TNT – “Tidbits From TNT” Tuesday Morning 1-9-2024

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Information/Baghdad

A member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Karim Al-Muhammadawi, called on Tuesday for popular action, exerting pressure and targeting US forces in order to ensure their expulsion from Iraq, in response to the repeated crimes committed by these forces against the Iraqi people.

 Al-Muhammadawi said in a statement to Al-Maalouma that “the continuation of the US presence inside Iraq needs to take all measures to ensure the removal of these forces, through popular and parliamentary pressure and government decision.”

He added, “All US military bases must be bombed and be in the crossfire of the Iraqi people, in response to the American disregard for the lives of Iraqis and the continuation of the series of crimes committed by these forces against the people, national symbols and security services.”

He pointed out that “the bombing of bases and the exertion of pressure on US forces must be reinforced by massive demonstrations throughout Iraq, to expel these forces and ensure that they do not return to the country again.” 

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Tishwash:  Electronic payment cards… 600 million dinars sold during December

The Director General of the Petroleum Products Distribution Company, Hussein Talib, announced today, Tuesday, that the demand for electronic payment cards has increased by more than 200%, while he expects sales in January to exceed 600 million Iraqi dinars.

Hussein Talib, Director General of the Petroleum Products Distribution Company, told Rudaw Media Network that the demand for refueling via electronic payment systems has increased by more than 200%, and thus the percentage of sales in this regard has increased at gas stations, in various Iraqi governorates.

Hussein Talib explained that “last December, fuel was sold at various stations worth 400 million Iraqi dinars, which indicates an increase in supply through electronic payment systems,” expecting that “sales this month (January) will exceed 600 million Iraqi dinars.” “.

The Petroleum Products Distribution Company, affiliated with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, previously announced that electronic payment systems will be adopted at all gas stations starting from the beginning of the year 2024.

The Petroleum Products Distribution Company stated, in a statement, on Wednesday (November 22, 2023), that “based on the directives of the Council of Ministers in its session No. 23620 of 2023, held on 10/31/2023, related to activating the electronic payment service, adopting modern automation systems, and terminating transactions.” cash,

Accordingly, and in line with government directives, the Ministry of Oil decided that the Petroleum Products Distribution Company would adopt electronic payment systems at all stations.”

The company called on citizens to cooperate with it by adopting modern mechanisms and means in the distribution sector to serve the public interest, through the acquisition of approved electronic payment cards so that everyone can refuel according to the new mechanisms, and benefit from the services provided in the distribution sector.  link

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Tishwash:  A dialogue session discussing “electronic payment and its role in the economic future”…these are its details

The Electronic Payment Culture Platform in Iraq organized a dialogue session regarding electronic payment in the presence of many government and parliamentary figures.
 
The session, which was chaired by Ali Al-Hilli – Marketing Director at Miswak Company, and speakers, witnessed the presence of Sabah Al-Baghdadi: Vice President of the Iraq Traders Association,
Representative Hussein Arab, Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Labor and Non-Governmental Organizations Committee.

Adnan Asaad: Director General of the Information Technology and Payments Department at the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Tariq: Executive Director of the Iraqi Private Banks League IPBL. Ahmed Kazem: Executive Director of Investments at the International Smart Card Company (QiKi).

The dialogue session, which was entitled “Electronic Payment and its Role in Shaping the Economic Future,” addressed the vision of the various sectors regarding electronic payment, where the point of view of Iraqi merchants was presented by Sabah Al-Baghdadi and the most important obstacles they face regarding the use of electronic payment tools, especially the aspect of not standardizing commissions. And the fees are in addition to the challenges that merchants faced during the previous period when using cards outside Iraq and stopping them without prior notice, stressing the need to ensure the stability of the work of electronic payment tools so that they are a safe and stable means for adoption by the merchant segment. Al-Baghdadi also addressed the obstacles of merchants with regard to tracking external transfers, which is considered Its delay and the lack of clarity of the reasons for this are a reason for the merchant segment to be exposed to embarrassment, calling on the Central Bank of Iraq to work to establish mechanisms and direct banks to enable the merchant to track his foreign transfers similar to the developed countries, regional and global.

The dialogue moved to Representative Hussein Arab, Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Work and Non-Governmental Organizations Committee, “for the purpose of discussing legislation and laws supporting electronic payment, the role of the Iraqi Council of Representatives in issuing legislation to regulate electronic payment and protect the users of these tools, and the importance of the private sector in general and the banking sector and financial institutions in particular in the success of this.” “The important project for the country to leave cash payment.”

Adnan Asaad, Director General of the Information Technology and Payments Department at the Central Bank of Iraq, explained, “The importance of the transformation taking place in electronic payment, describing the year 2023 as the year of the great launch in the field of electronic payment, and that the Iraqi government, represented by the Iraqi Prime Minister – Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, is very interested in achieving the best achievements in The field of electronic payment, and that follow-up is continuing by parliamentary and governmental bodies to activate electronic payment in Iraq.”

Adnan Asaad expressed his great optimism in the year 2024, as it will be the year of achieving great achievements in the field of electronic payment, stressing that the crisis that passed through the country in mid-2023, specifically the bad use of cards and electronic payment tools, had left a negative impact, but thanks to the measures that were taken in cooperation with… International financial institutions have addressed many problems and the electronic payment system has stabilized, indicating that the public should know the importance of opening bank accounts and using cards linked to bank accounts more since prepaid cards are intended for limited operations and this is the practice globally, and this was an answer to an inquiry about The issue of restricting the ceilings of prepaid cards, which occurred on the first of December of the previous year.”

Ali Al-Hilli continued the dialogue with Ali Tariq, Executive Director of the Iraqi Private Banks Association, “about the role of the private sector, especially private banks and financial institutions, to support the governmental and legislative approach to spreading electronic payment,” where Ali Tariq emphasized “the great role of financial institutions in this aspect and the role of the Association in supporting financial institutions.” To achieve the goals of spreading the culture of electronic payment, Mr. Ali Tariq stressed the importance of spreading the culture of electronic payment, due to its positive repercussions on the economy. He pointed out that electronic payment indicators are growing well, and there is a high response from the public in using bank cards, but we need greater interaction from Before retailers use POS.

He noted that “the government, the central bank, banks, and electronic payment companies have worked over the past period to develop the infrastructure of the electronic payment sector.”

The dialogue session concluded with a talk by Ahmed Kazim, Executive Director of Investments at the International Smart Card Company (Ki), about “the importance of electronic payment and the role of electronic payment companies in promoting this culture and the importance of keeping up with developments in this field to provide high-level services to the public and encourage them to use electronic payment tools,” stressing that the company (Ki) has taken the decision to transfer investment in advertising into loyalty programs and discounts offered to the public and merchants for the purpose of encouraging the digital transformation of payments.”    link

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