Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
by recent statements I will review my stance on the visit,"
said Barzani, whose party controls 50 percent of Iraq's
northern Kurdish zone stretching to the border with
Turkey.
Following Barzani's claims of a policy shift after talks with
the Turkish delegation, Turkey's prime minister and
foreign minister both denied a change in their country's
long-held opposition to autonomy for Kurds in northern
Iraq.
Turkish leaders fear autonomy for Iraq's five million Kurds
would provoke similar demands from Turkey's own 10-
million Kurdish minority. Barzani said the issue should not
be determined by Turkey.
"It is not for Turkey or any other country to decide the
future of Iraq, or the future arrangement that the Kurdish
people want to have with the rest of Iraq in a federal
structure," Barzani said.
"It's for the Kurdish people inside Iraq to decide. We will
not tolerate any intervention from Turkey or anyone else,"
Barzani added. No Israeli-run camps
Relations between Turkey and Iraq's Kurds have
improved in recent months as the stability of Iraq's
Kurdish zone provides a stark contrast to the violent
insecurity in the rest of Iraq.
But Turkey remains wary of signs of growing Kurdish
strength to the south; there were warnings from Ankara
over recent reports of military cooperation between Israel
and Iraqi Kurds, a development strongly denied by
Barzani.
"There is no truth or reality in these reports, there is no
such presence," Barzani said of claims that Israeli agents
were helping to train Kurdish commandos at camps in
northern Iraq. He said there was "no official relationship"
between Iraqi Kurds and Israel.
Kurdistan: Iraq's Silicon Valley?
KurdishMedia.com
By Karen Dabrowska
30June 2004
The Kurdish area is to Iraq what Silicon Valley is to the
USA, Jonathan Thompson, Director of Communications &
Public Affairs in the Coalition Provisional Authority's
Programme Management Office told a recent London
forum.
"Oil is just the tip of the ice berg. Iraq would still be the
most powerful economic engine in the Middle East for the
next five generations even if there was no oil the people
have a drive second to none. They are not waiting for
handouts. They are doing business in every town and
village", Thompson said.
He tried to woo potential investors who attended the
Kurdistan trade forum with construction contracts in the
area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG): in Dohuk contracts worth $344m for 37projects, in
Erbil contracts worth $398m for 54 projects and in
Suleimaniya contracts worth $439m for 40 projects.
Thompson admitted that Iraq was still a dangerous place.
"I was shot at driving to the airport. People are trying to
stop progress but you can't put the genie back into the
bottle".
The Kurdistan Trade Forum was organised by the
Kurdistan Development Corporation (KDC) and the
Department of Trade and Industry's UK Trade &
Investment's trade services. The KDC is a public-private
partnership with offices in London and Erbil which
promotes collaborative ventures and acts as a consultant
for companies wishing to do business in Iraqi Kurdistan
the gateway to Iraq as a whole.
In his keynote address, Nechirvan Barzani the Prime
Minister oUhe Kurdistan Regional Government assured
the forum that the Iraqi Kurdistan region is open for
business.
"Since the regime of Saddam Hussein fell on April9 , 2003
business activities in this area of Iraq have been growing
at a phenomenal rate. Kurdistan is stable, secure and
peaceful. Since the start of the war in March 2003 not a
single coalition soldier has died in the territory
administered by the KRG. We have developed two 24
hour-hour satellite television stations, dozens of local
radio and TV stations, scores of newspapers, magazines
and other publications. The people of Kurdistan have
been connected to the wider world through the internet for
several years and internet cafes are everywhere in
Kurdistan long before other Iraqis were given similar
opportunities. The KRG is prepared to work with investors
who are serious about doing business in the region.
Depending on the size of the planned investment and the
benefits expected to the region and its people, the
government is prepared to expedite land allocations and
assist in providing public services such as water,
electricity or roads".
Mike O'Brien, Minister of State for Trade & Investment,
UK pointed out that Iraqis will become major trading
partners in the international economy. "When you look at
the tv in the evening and see appalling images remember
that Iraq is a large country and what is happening in one
part is not happening in another. You will find working in
the Kurdistan region a rich and rewarding experience".
Some25 % of the oil and up t050 % of gas is located in
the north of Iraq some in the areas under the control of
the KRG, but there has been no comprehensive
exploration in the Kurdistan region for decades. The.
potential capacity of the Kirkuk pipeline is1 .6m bId.
Dr Ashti Abdullah, Chairman & CEOof Exploration
Consultants Ud told the forum that Iraq does not have an
energy policy. Only production sharing contracts will bring
investment to the country and after 120 years the oil will
run out.
Dr Zeki Fattah, the KRG's advisor on Economic Affairs
rejected public-private partnerships. "They take the public
sector with its inefficiencies and link it to the private sector
with its deficiencies". He advocated a new role for the
government in Iraqi Kurdistan as a manager and policy
formulator which supports the development of the private
sector so it can run the economy until it reaches the stage
where it links with the global economy.
Dr Fattah identified numerous business and investment
opportunities in the Kurdish region: increased dairy
production to serve the Iraqi and Middle Eastern market,
transport, storage and cooling facilities, upgrading
schools and houses, the manufacturing of building
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