map out what the administration owes and to whom, said the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss a contract that has not been made public. Debt mapping is normally a preliminary step taken by a government before it prepares to start a restructuring.

Representatives for Paris-based Rothschild declined to comment. A press official for Venezuela’s Finance Ministry did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Venezuela owes roughly $154 billion to overseas lenders — according to an estimate from economist Francisco Rodriguez, a professor at the University of Denver — including global bonds issued by the government and state oil company, which have been in default for more than six years. It’s been accumulating interest on those bonds and court judgments for unpaid commercial loans.

Sovereign bonds trade for around 20 cents on the dollar, while defaulted notes issued by Petroleos de Venezuela SA exchange hands for around 11 cents, according to indicative pricing compiled by Bloomberg. The debt has rallied since JPMorgan Chase & Co. laid out a plan to re-weight the securities in widely followed emerging-market debt indexes back in February.

REDD Intelligence first reported Venezuela mandated Rothschild as an adviser. The hiring comes amid a recent push by President Nicolas Maduro’s administration to reengage with global markets, mulitilateral institutions and ratings firms after years of international isolation. Over the years, the president has made overtures that it was willing to work with creditors, though those talks have never progressed.

Washington doesn’t recognize Maduro, and sanctions prohibit the government from selling debt on US markets. Sanctions would need to changed before a debt restructuring could be carried out.

Relations between the two countries worsened last week as the US reimposed sanctions on the oil and gas industries, citing Maduro’s failure to live up to promises to hold a fair election later this year. Venezuela, in turn, said Washington had breached a political agreement signed last year in Doha.

Read more: US to Reinstate Venezuela Sanctions, Says Maduro Broke Deal

The country is set to vote on July 28 in an election that will pit Maduro against a candidate for the opposition, likely ambassador Edmundo Gonzalez.   link

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Tishwash: Al-Sudani directs the ministers to follow up on the implementation of the memorandums of understanding concluded with America and Turkey

Today, Tuesday, Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani directed the ministers to follow up on the implementation of the memorandums of understanding and agreements signed with the United States and Turkey.

Al-Sudani’s office stated in a statement received by Mawazine News, “Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani reviewed, at the beginning of the Council of Ministers today, the results of his official visit to the United States this month, which produced results that are in favor of Iraq in terms of economy, politics, security, and regional stability.”

In the interest of building bilateral strategic relations, in addition to signing a number of memorandums of understanding and partnership between the Iraqi public and private sectors on the one hand, and between major leading American companies and financial and banking institutions on the other hand.”

The statement added, “Al-Sudani also reviewed the visit of the Turkish President to Baghdad yesterday, which witnessed the signing of the bilateral strategic framework agreement, and the signing of 26 joint memorandums of understanding for various institutions between the two countries, which will be reflected in the economic and development partnership, in addition to the quadripartite understanding that included Iraq, Turkey and Qatar.”

And the UAE, regarding the development road project, the investment opportunities it brings, and entering into a new phase of security and economic understandings and in the field of water management and water shares in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, all of which will push relations forward.”

During the session, the Prime Minister directed the ministers to “follow up the implementation of the memorandums of understanding, and provide the utmost efforts in order to achieve the highest levels of mutual benefit, for all sectors and activities covered by the memorandums of understanding, in addition to assigning the committees concerned with securing the requirements for success and good implementation of the agreements and understandings signed with the states.” United States and Turkey.  link

Mot: …. Say Do Ya Know what day 

Mot: . OK — Fess Up!! –WHOOOOOOOOO is Holding This UP!!???