Now there’s another thing to consider which is the insurgency against Baghdad; in the past ten years especially it hasn’t targeted the Kurdish region which hasn't had that side of things, the human capital flight that Iraq has seen in that time. The Kurds have had a number of advantages from that situation. In terms of what you’re doing with the private sector do you see cooperation with Arab Iraq, do you see a shared interest in sharing experiences in terms of boosting the private sector?
I think the private sector generally is doing better in the south. Are we talking about construction or the private sector? Because these two are 2 separate things. The Kurds are way more advanced in terms of construction - they have straighter roads, cleaner streets etc. There’s a few reasons for that: first it’s a smaller region and subsequently is easier to govern. The rest of Iraq is a much larger region and there really are problems,for example Kut only had sewers put into place for the first time in its history a few years ago, after 2008 if I remember correctly.
So you have to understand where the south is beginning from, which is really far behind. The Kurds also have political stability. There is a kind of civil, more sophisticated political dialogue within Kurdistan whilst in Federal Iraq, rumors go around about how ministers block other ministers from different parties from achieving big construction projects because they don’t want them to win in the next election.
There is a growing amount of private sector investment in the south when it comes to food products, manufacturing of cars (mainly Iranian), truck assembly (Scania) and of course Saddam Hussein era factories. They are more numerous and there’s been a lot of investment which is still going on in the south. Also keep in mind that I have yet to see a manufacturer in Kurdistan that does not either buy its raw materials from federal Iraq or sells its finished products to federal Iraq, or both.
If Baghdad decides to impose an economic blockade on Kurdistan it will cause serious damage to both economies, particularly Kurdistan, being a smaller country. So there is economic collaboration already, and it’s extremely important for the growth in all of Iraq and in particular in Kurdistan, and I think Iraqis, both Kurds and Arabs, need to realise that good relationships benefit both, including if there is a move towards independence, which I personally support. It has to be done in a civil way, whereby it will protect the companies and the manufacturers and the farmers in Kurdistan, because they do sell a lot of products to Iraq.
RT: In terms of trade routes, it’s a worrying situation regarding some routes going South and West from the Kurdish region - obviously much of Ninewa is a no-go zone until ISIS are defeated. Is that having an economic impact there?
Yes, I have come across a lot of businesses that used to sell products to Mosul. One of them is a poultry farm. Another builds manhole covers. They used to sell to Mosul and Tikrit. Obviously that now does not happen, so some of these companies had to let people go.
Those who have suffered the most are the populations living within those cities, because of the terrible medieval, barbaric practices that ISIS have, more than just economically. Gas is a lot more expensive, fuel is far more scarce, electricity costs a lot more for shorter periods.
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