The Council of Ministers Holds the 4th Regular Session Chaired by Prime Minister Mr. Mohammed S. Al-Sudani

Baghdad-INA   
A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Media Office, received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), said, Prime Minister, Mr. Mohammed S. Al-Sudani, chaired today the fourth regular session of the Council of Ministers. During the session, the Council of Ministers discussed the country's general situation, the most prominent issues, and the items on the agenda and issued several decisions.
 
During the session, Mr. Al-Sudani directed to present letters of thanks and appreciation to the employees that contributed to organizing the 25th Gulf Cup Championship in Basra.
 
Al-Sudani also ordered to support the efforts of the Ministry of Communications and its plan to improve Internet service and reduce its prices.
 
During its session, the Council of Ministers continued discussing the issue of hiring contracted workers in state institutions and agreed that the Ministry of Finance should create job positions in the federal budget of departments and institutions, according to the details shown in the letter of the Ministry of Finance, to confirm the hiring of contracted workers before October 2, 2019.
 
Following the orders of the Prime Minister regarding rewarding the national football team that won the 25th Gulf Cup Championship in Basra, the Council of Ministers approved the following:
 
1- Rewarding the players of the national football team, the administrative and training staff, members of the delegation, and referees (Iraqis only), with a free residential plot of 200 square meters in the capital, Baghdad, after achieving an outstanding sporting achievement for Iraq and winning the 25th Gulf Cup Championship that was held in Basra Governorate, and adding the president of the Iraqi Football Association.
2- Granting those mentioned in Paragraph (1) above a diplomatic passport.
 
The Council of Ministers agreed to grant an amount of 10 million dinars to the families of the individuals that died in the stampede incident during the final match of the 25th Gulf Cup Championship and a traffic accident on the Dhi Qar-Basra road.
 
The Council of Ministers reviewed the reality of the state companies affiliated with the Ministry of Construction, Housing, and Public Municipalities and discussed the losses over the past years. The council approved the following:
 
First / Merge the companies affiliated with the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Public Municipalities listed below to become as follows:
 
1- Merging Al-Mansour State Company for Construction Contracting with Al-Faw General Engineering Company, to be Al-Faw General Engineering Company.
2- Merging the Al-Rasheed General Company for Construction Contracting with the Ashur General Company for Construction Contracting t be the Ashur General Company for Construction Contracting.
3- Merging Al-Moatasem General Company for Construction Contracting with Hammurabi General Company for Construction Contracting to be the Hammurabi General Company for Construction Contracting.
4- Merging Al-Farouq General Company for Construction Contracting with Saad General Company to be Saad General Company for Construction Contracting and Engineering Consulting.
 
Second: All assets, financial obligations, and movable and immovable property of the merged companies shall be transferred to the new company.
 
Third: The aforementioned ministry to complete the legal procedures (issuing the incorporation certificate, the incorporation statement, and the internal regulations of the merged companies) and other procedures.
 
The Council of Ministers discussed the recommendations related to the customs tariff and its importance in providing financial revenues for the state treasury and its role in regulating import and export, as the Council of Ministers agreed to endorse these recommendations, re-implement the Council of Ministers Resolution (186 of 2018), and amend some of its paragraphs as follows:
 
1- A 20-foot container, 2 million dinars.
2- A 40-foot container, 4 million dinars.
3- Cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, gold, mobile phones, cars, Flavored Hookah Tobacco, cosmetics, perfumes, and goods covered by the Iraqi Products Protection Law No. (11 of 2010) are exempted from the above.
4- Insurances of 500,000 dinars must be submitted for a non-authenticated certificate of origin and purchase invoice.
5- Shipments of less than a container will be charged according to the percentages of the customs tariff in the paragraphs below.
6 The customs tariff shall be at the rate of (a quarter) as follows:
A 20-foot container, 500,000 dinars flat.
A 40-foot container, 1 million dinars flat.
The customs tariff for the rest of the materials is (6.5%), except medicines, which are (0.5%), and foodstuffs (1%).
7- The importer may choose the method of calculating the tax either by container or by percentages.
8- It is strictly forbidden for security checkpoints on all roads to interfere in customs matters.
9- The General Authority of Iraqi Customs must verify and review by fixed and mobile checkpoints the aforementioned for goods entering from all ports of Iraq and the amount of the tariff imposed, and it is authorized to collect the difference in customs duties otherwise.
10- The General Authority of Iraqi Customs, in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, to submit a proposal to unify the customs fee for each of (gold, cosmetics, perfumes, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, hookah tobacco, and cars) with the fees collected at the ports of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and the proposal to be presented to the Council of Ministers to take the appropriate decision in this regard.
11- Importers are not required to produce import licenses for the imported goods throughout the period of the decision’s validity.
12- The Ministerial Council of Economy to review the outcomes of implementing the decision after a period of (6) months from the date of its issuance.
13- The paragraphs mentioned in this decision shall be applied until the Council of Ministers decides on the proposal mentioned in the previous sections.
14- Council of Ministers Resolution No. (23025) for the year 2023 is repealed.
15- This decision will be executed as of February 1, 2023.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Council of Ministers Holds the 4th Regular Session Chaired by Prime Minister Mr. Mohammed S. Al-Sudani
 
 
Regarding to support the Border Guard forces in constructing border crossings points on the border road, the Council of Ministers approved the following:
 
1- The Ministry of Finance provided funding of one billion dinars to the Ministry of Interior, according to the Council of Ministers Resolution (15 of 2022) procedures to the Border Guard Forces Command to establish border crossing points on the border road.
 
2- The Ministry of Oil to donate (850) used pipes to the Ministry of Interior to complete the aforementioned border crossing points.
 
The Council of Ministers discussed other issues on its agenda and issued the following decisions:
 
First/ Approval of authorizing the Minister of Industry and Minerals to negotiate and sign a grant to fund the Research and Medical Care Center at the University of Mosul (MRCC), in favor of the Ministries of Health, Higher Education, and Scientific Research, in the amount of (10,000,000) euros, only ten million euros, provided by the French Development Agency. (AFD), based on Article (6) of the Emergency Support for Food Security and Development Law (2 of 2022), as requested by the Ministry of Finance.
 
Second / Approval of a bill for ratifying the investment promotion and protection agreement between the government of the Republic of Iraq and the government of the United Arab Emirates signed in Abu Dhabi on October 18, 2021, and referring it to the Council of Representatives based on the provisions of the constitution.
 
Third / Approval of the following:
Waiving the fees for issuing the license plate numbers for (30) ambulance vehicles, the manufacture year 2022, which is 60,000,000 dinars, donated by the People’s Republic of China to the Ministry of Migration and Displacement allocated to camps for internally displaced individuals.
 
 
 
Fourth / Waiving the fees for issuing the license plate numbers for (124) vehicles imported for the Shiite Endowment Office / Imam Hussein Holy Shrine.
 
Fifth /Canceling Paragraph (2) of Council of Ministers Resolution (219 of 2021) and ending the assignment of Mr. Mustafa Ghaleb Makhaif as the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq. Media Office of the Prime Minister.