Iraq, Kuwait Sign Strategic Partnership to Build Telecom Corridor to Europe

Iraq and Kuwait signed a strategic partnership contract to establish a telecommunications corridor. (Iraqi News Agency)
Iraq and Kuwait signed a strategic partnership contract to establish a telecommunications corridor. (Iraqi News Agency)
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Iraq, Kuwait Sign Strategic Partnership to Build Telecom Corridor to Europe

Iraq and Kuwait signed a strategic partnership contract to establish a telecommunications corridor. (Iraqi News Agency)
Iraq and Kuwait signed a strategic partnership contract to establish a telecommunications corridor. (Iraqi News Agency)

Iraq and Kuwait signed a strategic partnership contract to establish a telecommunications corridor that links the Gulf to Europe.

The new partnership aims to strengthen Iraq’s strategic position in the region, the Iraqi Ministry of Communications said, noting that the ministry’s General Company for Communications and Informatics signed a strategic contract for the establishment of an international telecommunications corridor to Europe via Iraq passing through Turkiye, through temporary transit with the Kuwaiti Al-Zajil Telecom.

Iraqi Minister of Communications Hiyam Al-Yasiri said that the agreement “comes to strengthen Iraq’s strategic position in the region, and to maximize financial revenues, in implementation of the government program and the general federal budget law.”

She added that the agreement was the first of a number of contracts and projects for submarine and transit cables, aimed at establishing communication movement from the Gulf countries to South and West Asia up to the European continent, via Iraqi sea and land ports, passing through Turkiye.

Al-Yasiri continued: “This plan and other similar projects that are currently underway will make Iraq a safe land corridor that competes with the only international sea route in the region that passes through the Suez Canal.”

She also indicated that the ministry will sign other similar contracts, including an agreement with Saudi Arabia to set up a third submarine cable to Iraq in the Al-Faw region (located in the south of the country), pointing to initial approvals to connect the UAE to Al-Faw, as well as other agreements with Oman and Bahrain



Report: EU to Vote on Oct 4 to Finalize Tariffs for China-made EVs

A Leapmotor electric vehicle is put though a rain test on the production line at the Leapmotor factory in Jinhua, China's eastern Zhejiang province on September 18, 2024. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)
A Leapmotor electric vehicle is put though a rain test on the production line at the Leapmotor factory in Jinhua, China's eastern Zhejiang province on September 18, 2024. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)
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Report: EU to Vote on Oct 4 to Finalize Tariffs for China-made EVs

A Leapmotor electric vehicle is put though a rain test on the production line at the Leapmotor factory in Jinhua, China's eastern Zhejiang province on September 18, 2024. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)
A Leapmotor electric vehicle is put though a rain test on the production line at the Leapmotor factory in Jinhua, China's eastern Zhejiang province on September 18, 2024. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)

The European Union is planning to vote on whether to introduce tariffs as high as 45% on imported electric vehicles made in China on Oct. 4, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Member states have received a draft of the regulation for the proposed measures, the report said, adding that the new date could still change.
According to the report, the vote among the bloc's member states was slightly delayed amid last-minute negotiations with Beijing to try to find a resolution that would avoid the new levies.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The European Commission is on the verge of proposing final tariffs of up to 35.3% on EVs built in China, on top of the EU's standard 10% car import duty.
The proposed final duties will be subject to a vote by the EU's 27 members. They will be implemented by the end of October unless a qualified majority of 15 EU members representing 65% of the EU population votes against the levies.