Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Task Force

http://www.trade.gov/iraq/

Investing in Iraq’s Industrial Sectors

The Government of Iraq, led by the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals (MIM) is currently in the process of evaluating investor proposals to enter into joint venture partnerships between many of Iraq’s lucrative State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and international companies. These partnerships will permit investors to acquire production output from Iraq’s productive factories in exchange for investment of expertise and capital to improve and rehabilitate these assets. This initiative is part of a larger process to transition and modernize key industries through 2012. Minister of Industry and Minerals Fawzi Hariri has publicly confirmed that companies taking up these early ventures will have the right of first refusal on eventual privatization. The government has also established an investment board to oversee foreign direct investment in Iraq and the development of SOEs.

From April 19-20, 2008 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai, UAE, Iraq’s Ministry of Industry and Minerals convened to meet with foreign investors to discuss these deals. The two day summit, was attended by over 150 company executives from every corner of the globe who were met by an Iraqi delegation of 85 individuals, including senior officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Industry & Minerals and director generals from over 45 SOEs-the largest delegation seen at any commercial event on Iraq, according to event organizers.