Newspapers published in Baghdad today, Thursday, the second of May, followed developments in the legislation of the law on freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration, the difficulties of resuming oil exports through Turkey, and other political, security and economic issues, including the extent of the impact of wheat production on imports and the rise in flour prices.
Al-Zawraa newspaper, which is published by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, followed developments in approving the law on freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration.
In this regard, it referred to what a member of the Parliamentary Culture Committee, Rafiq Al-Salhi, said: ‘The law on freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration is on the table of the Culture, Media, Tourism and Antiquities Committee, and we have had previous meetings and there will be an operations room and investment of concerned and experienced people to mature the law and then present it to the agenda of the House of Representatives in the coming days.’
Al-
Salhi added: ‘The law has not been read at all yet, and in the coming days it will be on the agenda of the Culture and Media Committee.’
He stressed that there are no disagreements about this law, but there are paragraphs that must be amended and agreed upon and the procedures must be conducted officially, indicating: ‘This law has great importance in freedom of opinion and in solutions in light of the country’s situation, and it certainly has great positives.’
While the member of parliamentary culture denied that this law restricts freedoms, but rather that there will be paragraphs that support freedom of opinion, he pointed out that if no laws are enacted in the country that restrict and bind the government and the street, the country will become in chaos.
The MP expected the law to be approved in this legislative session.
As for Al-Sabah newspaper, which is published by the Iraqi Media Network, it followed the difficulties surrounding the process of resuming oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyh
an.
The newspaper indicated that the Parliamentary Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled this Thursday to host Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani to discuss the resumption of oil exports through Turkey.
Committee member, Bahaa Al-Din Al-Nouri, in an interview with Al-Sabah, acknowledged the difficulty of resuming oil exports through Turkey due to its demand from Iraq to extinguish the amounts due on it, in addition to the region’s demand for the central government to pay the dues of the oil companies operating in it, indicating: ‘These two things are not possible.”
He explained: ‘The committee will discuss with the minister finding alternatives to stop the resumption of oil exports since last year and the huge losses that Iraq is exposed to as a result.’
For his part, the expert in the field of oil and energy safety, Sabah Alou, supported what was said by a member of the Oil and Gas Committee regarding the difficulty of settling the issue of resuming oil exports as a result of the intertwinin
g of security, economic and political interests.
The newspaper quoted him as saying: ‘The decision of the International Court in Paris that it was illegal to export oil from the Kurdistan region via Turkey resulted in a compensatory fine for the latter in the amount of $1.5 billion for the Iraqi government and a halt to the export of the region’s oil for more than a year.’
He added: ‘Turkey is trying to evade payment through various means, and several meetings were held between the Iraqi and Turkish sides without reaching a solution,’ noting: ‘Turkish President Erdogan’s recent visit to Iraq discussed re-exporting oil after settling the differences, at a time when Region demands Baghdad to pay dues to the oil companies operating in it, in exchange for recovering customs revenues, taxes, etc.”
In another matter, Al-Zaman newspaper followed up on the impact of the large marketed quantities of wheat on imports and flour prices.
Economist Manar Al-Obaidi said, according to the newspaper: ‘By reviewing the dat
a on the quantities of wheat grown and imported from the main countries that import flour and wheat, which are Turkey, Australia, and the United States, as well as the prices of flour sold in local markets, we do not find any impact of the quantities of wheat marketed on the quantities imported or on the price of flour in local markets.’
Source: National Iraqi News Agency