Tag: iraq industry & trade news

IBBC’s Two-Day Conference Success: ‘Building a Sustainable Future for Iraq’ | Iraq Business News

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From the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC):

IBBC’s two-day conference success ‘Building a sustainable future for Iraq’.

IBBC held an expanded two- day conference in Dubai to coincide with Cop 28 to focus on ‘a sustainable future for Iraq’, with one day dedicated to Education and Training and one for Business, Investment, and Energy.

IBBC welcomed its largest delegations to date, reflecting both the scope of the discussions and the interest in Iraq.

Of particular note was interest in the Education and Skills day, which not only enjoyed the largest turnout from business members and top UK Education speakers for Iraq anywhere, but also leading figures; UK’s Lord Boateng who made a keynote speech; Wayne David MP, Shadow Minster for Middle East and Dr. Jamal Abdulzahra Mezaal Khoailed, Advisor to the Iraqi President; Professor Hamid Khalaf Ahmed, Iraqi PM Advisor & Executive Director at the Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq, and the UK’s largest recent contingent of universities operating and engaging with Iraq. The British Ambassador to Iraq, Mr Stephen Hitchen and Professor Alaa Alzwghaibi, of the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education also spoke.

Key topics focused on vocational training, skills, and education relevant for the modernisation and development of Iraq, the new Iraqi Government scholarship fund and academic and business collaboration, a new initiative and advisory board between business and Govt set up to focus university courses to the relevant needs of Iraq’s economy. Leading IBBC businesses also contributed, including Sardar Group, SAP, Hydro-C and a special presentation to Basra Gas Company who are recruiting and developing Iraqi graduates (40% of whom are women) for employment.

The Education day was opened by its main sponsor Dr Amir Sadaati of GEMS. It was chaired throughout in exspert manner by IBBC’s Health and education Advisor, Professor Mohammed Al Uzri.

Full list of speakers also include:

Professor Mary Stiasny, University of London; Dr Mohammed Shukri, Kurdistan Regional Government; H.E. Mr Alan Hama Saeed Salih, Ministry of Education Vocational Training, IRCS Centre for Vocational Training; Dr Yaseen Ahmed Abbas, President of Iraqi Red Crescent Society; Dr Tony Degazon, City and Guilds; H.E Dr Naji Al Mahdi, Chief Qualification and Awards KHDA, Dubai; Dr Ahmed Kanan Al-Jaafari, Supervision and Scientific Research Apparatus; Mr Gavin Busuttil-Reynaud, AQA- Alphaplus; Dr Hazim Al-Zubaidi, MOHESR, Iraq; Mr Peter O`Hara, University of London; Dr Kenan Barut, Cambridge University Press & Assessment; Mr Mahul Shah, Occupational English Test (OET); Mr Muhammad Zohaib, Chief Executive LRN; Dr Stephen Land PhD, University of Dundee; Professor Paul Coulthard, Queen Mary University of London; Professor Paul A. Townsend, University of Surrey; Professor Angela Simpson University of Chester.

Day two saw a deeper focus on business and the conference theme ‘Building a sustainable future for Iraq’. As in previous years the Business Day was chaired by IBBC’s GCC representative and Board Member Mr Vikas Handa.

Sustainability is directly linked to the environmental challenge on going at Cop 28 and affecting Iraq directly. As Dr Fareed Yaseen, Iraq’s Climate Envoy  said –

‘Iraq is in the front line of climate change, and its affecting all areas of the country from desertification of agriculture, to migration and water shortage and the possibility areas of the country may become uninhabitable from heat. Iraq is catching up in its compliance with Cop, having started late in 2009. Key is to adapt and develop a sustainable economy, a resilient private business sector, investment, work force training and agriculture.’

President of IBBC Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, welcomed delegates and ministers:

H.E. Dr Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, UAE, who stated trade with Iraq has increased 12.5% this year and we will collaborate on climate change; Dr. Abdulkareem Al Faisal, Chairman of the Prime Ministers Advisory Commission, speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Sudani; Dr Mohammed Shukri, Chairman, Kurdistan Board of Investment, speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Barzani;  Ambassador Stephen Hitchen, HM Ambassador to Iraq; Mr Wayne David MP, UK Shadow Minster for the MENA, articulated how Labour would focus their foreign policy if elected in ’24,

Panels included a Finance and Investment panel led by member Mr Raed Hanna of Mutual Finance; Mr Bilal Al-Sugheyer, IFC; Mr Mohammed Al-Delaimy, TBI; Dr Boutros Klink, SCB; Dr Sameer Al-Waely, Central Bank of Iraq, Mr Hani Idris, UAE Barnach Director of the International Development Bank,  at which the formation of a new foreign exchange bank was announced by the CBI.

A vibrant Energy session outlining the dramatic progress the oil and gas companies are undertaking to invest in capturing gas (for conversion into electivity) reduction in Co2 through process engineering, and cleaner air, gas and oil production, speakers included Chairman: Mr Vikas Handa; Mr Laith Al Shaher, IBBC Advisory Council; Ms Dunia Chalabi, TotalEnergies; Mr Zaid Elyaseri, BP; Mr Hassan Heshmat, Hydro – C; Mr Andrew Wiper, Basrah Gas  Company; Mr Muhanad Al-Saffar, Siemens Energy Iraq; Mr Rasheed Janabi, GE Vernova.

The Tech forum focused on how tech and data can help Iraq adapt to climate change and carbon transition, including insightful presentations from SAP, EY, Neom, UK’s Climate business advisor  (new report available here) and UAE’s Hyperloop engineer, to show us the way forward in building and infrastructure tech. (recording video here) Batoul Husseini, SAP MENA; Ahmed Gailani, UK GOV CCC committee; Owais Afridi, Director, Consulting of EY sustainability practice in MENA; Prof. Dr Sabih G. Khisaf, ICE; Mr Hussam Chakouf, NEOM.

IBBC’s MD Mr Christophe Michels hosted a roundtable discussion for 3 KRG Ministers, Dr Mohammed Shukri, Chairman, Kurdistan Board of Investment, Ms Begard Talabani, Minister for Water Resources & Agriculture, and Mr Kamal Muslim, Minister of Trade and Industry. A final panel asked, ‘What constitutes Business Successes?’

We heard passionate family insights about innovation, persistence, hard work, and adaptation from Mr Amar Shubar, Management Partners; Mr Andrew Martin, Al Busttan; Mr Richard Cotton, AAA Holding Group Ltd; Mrs Samar Al Mafraji, Sardar Group; Mr Aziz Khudairi, Khudairi Group.

The conference ended with Mr Christophe Michels thanking everyone involved and looking forward to the Spring Conference at The Mansion House in London on June 27th 2024.

IBBC is grateful to all of its Members for their support and contribution. Special thanks go to conference sponsors: AAA Holding, Al Busttan, GEMS, TBI, Sardar Group, Hydro-C and Basrah Gateway Terminal.

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IBBC hosts well attended Conference at The Mansion House | Iraq Business News

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On June 16th IBBC hosted it’s best attended London Conference at The Mansion House yet, with over 280 delegates from Iraq, UK, and International European and Middle East countries.

With an overarching theme of ‘Iraq open to the world’ a wide range of panels discussed Iraq’s rapidly improving international position across economic indicators, political relationships, and security. Baroness Nicholson, IBBC President, welcomed delegates, The Lord Mayor spoke of London’s importance as a financial centre and Lord Ahmed (Minister of State for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and United Nations) presented an upbeat outline of UK’s trading and political relationship with Iraq including significant increase in bilateral trade in the last year. Professor Hamid Khalaf Ahmed, Executive Director for the Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq & Advisor to the Prime Minister, spoke on behalf of the Iraqi Prime Minster, to reiterate the determination of the GOI to see through its five priorities, including setting a budget and delivering on targets for corruption and infrastructure development, increase in public sector jobs and investment in education at all levels of Iraqi society. Dr Mohammed Shukri, Chairman, Kurdistan Board of Investment outlined a focus on diverse investment opportunities including agriculture, tech, and infrastructure in the KRG. Two prominent sponsors Mr Sardar Al Bebany, IBBC Executive Committee Member, CEO & Chairman, Sardar Group and Mr Amet Selman, CEO, AAA Holding Group offered their thanks to IBBC audience and outlined their commitment and importance to investing in their people and businesses in Iraq.

Three strong focus areas emerged from the conference, and were reflected in the panels along with other important topics:

Finance, chaired by Mr John Curtin, Ernst & Young Iraq, Included panellists Mr Haider F. Al-Shamaa, International Islamic Bank; Mr Tim Palmer, UK Export Finance; Mr Salahuddin Al-Hadeethi, Ministry of Finance; Dr Yasser Hassan, National Bank of Egypt; Mr Raed Hanna, Mutual Finance Ltd

Energy; Chaired by Mr Luay Al Khateeb, Centre on Global Energy Policy – Columbia U. With a keynote Address from: Mr Laith Al Shaher, Deputy Minister of Oil. Panellists included: Dr Abdulhamzah Hadi Abood, the Advisor from the Ministry of Electricity; Mr Laith Al Shaher, Ministry of Oil; Mr Andrew Wiper, Basrah Gas Company; Mr Mushhood Haider, Scotland Trade, and Investment; Mr Ali Al Janabi, Shell Iraq and UAE; Ms Sara Akbar, Oil Serv 

And keynote discussion on Iraq Open to the World.

Professor Frank Gunter opened the discussion with a keynote presentation of the key findings of his report ‘‘Seaports and Airports of Iraq: Rules Versus Infrastructure’ (see separate briefing here)

Chairman Mrs Hadeel Hasan Al Hadeel Al Hasan LLC led the discussion including, panellists: Professor Frank Gunter, Lehigh University; Mr Steve Alexander; Sardar Group; Mr Richard Cotton, AAA Holdings; Mr Hassan Heshmat, Hydro-C; H.E. Bader Mohammad Alawadi, Ambassador of the State of Kuwait.

Significant panels also included.

Education and skills roundtable; of acute importance due to the technical demands on Iraq’s expanding economy and the need to upgrade university courses and overseas scholarship support for 5,000 Iraqi students from the GOI, Chaired by Professor Mohammed Al Uzri (IBBC Health and Education Advisor) with Professor Hamid Khalaf Ahmed responding to questions and outlining the GOI plans for education with IBBCs University and skills members.

An emergent theme of growing importance is ‘Heritage’, as a business and culturally important sector, chaired by: Professor Mohammed Al Uzri, with Dr John McGinnis, The British Museum; with Prof Gamal Abdelmonem, Nottingham Trent University, Mr Ali Al Makhzomy, Bilweekend; Dr Rosalind Wade Haddon, British Institute for the Study of Iraq; Professor Chris Whitehead, Newcastle University.

During the day there were also a KRG roundtable discussions with Dr Mohammed Shukri and a full complement of KRG businesses and chambers of commerce, A Tech forum on ‘The digitisation of Iraq. Chaired by Ashley Goodall of IBBC, including Mr Saquib Ahmed, MD SAP Iraq; Mr Padraig O’Hannelly, Iraq Business News; Mr Mohsen Garcia, CEO 1001 Media; Mr Peter Chamberlin, Scott Logic, Ms Cynthia El Khoury, Mastercard Iraq; Mr Ali Al-Khairalla, Embassy of the Republic of Iraq (available to view here)

A special ceremony awarded The Rasmi Al Jabri Award (for Iraqi companies dedicated to best international practices and significant growth of Investment and turnover). This year the winners are AAA Holding and Mr Amet Selman for their work for successfully providing fertilizers to the Iraqi market in conjunction with the GOI and third-party agricultural groups. (Video link here). The conference was preceded by an ebullient reception for over 150 delegates the previous evening at the Institute of engineers, where Prof. Dr Sabih G. Khisaf (of Hyperloop Dubai) gave a talk on the importance of engineering and his work on the hyperloop and hosted by John Scott of IBBC.

Christophe Michels, MD of IBBC who chaired the conference commented ‘This is our 11th Iraq Day at The Mansion House and probably the most successful we have had yet. Iraq is rapidly developing, building on a stable budget, good security, political stability, and increasingly good relations with her neighbours. Now is the time for Iraq to truly embrace business and to cut down on outdated bureaucracy, regulations and the corruption going hand in hand with these. If this does not happen, the country risks missing out on all the new opportunities arising from finally opening to the world. As IBBC we are optimistic and will continue to lend our support to our Members and the wider Iraqi community’.

IBBC Spring Conference 2023 Sponsors:

Principal Sponsor: AAA Holding Group

Gold Sponsors: Sardar Group & Trade Bank of Iraq

Bronze Sponsors: Standard Chartered Bank & Hydro – C

To attend future events, including the Iraq SME conference, July 6th, and IBBC Autumn conference in Dubai, Dec 8th, please follow our website.

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Russian-Iraqi Oil Ties “Only Getting Stronger” | Iraq Business News

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By John Lee.

More than 100 representatives of leading Iraqi and Russian businesses took part in the Russian-Iraqi Business Forum in Moscow last week.

According to a press release from The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the Ambassador of Iraq in Moscow, Mr. Abdurakhman Al-Husseini, told delegates that Iraq is open to the development of business relations in all areas. This is not only the oil industry, but also various areas of industry, trade, and healthcare. The Iraqi ambassador also reminded that any Russian can apply for a visa at the airport upon arrival in Iraq.

The President of the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Abdurazzak Al-Zuheiri, speaking on behalf of the head of the Iraqi delegation, said there was a great desire to promote and strengthen Russian-Iraqi business relations, in particular, in the field of energy, construction, and food supplies.

Ali Warid, Director of the Technical Department of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, noted the long-standing Russian-Iraqi ties in the oil industry. According to him, they are only getting stronger, and most of the projects implemented by large Russian companies in Iraq are economically successful. Among the areas of development, Ali Varid outlined not only exploration, production, but also processing of oil and oil products.

Abbas Salim Hussein, Director of the Livestock Development Department of the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture, spoke about the specifics of doing business in Iraq in his industry and called for developing cooperation in the poultry, meat, dairy and fish industries.

Aziz Nadim Al-Isa, director of the Industrial Development Department of the Iraqi Ministry of Industry, said that since 2003, the Iraqi economy has completely changed and has taken a course towards attracting investment in industry. The country is implementing 25 strategic technological development projects. He stressed that Iraq is interested in cooperation with Russia, primarily with high-tech companies.

Concluding the plenary part, Maksim Malyarchuk, Executive Director of the Russian-Iraqi Business Council at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, spoke about the activities of the Council and assistance to Russian and Iraqi companies in the new conditions. In March, the Central Bank of Iraq banned settlements with the Russian Federation. But, despite this, according to Malyarchuk, today there are examples of direct deliveries from Russia to Iraq, and the issues of mutual settlements and logistics have been conceptually resolved. Also, he noted the growth of requests from the Iraqi side and the interest in importing Russian products.

(Source: The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation)



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