Parliamentary agreement with the European Union mission: European financial and banking institutions are preparing to invest in Iraq, 28 FEB

  Parliamentary agreement with the European Union mission: European financial and banking institutions are preparing to invest in Iraq

2/27/2024

The Parliamentary Investment and Development Committee agreed, with the European Union mission in Iraq, on a number of economic files, while the European mission revealed new financial and banking projects to work in Iraq.

The head of the committee, Representative Hassan Al-Khafaji, said in a joint press conference today, Tuesday, “We hosted the European Union ambassador to discuss a number of files related to new legislation. We also agreed to cooperate to combat corruption, and to work together to allow European companies to enter the Iraqi local market, exchange economic and commercial experiences, and open new European factories.” In Iraq and refining the capabilities of Iraqi competencies in various fields.

He added, "We asked the European side to open a permanent office and headquarters inside Iraq because they currently have no headquarters except inside the British Embassy. We also asked to open banking branches in Iraq that finance industrial and investment projects, with full support provided by the government and the House of Representatives in matters of reconstruction, investment, and loans." He pointed out that there are currently joint projects in Baghdad, Babylon, and Karbala, where the European Union is interested in infrastructure. He

continued to say, “We requested funding for many projects, especially with Iraq’s accession to the International Arbitration Organization and the vote on the partnership law between the private and public sectors, which allows foreign companies to enter.” And to work in Iraq and participate with the private sector for reconstruction and building the new Iraq. We also agreed on unified action to bring in reputable companies similar to companies operating in the Middle East and international companies that contributed to building Iraq’s factories during the era of the eighties and seventies.

In turn, Ambassador Thomas Seller said, “We met with Parliamentary Investment and Development Committee: As a European Union mission, we concluded that the European Union must make more efforts for European companies to invest in Iraq, and we must work together to provide the conditions that enable Europe to invest more in Iraq.”

He added, "We discussed the legislative necessities in order to achieve economic stability in Iraq, as well as investment stability, and these are steps that must be taken by the Iraqi parliament, and there are many laws that support this, including the investment law, the partnership law between the public sector and the private sector, and others, and all of this is part of the trend." The government aims to combat corruption and support investment and the economy.”

He added, "We discussed many issues and details, and all of these are part of Europe's interest in the stability of Iraq, because we see that Iraq can play an important central role in the region politically and economically, and in order to achieve this we must talk about developing the European Union's investment programs, especially the financial and banking institutions, which are The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which we expect will soon come to work in Iraq, as well as the European Investment Bank, which is concerned with providing loans and expertise to support infrastructure projects.”

He explained, "This matter requires a lot of continuous work, but we have committed ourselves to working in this aspect for the benefit of the Iraqi citizen, and we will cooperate with the local authorities to achieve this." LINK