Page 6 - Al-Rashed Newsletter Jan 19

IRAQ MUSINGS
IRAQ NEWS

Jordan moves to restore strategic ties with Iraq
Jordan’s King Abdullah’s one-day visit to Baghdad on Jan. 14 was hailed as
“historic” by Iraqi President Barham Saleh.
During the visit, the two leaders “stressed the importance of bilateral agreements in
the economic, trade, investment, energy, transport and construction sectors.
Until the US invasion in 2003, Iraq was Jordan’s main regional trading partner.
Under former leader Saddam Hussein, Jordan was given a special status as it relied
on cheap Iraqi oil. Iraq, on the other hand, became dependent on Jordan’s port of
Aqaba for its essential imports as it suffered from UN sanctions imposed in
1990 following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, which were lifted in 2010.
Last year’s figures show that exports to Iraq were only 5.8% of Jordan’s total
exports. Before the closure of land borders in 2015, when Islamic State militants
took over the main highway linking Baghdad to Amman in Anbar province, Jordan’s
exports exceeded $1 billion annually. The borders were reopened in August 2017,
but the Iraqi government put stern conditions on Jordanian goods going to Iraq.

Iraq’s southern oil exports hold near record in January
Oil exports from southern Iraq are holding close to a record high so far in 2019,
according to shipping data and an industry source, which could raise questions over
whether OPEC’s second-largest producer is following through on a deal to cut
output. That’s close to December’s 3.63 million bpd — a monthly record.

‘Sandoog – solving Iraq’s logistics nightmare by digital innovation’
Sandoog, is aiming to solve local logistical issues using an e-logistics solution that
allows merchants to send, track and manage their deliveries, invoices and customer
base anywhere in Iraq. This is all done through systems and processes that they are
developing themselves as a management team. Since starting in late 2017, they
have developed a merchant application, the ‘Sandoog Center’, a driver dispatch
application ‘Sandoog Mandoob’, an internal CRM system ‘Sandoog Spider’ and
finally a commercial application for express delivery, which has yet to launch onto
the market. They also provide storage and inventory management services for
efficient transactions and delivery on behalf of merchants.

Source: Rudaw.net, www.al-monitor.com, www.iraqbritainbusiness.org

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