Thursday, October 04, 2007
Poland to keep troops in Iraq despite attack on envoy
Security
(Gulf News) - Poland's ambassador to Iraq was wounded in a triple bomb attack on his diplomatic convoy in central Baghdad yesterday, which killed a Polish bodyguard and an Iraqi passer-by, officials said. A determined Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said following the attack that Poland would not withdraw the 900 troops it has stationed southwest of Baghdad. Iraqi police initially said one passer-by was killed in the blasts and five people were wounded, including three embassy officials. A Polish Interior Ministry spokesman later said a Polish bodyguard died in hospital. "Our ambassador, General Edward Pietrzyk scrambled out [of the wreckage] on his own," a Polish statement said.
The attack came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said amid mounting anger yesterday that Blackwater should leave the country because of the mountain of evidence against the under-fire US security firm. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on legislation that could see US contractors who commit felonies in Iraq and Afghanistan being prosecuted in US federal courts, a human rights activist said yesterday.
The attack came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said amid mounting anger yesterday that Blackwater should leave the country because of the mountain of evidence against the under-fire US security firm. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on legislation that could see US contractors who commit felonies in Iraq and Afghanistan being prosecuted in US federal courts, a human rights activist said yesterday.
Labels: bomb attack, General Edward Pietrzyk, Iraq, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Polish arms manufacturer pursues $25 mn. Iraqi training contract
Contracts
(Financial Times) - Poland’s Bumar arms manufacturer is scrambling aboard the latest trend in the industry, branching out from supplying bullets and tanks to getting involved in services – in this case training Iraqi special forces troops in Poland. The company is also confident of winning a contract to send Polish teams to Iraq to train Iraqi soldiers in the use of Bumar’s Dzik armoured vehicles, says Waldemar Skowron, the company’s acting chief executive.
Slawomir Kulakowski, head of the Polish Chamber of Armaments Producers, says Bumar is following the example of other prominent military services companies such as Blackwater of the US. This should be an area of growing importance for Bumar. The $25m Iraqi service contract is part of a larger series of deals to supply the beleaguered Baghdad government with as much as $400m of equipment, says Mr Skowron.
“Iraq needs weapons quickly. Once the government decides it wants something, it wants it right away,” says Mr Skowron, who was in Iraq with Mr Szczyglo earlier this year. Bumar has already sold about $400m worth of weapons and equipment to Iraq under a series of contracts signed in 2003. The Polish commercial effort in Iraq will be helped by the appointment of a new ambassador to Baghdad, retired general Edward Pietrzyk. Warsaw has been disappointed with Iraqi contracts, a sore point because Poland was one of only four countries to take part in the initial invasion in 2003, and continues to maintain a military presence there despite widespread opposition in Poland.
“We feel we have more right to do business in Iraq than countries not in the coalition, but we realise we still have to win these contracts,” says Mr Skowron. Last year the government-owned holding company reported sales of 2.5bn zlotys ($880m), and earned a profit of 8m zlotys. Its sales are a sharp increase from the early years following the collapse of communism, when most export markets dried up and Bumar was forced to rely on sales to the Polish military.
Labels: Bumar, Dzik armored vehicles, Edward Pietrzyk, Iraqi special forces, Poland, training
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Polish Prime Minister visits Iraq
Politics
(AP) - Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Wednesday and met with top Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Kaczynski, whose country has 900 soldiers in Iraq, traveled to the Green Zone, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Robert Szaniawski in Warsaw. The heavily fortified area on the banks of the Tigris River in central Baghdad is where Iraq's government meets and the U.S. and British embassies are located.
During his meeting with Kaczynski, al-Maliki said his country is interested in boosting its relations with Poland, al-Maliki's office said. Al-Maliki considered the visit an attempt to "enhance the cooperation between the countries," the statement said. Warsaw contributed ground troops to the U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003, and has since led an international force south of Baghdad. Twenty Polish soldiers have been killed in Iraq.
President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and Romanian President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu have all visited Iraq.
During his meeting with Kaczynski, al-Maliki said his country is interested in boosting its relations with Poland, al-Maliki's office said. Al-Maliki considered the visit an attempt to "enhance the cooperation between the countries," the statement said. Warsaw contributed ground troops to the U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003, and has since led an international force south of Baghdad. Twenty Polish soldiers have been killed in Iraq.
President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and Romanian President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu have all visited Iraq.
Labels: Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Nouri Al-Maliki, Poland
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Iraq wins some debt relief at Sharm el-Sheikh
Conference
(Reuters) - Iraq won a trickle of debt relief pledges at a big international conference in Egypt on Thursday and the United States prepared for the highest-level contact with Syria in more than two years. Egypt and three East European countries agreed to waive debts owed by Iraq as part of an International Compact to support Iraqi institutions in exchange for political and economic reforms by the Baghdad government.
The first day of the two-day conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is dedicated to the International Compact, a five-year plan to restore stability and economic prosperity through national reconciliation. But much of the attention is on whether the United States will abandon its longstanding reluctance to hold high-level talks with the Iranian and Syrian governments, as recommended by the Baker-Hamilton commission on Iraq last year.
In his opening speech to the two days of meetings in Egypt, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appealed for debt relief. "We call on everybody participating in this conference to write off the accumulated debts of Iraq," he said. Iraq sits on the world's third-largest proven crude oil reserves but is struggling to rebuild after four years of war.
Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabor said the three Eastern European countries -- Slovenia, Bulgaria and Poland -- would agree to forgive 80 percent of Iraqi debt but did not say how much that would be. He said the European Union would grant Iraq $200 million, and he expected grants from some Asian countries as well. But James Dobbins, an analysts at the RAND Corporation, said debt relief was of secondary importance because the Iraqis are not paying off the money they owed anyway.
"It is a purely paper transaction. It's symbolic but it doesn't have any immediate effect," he said. Jabor said that Iraq had rejected as unacceptable an offer from Russia to forgive the debt it is owed by Baghdad in return for access to a major Iraqi oilfield. "The Russians are hesitant. They want investment in the Rumaila oilfield in return for eliminating the debt," he said. When Saudi Arabia announced last month that it was writing off 80 percent of the more than $15 billion it was owed by Iraq, Jabor estimated his country's debt at $140 billion.
The first day of the two-day conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is dedicated to the International Compact, a five-year plan to restore stability and economic prosperity through national reconciliation. But much of the attention is on whether the United States will abandon its longstanding reluctance to hold high-level talks with the Iranian and Syrian governments, as recommended by the Baker-Hamilton commission on Iraq last year.
In his opening speech to the two days of meetings in Egypt, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appealed for debt relief. "We call on everybody participating in this conference to write off the accumulated debts of Iraq," he said. Iraq sits on the world's third-largest proven crude oil reserves but is struggling to rebuild after four years of war.
Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabor said the three Eastern European countries -- Slovenia, Bulgaria and Poland -- would agree to forgive 80 percent of Iraqi debt but did not say how much that would be. He said the European Union would grant Iraq $200 million, and he expected grants from some Asian countries as well. But James Dobbins, an analysts at the RAND Corporation, said debt relief was of secondary importance because the Iraqis are not paying off the money they owed anyway.
"It is a purely paper transaction. It's symbolic but it doesn't have any immediate effect," he said. Jabor said that Iraq had rejected as unacceptable an offer from Russia to forgive the debt it is owed by Baghdad in return for access to a major Iraqi oilfield. "The Russians are hesitant. They want investment in the Rumaila oilfield in return for eliminating the debt," he said. When Saudi Arabia announced last month that it was writing off 80 percent of the more than $15 billion it was owed by Iraq, Jabor estimated his country's debt at $140 billion.
Labels: Bayan Jabor, Bulgaria, debt relief, Egypt, International Compact with Iraq, Poland, Rumaila field, Russia, Sharm al-Sheikh Conference, Slovenia
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Poland to build rail terminals in Kurdistan
Kurdistan, Business
(KTV) Companies from Poland and the Netherlands are currently on a visit to Kurdistan to examine various key projects including rail links and oil refineries. Representatives of the companies met with Osman Shwani, KRG Planning Minister, to negotiate the projects. At the meeting Osman Shwani pointed out that the Kurdistan Region's Investment Law made it easier for companies to set up subsidiaries here, adding that the security and stability in the region helps encourage foreign companies to come and invest in Kurdistan.
The KRG Planning Minister urged the Polish and Dutch companies to explore all potential areas of investment and said that they would receive the ministry’s full support. The two companies said they hoped that the people of Kurdistan would be able to benefit from the proposed projects. Representatives of Bumar, a Polish company, met with Said Sofi, KRG Transport Minister. The company has come to Kurdistan to take part in the construction of various transport projects, including a tram system for Hawler and rail terminals in the cities of Hawler, Sulaymaniya and Dehuk.
Labels: Bumar, KRG, Kurdistan, Netherlands, oil refineries, Osman Shwani, Poland, rail links
