The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, identified on Sunday the important strategic, field and organizational factors that encourage international investors to work in Iraq, while pointing out two basic starting points for the development of the investment environment in the country.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani confirmed last week, while chairing the eighth meeting of the Higher Committee for Reconstruction and Investment, that Iraq has become a safe and attractive environment for capital from international companies, and a preferred market for businessmen and investors, thanks to the facilities and legislation provided by the government since its formation.
Saleh said, in a statement reported by the official news agency, and reviewed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "the Prime Minister's statement regarding the development of the investment environment in Iraq comes from two main starting points: the first is Iraq's completion of its integration steps in providing safe and appropriate environments to attract foreign investment in Iraq, the latest of which is our country's accession to the agreement sponsored by the United Nations and called the Singapore Investment Agreement."
He added, "This agreement seeks to improve the investment climate in member states by enhancing transparency and fair regulatory procedures, in addition to providing mechanisms for resolving disputes between investors and countries through faster mediation or international arbitration, which gives investors a legal means to guarantee their rights, all of which are factors that the government of the Republic of Iraq believes in to encourage international investors to invest in our country with high resources."
Saleh stressed that "the Singapore Agreement and joining it is an important step towards enhancing international trade and investment, which contributes to achieving economic growth and improving economic relations between international groups."
He added that "the second part, which the Prime Minister referred to, is the momentum of the natural and human material resources of an important strategic country like Iraq, which ranked ninth among the countries of the world in terms of natural resources, and first in the world in possessing one square kilometer of resources in the ground."
He explained that "the geographical location of Iraq, which connects European countries by land with Asian countries by sea, encouraged the launch of the Development Road project, which took its executive steps from the Faw Port upwards within the construction of the dry canal and the upcoming related industrial, agricultural and service projects and in accordance with an important regional and international cooperation framework to attract global investments."
He pointed out that "all these strategic, field and organizational factors represent a positive invitation for international investors to work in Iraq under the direct sponsorship of the executive authority to facilitate their work and with high-precision legal protection link