The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
we [the UK]
would endorse, as it would ensure that the sector was managed in
the
510.
The briefing
also stated that the issue of corruption and transparency was
rising
up the
UK’s agenda in Iraq.
511.
At the
meeting, Dr Shahristani said the Iraqi Government’s aim was to
get the
Hydrocarbons
Law through Parliament by the end of 2006.293
He asked
Mr Wicks
whether the
UK could play a role in lobbying for a national, rather than
regional,
approach to
signing oil exploration contracts. Mr Wicks agreed to reflect
on how that
message
could best be conveyed.
512.
A junior
official in the British Embassy Baghdad reported on 21 September
that
there was
little support for the EITI within the Ministry of
Oil.294
The
official identified
a number of
possible approaches to increase support, including asking the IOCs
to
express
their support for the EITI to the Iraqi Government, as: “The Oil
Ministry cares
more about
what they [the IOCs] think than about what we think.”
513.
The work to
develop a “comprehensive programme of engagement” for the
oil
sector that
was initiated in March concluded in September with the production
of a paper
entitled,
‘Iraq: Building a Framework for Oil Sector
Development’.295
514.
The paper
stated that:
“Our [the
UK’s] starting point is that decisions on oil sector management
could
support or
fatally undermine efforts to preserve the territorial integrity and
democratic
development
of Iraq. Our key concern is therefore to preserve the integrity
and
competence
of the Iraqi state as a basis for national unity, as well as to
create
a long-term
basis for transparency and adequate investment in the
sector.”
515.
The paper
defined four principles which would guide the UK’s
approach:
•
The oil
industry should be structured to allow for managerial and
financial
autonomy of
business units, “within an environment principally regulated
at
the federal
(national) level”.
•
The
emphasis should be on creating an effective public sector national
oil
company.
Within that overall framework, and subject to decisions by the
Iraqi
Government,
private resources accessed through FDI, bonds, and
commercial
and
concessional lending were likely to be needed.
292
Briefing,
[undated], ‘Mr Wicks’s Meeting with Dr Hussain
Al-Shahristani (Iraqi Minister of Oil) and Dr Abd
Al-Sudani
(Iraqi Minister of Trade)’.
293
Record,
[undated], ‘Mr Wicks’s Meeting with Dr Hussain
Al-Shahristani (Iraqi Minister of Oil) and Dr Abd
Al-Sudani
(Iraqi Minister of Trade): Monday 24 July’.
294
Email FCO
[junior official] to FCO [junior official], 21 September 2006,
‘EITI – Update’.
295
Paper
British Embassy Baghdad, September 2006, ‘Iraq: Building a
Framework for Oil Sector
Development’.
450