including this one...........or Iraq?
AFP
Published: Monday February 26, 2007
Iraq's cabinet approved Monday a draft law on oil revenues -- a key plank in moves to reunite the war-torn country -- and will submit it to parliament for approval, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said.
The law aims to distribute revenues from crude oil exports equitably across 18 provinces and open the sector to foreign investors. It has been a subject of fierce debate among leaders from Iraq's bitterly divided factions.
"This law has been based on our national interest. It will encourage the bringing together of all component parts of the Iraqi people," Maliki told a news conference.
"This law is a gift to all the Iraqi people," he added.
Iraq has the third largest proven shares of crude reserves in the world, and oil exports are its single most important source of revenue, despite frequent insurgent attacks on oil facilities.
Since the US invasion of March 2003, which overthrew Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, divisions between Iraq's communities of Shiite Arabs, Sunni Arabs and Kurds have erupted into open hostility and sectarian bloodshed.
Most current oil production is in the Shiite south, and the best prospects for future discoveries in the Kurdish north -- while the northern oil city of Kirkuk is disputed between Kurdish and Arab leaders.
US officials have repeatedly urged the Iraqis to adopt a consensus law on sharing revenues and on international investment in order to head off future conflict and allow the oil sector to develop.
Parliament is due to meet in the coming weeks and can be expected to approve the bill quickly, as all parties have been involved in drafting it.
"This law is one of the most important achievements in Iraq since the voting of the constitution," said planning minister Ali Baban.
"There was clear participation of all political movements in this law, which will boost national unity. This law will create a single oil revenue stream for all Iraqis," he said.
Baban added that foreign oil majors had been waiting for such a law to be passed before deciding on investing in Iraq's oil industry, which badly needs foreign direct investment after three decades of war and economic sanctions.
...and the truth shall set us free
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