Projects Worth $189bn Frozen in Iraq

Projects Worth $189bn Frozen in Iraq Posted on 16 January 2014. The deputy head of the Iraqi businessmen’s association, Tariq Saleh, has said that around 600 major projects worth $189 billion are frozen in Iraq due to the government’s failure to enforce a funds management law. He told Al Mada: “[The projects] have simply been stalled or suspended because of the government’s failure to enforce laws on state funds management and public debt … the freezing of these projects has led to slackening of economic growth and reduced productivity.” According to a report from Emirates 24/7, he said the absence of those laws have spawned financial and administrative malpractices, adding that loans amounting to nearly $60 billion provided by government banks to civil servants have not been paid back yet. “What we need at this stage is the enforcement of those laws, linking the budget to development plans and projects, and financially controlling all projects ,” he said. (Source: Emirates 24/7) The control of energy in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq 3 & 4 MARCH 2014 - ABU DHABI - JUMEIRAH AT ETIHAD TOWERS Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG), Turkey, Iraq: what are the probable scenarios? Which consequences for the foreign oil & gas companies? • Can the Turkey-KRG energy partnership go through? • Understanding the strategies of KRG, Iraq, Turkey, the USA and Russia • Iraq: development or disintegration? • Oil & gas companies: what risks in South Iraq and in KRG? SPEAKERS Aydin Selcen, Deputy Head of Government Affairs, Genel Energy, Former Consul General of Turkey in Erbil Francis Perrin, Editor in chief, Arab Oil & Gas, Paris Mehmet Ögütcü, Chairman, Global Resources Corporation John Roberts, Group's Energy Security Specialist, Platts Energy Group Dr Jennifer Coolidge, Executive Director, CMX Caspian and Gulf Consultants Limited Matthew Bryza, Former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Bill Park, Senior Lecturer with the Defence Studies Department, King's College, London Denise Natali, Minerva Chair, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, Washington Dr. Mitat Celikpala, Professor, Kadir Has University, Istanbul Paul Michael Wihbey, President, GWEST , Washington Fawaz Gerges, Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations, London School of Economics, Director of the Middle East Centre at LSE Stephen J. Blank, Senior fellow, American Foreign Policy Council Muhammad-Ali Zainy, Senior Energy economist, Centre for Global Energy Studies, London Toby Dodge, Reader, London School of Economics Ben Van Heuvelen, Managing Editor, Iraq Oil Report, Baghdad