American companies should invest in Iraq now to avoid losing out on opportunities to other international firms, Under Secretary of Commerce Francisco Sanchez said during a trade mission to Iraq.

According to the report in Reuters, he urged corporate leaders to hurry while acknowledging that security concerns remained high.

“The time is now. I think American businesses that want to take advantage of opportunities, if they wait a year, if they wait until everything is in a nice, neat order, then they’re going to cede opportunities to businesses from other parts of the world,” he told reporters in Baghdad.

“Opportunities to create partnerships and to engage is not a year and a half from now, or two years from now where perhaps you’ll see a continued reduction in attacks or violence. If you want to really play a role here, you have to be here now.”