http://www.zawya.com/middle-east/countries/iraqen-usCopyright 2012 Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved.Tue, 15 May 2012 09:54:00 GMT3314476http://www.zawya.com/middle-east/countries/iraqhttp://www.zawya.com/images/newsletter_zawya_logo.gifhttp://www.zawya.com/story/BMI_Iraq_Telecommunications_Report_Apr12-pdf_150512095818/BMI's Q212 Iraqi telecommunications market report provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments to occur within the country's mobile, fixed-line telephony and internet sectors. Our new forecast for the mobile market incorporates the latest subscriber data, published by the country's two largest operators, Zain Iraq and Asiacell, for Q411. Data on these two operators are published by Kuwait's Zain Group and by Qatar Telecom (for Asiacell). We have also included Q411 subscriber data for Iraq's third mobile operator Korek Telecom, in which French incumbent France Télécom has a 20% stake. This quarter sees a slight downgrade to our mobile market forecast, and an upgrade to our ARPU forecast following Asiacell's success in generating higher ARPUs. However, there is no change to our forecasts depicting how the fixed-line telephony and internet markets will develop over the next five years.Based on market data published by the operators, BMI calculates there were 24.449mn mobile subscribers in Iraq at the end of December 2011, reflecting a growth rate of 0.2% q-o-q and 5% y-o-y. This growth rate, while robust, is somewhat slower than we would normally expect from a market at the early stage of development. The first three quarters of 2011 saw average quarterly growth of 1.6%, considerably higher than growth in Q411. BMI attributes the slowdown to fewer subscribers for Korek, reported by parent company France Télécom, than previously envisaged. It is also likely that a number of inactive lines were discounted by the operators considering market leader Zain's muted subscriber growth in Q411 compared with previous quarters.BMI expects stronger growth rates as a result of network expansion investments by the operators, and an increase in competition among the operators. In the future, BMI expects competition to be the main factor driving mobile subscriber growth in Iraq. We expect the possible award of a fourth mobile licence in 2012 to boost competition iTue, 15 May 2012 09:54:00 GMTBusiness Monitor International Limited pdf_150512095818Subscriptionhttp://www.zawya.com/story/BMI_Middle_East_and_Africa_Food_and_Drink_May12-pdf_150512090206/BMI’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) ratings assess a market’s attractiveness to industry investors in comparison with its peers. The reward part of the rating takes into account market size, current consumption levels, future industry growth prospects (based on our five-year industry forecasts), market fragmentation (with greater fragmentation indicating higher opportunities) and the size of the youth population. Meanwhile, the risk part of the rating takes into account the legislative environment, the level of development of the organised retail sector (with higher development leading to lower risks), as well as relevant aspects of the economic and political environment.Tue, 15 May 2012 08:58:00 GMTBusiness Monitor International Limited pdf_150512090206Subscriptionhttp://www.zawya.com/story/BMI_Middle_East_and_Africa_Oil_and_Gas_May12-pdf_150512085021/BMI View: The oil market will once again be tight in 2012, though the pressure should ease towards the latter half of the year as production starts to catch up with demand. This supply tightness has contributed to elevated oil prices and a high level of price volatility since 2010, which we expect to see again in 2012.Tue, 15 May 2012 08:47:00 GMTBusiness Monitor International Limited pdf_150512085021Subscriptionhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iraq_122_billion_dinars_for_research_and_development_Higher_Education-ZAWYA20120515043119/Ministry of Higher Education allocated 122 billion Iraqi dinars to research and development projects.Tue, 15 May 2012 07:10:21 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120515043119Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Exchange_prices_crisis_not_burdened_by_CBI__expert-ZAWYA20120515042752/A banking expert said that the crisis in the Iraqi exchange prices is not shouldered by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) alone, but all governmental and parliamentary organs responsible for the economic dossier, calling to establish a crisis cell to implement a strategy for methodological economic plan to reform the economic system.Tue, 15 May 2012 07:07:15 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120515042752Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/No_return_to_Iraqiya_bloc_White_Bloc-ZAWYA20120515041642/White Bloc denied any intention to return to Iraqiya bloc, which separated from it last year.Tue, 15 May 2012 07:06:05 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120515041642Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iraq_signs_partnership_agreement_with_EU-ZAWYA20120515041451/Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zebari signed a partnership agreement with the European Union in Bruxelles.Tue, 15 May 2012 07:05:01 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120515041451Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/KRGs_oil_production_could_easily_reach_300000_barrels_per_day_says_minister-ZAWYA20120515062234/The Kurdistan Region's Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami revealed with confidence that the region's oil production capacity could easily reach 300,000 barrels per day (bpd).Tue, 15 May 2012 06:34:59 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120515062234Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iraq_and_Iran_form_committees_to_boost_trade-ZAWYA20120515062334/Iraq and Iran have agreed to form joint committees in the fields of air, land and sea transportation as part of efforts to boost trade relations between the two countries.Tue, 15 May 2012 06:34:00 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120515062334Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Anbar_council_chairman_sacked-ZAWYA20120515062814/Anbar Provincial Council members voted by majority yesterday to sack council chairman Maamun al-Alwani. He was fired after he failed to appear in the impeachment session set for him yesterday over corruption charges and violations, said council member Mozher al-Hassen.Tue, 15 May 2012 06:33:02 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120515062814Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iranian_Co_to_invest_in_Dalmaj_Marshes-ZAWYA20120514040318/The head of Wassit's Provincial Investment Committee said that an Iranian company expressed desire to invest Dalmaj Marshes, west of Kut.Mon, 14 May 2012 07:42:02 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120514040318Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Hopes_to_increase_trade_between_Iraq_and_Egypt-ZAWYA20120514052703/Plans are underway to boost the volume of trade exchange between Iraq and Egypt.The Iraq-Egypt Commercial Committee, made up of members from various ministries in the federal government, have announced that they will work towards finding a plan to raise the volume of trade exchange between the two countries.Mon, 14 May 2012 07:29:17 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120514052703Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Central_Bank_of_Iraqs_committee_will_pay_Warka_Bank_depositors-ZAWYA20120514052705/The Central Bank of Iraq (ICB) stated that its committee set up to study and resolve the assets of Warka Ahli Bank will pay the depositors in the bank before the owners of capital.Mon, 14 May 2012 07:28:33 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120514052705Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Air_Arabias_Taif_service_to_begin_in_June-ZAWYA20120513040451/Budget carrier Air Arabia on Saturday announced introduction of Taif service as it's seventh destination in Saudi Arabia from next month.Sun, 13 May 2012 07:20:52 GMTKhaleej Times ZAWYA20120513040451Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iraqi_amb_urges_Norwegian_companies_to_invest_in_Iraq-ZAWYA20120513040532/Iraqi Ambassador to Norway Sundus Omar Ali urged Norwegian companies to invest in Iraq, according to a foreign ministry's statement.Sun, 13 May 2012 07:19:11 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120513040532Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/CBI_wraps_up_week_with_selling_141_million-ZAWYA20120513041038/The Central Bank of Iraq's (CBI) dollar sales went down to $141,384 in the last auction in the week, compared to $232,083 million in the previous session.Sun, 13 May 2012 07:17:33 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120513041038Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iraqiya_to_declare_alliance_with_Kurds_soon_says_MP-ZAWYA20120513045842/Iraqiya List will soon declare it will join forces with the Kurdistan Blocs Coalition to counter the "unilateralist" rule, said an Iraqiya MP.Sun, 13 May 2012 06:38:50 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120513045842Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Kurdistan_Region_will_be_one_of_the_developed_areas_says_expert-ZAWYA20120513045916/The Kurdistan Region will be one of the developed areas in the future due to its rich soil and oil reserves, said a company expert. Adgar Murad from Khatib Almi company is supervising master plan projects in 10 areas and districts in the region.Sun, 13 May 2012 06:29:55 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120513045916Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iraqs_Kurds_fire_back_in_dispute_with_Iran_over_Mossad-ANA20120512T125245ZTTA41/The government of Iraq's Kurdish region fired back on Saturday over allegations by Iranian diplomats and officials that Kurdistan was playing host to Israeli intelligence.Sat, 12 May 2012 13:55:30 GMTAFP ANA20120512T125245ZTTA41Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/استراليا_تؤكد_رغبتها_للاستثمار_في_العراق_بأكثر_من_25_مليار_دولار-ZAWYA20120512093636/قالت ساكس في مؤتمر صحفي مشترك مع محافظ واسط مهدي الزبيدي في أثناء زيارتها للمحافظة إن "الحكومة الاسترالية لديها رغبة كبيرة للدخول إلى السوق العراقية بعد الاستقرار الأمني الكبير في العراق مع توفر مناخات جيدة وملائمة للاستثمار في هذا البلد الذي تربطه مع استراليا علاقات قوية ومتينة".Sat, 12 May 2012 10:41:40 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120512093636Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Syria_may_descend_into_Iraqlike_abyss_Nasrallah-ANA20120511T195606ZTRY94/Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah accused the US, Israel and some Arab states of stoking "terrorism" in Syria, during a speech broadcast to thousands of his supporters in southern Beirut.Sat, 12 May 2012 05:20:30 GMTAFP ANA20120511T195606ZTRY94Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/EU_Iraq_sign_firstever_partnership_deal-ANA20120511T141519ZTQM57/The European Union and Iraq signed their first partnership agreement Friday, opening the way to a slew of trade and energy deals as well as improved cooperation to combat terrorism.Sat, 12 May 2012 04:47:25 GMTAFP ANA20120511T141519ZTQM57Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Ambassador_Australia_invests_initially_with_USD25bn_in_Iraq-ZAWYA20120511101742/Australian Ambassador to Iraq Lindal Sax said her country has decided to begin investment in Iraq initially with USD2.5bn in agriculture sector.Fri, 11 May 2012 13:25:35 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120511101742Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iraq_to_import_250MWs_from_UAE-ZAWYA20120511101704/Iraqi Ministry of Electricity will import 250 megawatts from the United Arab Emirates in a bid to reduce the electricity shortage. Fri, 11 May 2012 13:23:01 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120511101704Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/العراق_يعتزم_تصدير_الغاز_الطبيعي_في_2017-ZAWYA20120511072120/أعلنت وزارة النفط العراقية، اليوم الأربعاء، عن عزمها تصدير الغاز الطبيعي بشكل قياسي خلال العام 2017، مشيرة الى ان المرحلة المقبلة ستشهد تركيزا على مشاريع استثمار الغاز الطبيعي.Fri, 11 May 2012 11:39:40 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120511072120Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Iraq_PM_says_Turkish_remarks_do_not_show_respect-ANA20120510T130832ZTME44/Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki criticised Turkey on Thursday for remarks he said did not show "mutual respect", in the latest bout of a weeks-long spat between the two neighbours.Thu, 10 May 2012 13:45:19 GMTAFP ANA20120510T130832ZTME44Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Fuel_worth_USD5m_stolen_monthly_from_Basra-ZAWYA20120510072500/More than USd5m (5.8bn IQD) worth of fuel is stolen each month from the amount allocated to three Turkish barges that produce power in Basra, a government investigation has revealed.Thu, 10 May 2012 09:18:48 GMTAK News ZAWYA20120510072500Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Arab_world_population_to_double_by_2050_report-ZAWYA20120510065915/The urban population of the Arab States, which already quadrupled between 1970 and 2010, will more than double by 2050, according to the United Nations Human Settlements Programe's (UN-Habitat) new report.Thu, 10 May 2012 09:15:18 GMTJordan News Agency - Petra ZAWYA20120510065915Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/SinoArab_boom_to_benefit_all_Envoy-ZAWYA20120510030454/He was speaking ahead of the departure of an Arab media team to China at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing.Thu, 10 May 2012 05:43:40 GMTArab News ZAWYA20120510030454Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/IranIraq_unity_to_build_major_power_in_region_says_Iran_VP-ZAWYA20120510044036/Iranian First Vice-President Mohamed Reza Rahimi said Iranian-Iraqi relations are strong and unbreakable, stressing the need to retain these "fraternal and cordial ties".Thu, 10 May 2012 05:37:51 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120510044036Openhttp://www.zawya.com/story/Large_military_force_arrives_in_Kirkuk_for_cabinet_meeting-ZAWYA20120510044141/A large military force arrived in Kirkuk on Monday as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is expected to convene a cabinet session in the province on Tuesday, a security source in Kirkuk said.Thu, 10 May 2012 05:36:16 GMTAswat Aliraq ZAWYA20120510044141Open