Iraq leaves 2018 loaded with a heavy war bill

Iraq leaves 2018 loaded with a heavy war bill

Scary figures for the size of the destruction in 5 provinces



Yaman Zarzis  11/12/2018 - 17:58

This year, Iraq is leaving a heavy bill of war on a sympathetic organization, with expectations of war consequences for many years.

"The volume of destruction in the five provinces (Mosul, Salah al-Din, Diyala, Anbar and Kirkuk) exceeded 88 billion dollars, these figures are large and frightening," said Salem al-Othman, director of the reconstruction fund of the Iraqi government. The Fund is not commensurate with the scale of the destruction at all. "

Faced with these large numbers, the Iraqi government is counting on the reconstruction of liberated cities on foreign investment in addition to the pledges of the countries announced at the Kuwait Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq.

Observers note the desire of the United States to obtain the largest share of investment opportunities available to foreign companies, and this is evident in the statements of the US ambassador to Baghdad, Douglas Silliman from time to time, and the last thing in a press statement yesterday, "Many American companies are ready to enter into Iraq's economic market and contribute to various businesses that help to stabilize the liberated areas and provide reconstruction needs. "

Investing rather than donations

Americans see investment as a more appropriate alternative than grants and financial donations; investment ensures that reconstruction processes continue to grow and avoid problems caused by lack of funding, the State Department says.

"The immediate needs for stability are huge and US resources alone can not meet these current and urgent needs, let alone support long-term reconstruction," officials in Washington DC say.

Obstacles to investment in reconstruction

"One of the challenges or obstacles facing US companies in Iraq is knowing the legal environment in the country, and this involves many challenges and complexities," said Gigi Cruz, director of a US consulting firm. Be ignorant of him what makes them stop.

"The visa issue is also a problem because of the constant change in its instructions." "There are 50 companies operating in Iraq and this number is likely to increase if the instructions are settled and the laws are clarified."

The Iraqi government is seeking to launch e-governance, in addition to activating the electronic visa service in order to facilitate the entry of companies to the country, especially those that will work to reconstruct the destroyed areas, in a package of measures to achieve the same goal.

Industry "wants" American investment

The Ministry of Industry announced the availability of about 120 investment opportunities, demanding the ministries and institutions concerned to facilitate the entry procedures of US companies.

The ministry said in a statement that "the United States of America is the most developed Western and global countries in various industrial sectors and can benefit from its expertise and potential through the transfer of expertise and skills and modern technology to develop the Iraqi industry sector and other sectors such as health, oil and water resources, water purification and treatment of heavy water and other services Other ".

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