Page 7 - Al-Rashed Newsletter May 19

IRAQ MUSINGS
IRAQ NEWS

Iraq plans to recover thousands of artefacts from the United States
The Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities announced its
intention to recover thousands of antiquities from the United States,
Anadolu news agency reported.
The ministry quoted in a statement the Minister of Culture, Tourism, and
Antiquities, Abdul Amir Al-Hamdani as saying that he intends to visit
Washington “to recover 5,500 artefacts from the Hobby Lobby company
and 10,000 clay figurines from Cornell University as well as artefacts from
the University of Pennsylvania”.
Al-Hamdani pointed out that a memorandum of understanding has been
signed with the Kuwaiti Minister of Information for the recovery of Iraqi
cultural properties, adding that negotiations continue on several projects,
including the holding of an Iraqi Cultural Week in October.

Iraq faces a tough challenge in developing its potential
In many ways Iraq is a success story. The Islamic State, which until last
year controlled large parts of the north and west of the country, has been
defeated. The security situation across Iraq is probably better than at any
time in the past three decades. After the independence referendum was
ignored in 2017, a working relationship between the government in
Baghdad and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan has been re-
established.
The success extends to the oil industry. Production is up to 5m barrels a
day, according to the International Energy Agency, and Iraq is once again
one of the world’s leading producers.
Iraq has not, for example, been able to manage the natural gas that it
LIFE IS 10% WHAT produces and which needs to be captured and utilised. Every day, 16bn
cubic metres (bcm) is being flared,
HAPPENS TO YOU
Water is in short supply and this could limit production from a number of
AND 90% HOW YOU existing oilfields, including Rumaila and Majnoon.Unemployment is already

REACT TO IT. dangerously high given that the population is rising by more than 1m a year;
40 per cent of Iraq’s 38m citizens are under 14.
The basic problem is the continued dependence on oil revenue, which
accounts for 99 per cent of export earnings, 90 per cent of government
revenue and 60 per cent of gross domestic product.
Iraq is a country of great potential. Adding another million barrels a day to
oil production could make it the world’s fourth-largest producer within the
next decade. The undeveloped resource base is enormous and could be
developed at low cost. The basic infrastructure is in place. The level of local
skills is high, even if too many talented people have left the country during
the successive conflicts of the past 30 years.

Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com, www.ft.com