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Members of the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC), leading political figures and experts gathered in the tranquil setting of Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park, at the weekend for the IBBC's annual retreat.

The weekend was spent holding discussions and talks on different aspects that affect doing business in Iraq.

The event opened on Friday evening with a dinner followed by an address by Simon Pearce, Company Secretary of the Financial Conduct Authority, who spoke about the importance and challenges of financial regulation.

Next day a lecture from Professor Toby Dodge of the London School of Economics (LSE) laid the backdrop of how Iraq has reached the point it is at.

It was followed by discussion between the former UK Security Envoy to Iraq, General Sir Simon Mayall, the Head of the Foreign Office ISIL taskforce, Mr Dan Chugg, Mr Khalid Mahmood MP and Ms Lise Grande, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Iraq. Members were treated to a frank analysis of the current goings-on in Iraq and how these came about but, more importantly, how these can be addressed.

The theme of the conference turned to vocational education with the Principal of Bedfordshire College Dr Ali Hadawi. The session described ways in which the Further Education has the capacity to empower what he termed a ‘second-chance mechanism’. Dr Hadawi stressed that education is key to investing in human capital as it is fundamental to creating and sustaining livelihoods for individuals and for making a country an attractive business opportunity.

Drawing on Dr Hadawi’s talk, Mr Vikas Handa, MD for EMEA at Weir Group, spoke about his firm’s vocational training initiatives to train and empower Iraqis. Mr Tim Luft, Co-founder of WOOTE, spoke about how rapid technological change was driving a revolution in training programmes. Virtual reality headsets, for example, allow for cheap, efficient and effective immersive training that cuts the time and cost required to create a skilled workforce.

The event continued with a session on ‘Nurturing an Alternative Media Discourse in Iraq’. Mr John Ray, former Middle East Foreign Correspondent for ITN, Mr Nicholas Pelham, Middle East Correspondent for The Economist, and Mr Faheem Ahamed, CEO of Lapis, gave different points of view on the difficulty of covering the news in Iraq, the way in which the dominant media narrative has been dominated by the paradigm of security, and how this neglects other aspects of the society that are key to have a more balanced perception of the reality.

The final panel of the day discussed the practical and thematic considerations for an IBBC conference to be held in Basrah in early October 2015. Members from Shell, HWH Associates, Basrah Engineering Group, ExxonMobil, Moby Group, GardaWorld, Perkins+Will, Stirling Group, G4S, and many others participated in the discussions.

Attendants were treated on Saturday evening to a lecture on Sumerian tablets found in a recent archaeological discovery in Southern Iraq by Professor Eleanor Robson of University College London (UCL) and the British Institute for the Study of Iraq.

(Source: IBBC)

By Adnan Abu Zeed for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

On May 15, the Shiite Endowment issued a statement that in one week, around 12 million Shiite visitors flew to Baghdad’s Kadhimiya district to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, who died in the year 799.

On the night of May 14, rioters set fire to the property of the Sunni Endowment and other residences in the Adhamiya Sunni neighborhood, which faces the Shiite city of Kadhimiya.

Media reports showed video footage of groups of Shiites attacking the property of the Sunni Endowment and the houses of Sunni residents. A young man waved victoriously in front of the burned buildings, celebrating revenge on Sunnis.

In an article published May 15, Al-Mada Executive Editor-in-Chief Adnan Hussein called this young man a fool, writing, “The perpetrators of this act are mentally prepared at home, school and mosques to carry out such acts through political and media discourse and sectarian propaganda and are driven by radicalism and fanaticism.”

Violence during religious events has prompted dialogue about sensitive religious issues once considered taboo, and calls for reducing the number of visitors to holy Shiite places. The May 14 incidents, however, are the first of their kind.

Since 2003, Sunni members and supporters of the Islamic State have been attacking Shiite visitors heading to Kadhimiya or to other Shiite holy shrines. The most notable incident occurred in 2005, when rumors spread about a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt among the Kadhimiya visitors, sparking panic.

People started pushing each other as they rushed to escape, and hundreds fell in the Tigris River. This incident caused thousands of deaths among the Shiite pilgrims.

Iraq’s Prime Minister and many of his most senior colleagues will address a top-level international business conference being held in Baghdad later this week.

Organised by the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) together with Iraq’s National Investment Commission (NIC) and the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce, the event will also be attended by senior executives from leading companies in both the UK and the Middle East Region.

Dr Al Abadi is expected to highlight the dynamic relationship between Iraq and UK business and will call for more investment from British firms to help the nation to continue its rapid development.

The PM will be joined on Wednesday 29th April by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Shaways and the ministers of Oil, Agriculture, and Planning. The Minister of Higher Education and former Deputy PM, Dr Hussain Al Shahristani, will also speak on the second day of the conference on Thursday 30th April.

The event, being held at the Babylon Hotel on the banks of Baghdad’s Tigris River, will also be attended by the UK’s Ambassador to Iraq, Frank Baker OBE, and the IBBC’s Founder and Executive Chairman, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne.

Dr Sami Al Araji, the Chairman of the National Investment Commission, and Jaafar Al Hamdani, President of Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce, will both address the conference.

Business leaders, such as Shell Iraq’s Country Chairman, Hans Nijkamp and BP Deputy Country Manager, Zaid Elyaseri, will also speak at the event.

Baroness Nicholson, who is also the UK’s official Trade Envoy to Iraq, is delighted at the amount of attention the event has generated both within Iraq and in the wider Middle East.

“The IBBC regularly holds big events both in London and here in Iraq, but this week’s is something really special. The National Investment Commission and the Chambers of Commerce have pulled out all the stops and worked terribly hard to bring us an incredible line up of political and business talent,” she said.

“Giving the challenging security situation in some parts of Iraq, I am frequently asked why international commerce and industry would be interested in such events. The reality of course is that for much of this nation, it is business as usual, and what business there is,” added the Baroness.

“This is a nation rich in both natural resources and the skills of its people. The place is full of opportunity. Just ask our 62 IBBC members – multi-nationals such as Shell, BP, Standard Chartered, Ernst & Young, Weir Group, Eversheds, Control Risks, and Olive Group. They are doing fantastically well and I want other big UK firms to come and take a slice of the action.”

(Source: Iraq Britain Business Council)

By Shukur Khilkhal for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

In 2007, the Iraqi Interior Ministry imported 7,000 ADE651 bomb detectors in a deal with British businessman James McCormick.

Though widely used at Iraqi checkpoints, these devices have not helped stop the bombings in Baghdad and many Iraqi provinces that have caused massive destruction and casualties. According to a report published by Alsumaria TV Dec. 31, 2014 saw a high level of bloodshed, with most casualties in Iraq being caused by car bombs.

The devices have a movable antenna installed on the plastic handle. The antenna is supposed to point in the direction of items containing explosives. However, seven years of use have shown that it does not. The antenna actually points out other unexpected items, such as perfumes, dental fillings and household detergents.

In a Jan. 23 telephone interview with Al-Monitor, Radio Demozy's director Ibrahim al-Saadi said that many baffling issues have been noted in the device. Whenever the antenna points at people, the security officers at checkpoints ask them weird questions such as whether they are carrying perfumes, or whether they were visiting a dentist. The device seems to randomly point to anything, leading some Iraqis to rename it the “detector of dental fillings,” Saadi said.

In its program “Talk of the Town,” Radio Demozy has dedicated episodes to discussing the bomb detectors, airing statements from officials on the matter.

In 2013, McCormick was sentenced in Britain to 10 years in prison for exporting these devices to several countries — including Iraq, the largest importer. The court found that the devices gave these countries a false sense of security and caused the deaths of large numbers of people.

The BBC published a report on Dec. 22, 2010, documenting the ineffectiveness of these devices, based on an experiment conducted by a British laboratory. The report revealed that the device had also been examined in the United States and was shown to malfunction. In 2013, another television show, Al-Baghdadia's "Studio at 9," also addressed the bomb detectors.

By Shaida al-Ameen for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Kurdistan’s Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said its troops are not attacking armed groups in Iraq, but are just taking defensive positions. It said the speeches of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki do not scare the Kurds, and that the peshmerga forces did not seize weapons of the Iraqi army that was fleeing the battlefields.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Peshmerga Ministry Secretary-General Jabbar Yawar said, “The peshmerga forces are not attacking terrorist groups, and are contenting themselves with taking defensive positions against them, as the distance between us and areas where terrorist groups are present is 1,000 kilometers [620 miles] in length and more than 500-600 kilometers [310-373 miles] in width. Thus, it is difficult to attack them within an area of hundreds of square kilometers.”

In a speech aired on Iraqi media channel Al-Babiliyah on July 2, Maliki rejected the de facto policy that emerged following the Mosul events, and demanded that the Kurds remain committed to the Iraqi Constitution. He threatened to restore areas that the peshmerga forces have controlled during the fall of the Sunni provinces to the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS.

For his part, while attending a parliament session, Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani said on July 3 that the peshmerga forces were present in the disputed areas before the events of Mosul, and there were areas where the peshmerga and the Iraqi army were present. Yet there are other areas that the peshmerga forces have entered to fill the security vacuum caused by the withdrawal of the Iraqi army that was present there. He noted that the peshmerga forces will not withdraw from these areas.

In response to Maliki, Yawar said, “We do not feel any threat coming from Maliki’s speech, and we hope that he will control the deteriorating situation in Iraq. Maliki is placed in a position where he cannot threaten any party, neither the Kurdistan region nor any neighboring country, and he does not have the ability to implement the threat. He would better think about controlling the situation in Mosul, Ramadi and Salahuddin as I think that he does not have an army to pose a threat to anyone.”

Speech given by Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, UK Trade Envoy for Iraq and Chairman of the Iraq Britain Business Council, to the ‘Investment Forum in Iraq and Kurdistan Region’, Rotana Hotel, Erbil:

‘I am indeed grateful for the privilege of addressing this eminent audience,and I thank most warmly the President of The Kurdistan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and President of the Erbil Chamber, Mr Dara Al-Khayat for his kind invitation and for his Federations’s continuing great work.

May I thank too the President of the Iraqi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr Jaafar Al-Hamdani. The Chambers of his Federation, who cover the Federal Republic of Iraq are well known to us all for their continuing hard work, overall excellence and high standards. And I thank the Governor, Mr Nowzad Hadi and the people of Erbil for their gracious hospitality throughout this conference.

It was indeed a pleasure to hear the Governor speak earlier this morning; and for the conference to be addressed first by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Roche Nuri Shaways who powerfully reminded us of the huge investment opportunities now offered throughout the regions of Iraq and Kurdistan. His Excellency Mr Adnan Kassar brings the entire Arab Union Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture to Erbil and his members know of the extraordinary business and industry strengths Iraq and the Kurdistan region possess.

I speak today as Chairman of the Iraq Britain Business Council,which is based in London, Erbil, Basra and Baghdad. Our work is designed to facilitate stronger commercial and industrial partnerships between our countries,and to open up new opportunities for our member companies in Britain and Iraq.

We are an international organisation which takes full advantage of the global reach of the City of London and, too, of the truly international nature of the UK. Our membership reflects Britain’s multinational businesses and is not confined to companies that began in the UK.

The Weir Group has announced it has signed a contract with LUKOIL to provide general maintenance services for the West Qurna-2 oilfield in Southern Iraq.

The agreement, which is for two years and is estimated to be worth a total ofUS$98m (£59m), will see Weir engineers deliver mechanical, electrical, maintenance and pipeline services for the related production facilities, including the Mishrif Central Processing Plant.

Weir has invested over US$8m in establishing its service centre in Basra, Iraq and it is the first in-country location to offer fully comprehensive maintenance services for all kinds of rotating equipment, valves and wellheads. The facility is also the first in Iraq to obtain API and ISO licences.

West Qurna-2 is one of the largest undeveloped oilfields in the world. Mishrif will initially produce 150,000 barrels of oil per day (bod), increasing to 400,000 bod by the end of 2014. The processing facility is expected to be operational in the first half of 2014, at which time Weir will commence work under the terms of the contract. Weir will recognise input on a monthly basis over the course of the contract in accordance with the agreed work plan.

Weir Chief Executive, Keith Cochrane (pictured) said:

“This substantial contract demonstrates the importance of Weir’s long experience of working in Iraq and our reputation for delivering high quality engineering services in support of the country’s developing oilfield infrastructure. It also reflects our global capability, a key strength of our Group which allows us to capture opportunities in high growth markets and be a partner of choice to our worldwide customers.”

(Source: Weir Group)

By Wassim Bassem for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The youth in Iraq are taking advantage of the summer months to wear the clothes they like and flaunt their flexibility in changing hairdos and giving themselves makeovers. In light of the increasing social openness and society's improving purchasing power, advocates of conservatism find themselves at odds with the emergence of modern trends.

Imad Saqr, a social researcher and youth-affairs activist, told Al-Monitor, “The young people who follow modern traditions are religiously conservative and expressive and enthusiastic when it comes to religious events.”

It is now common in Iraq to show religious affiliations through fashion, blending local religious culture with Western and modern style. Mohammad Kamel, 18, has his armed tattooed with the sword of Imam Ali, which is currently in fashion in Iraq. In Adhamiyah in Baghdad, Rahim Maher had his wrist tattooed with the name of Omar, an influential 6th century caliph.

Saqr highlights a love for “change” among Iraq's youth, who follow the latest trends in clothing, hairstyles and cellphones. Even young boys buy the latest technological devices that broadcast religious texts, prayers and Quranic recitation, embodying an amazing harmony between love for modern technology and attachment to social and religious customs and values.

Saqr accuses Western nations of seeking to spread their culture via the modern technology exported to various countries around the world.

By Waheed Ghanim.

This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Basra’s farmers say the oil industry is “occupying” their land – and that the one thing the Iraqi government is forgetting in its race to get oil firms in and farmers out, is the rising cost of the food Iraq can no longer grow itself.

Just over a year ago, Saleh Mohammed was farming in the Qurna area, west of the southern Iraqi city of Basra. But then the oil companies came. And today the land that Mohammed once farmed belongs to international oil giant, Exxon Mobil. And Mohammed himself works as an employee on the periphery of one of the oil production facilities.

Mohammed is 30 and his field of expertise is agriculture; he knows the ways of nature. He worked on his 2.5 hectare property planting wheat, barley and dates and everything he knew, he learned from his parents and grandparents, who had farmed the land before him. He really doesn’t know much about the oil industry. Yet, like so many others here, he too now wears the grey overalls and cap of oil facility workers.

“When the American, Russian and British oil companies started to come here, the government just wanted us to disappear,” Mohammed says. “They even offered us financial compensation to do so. Now some of us work as watchmen, some of us as gardeners and some as labourers with the oil companies for around US$600 a month. And I didn’t really have a choice in this matter – I have a wife and four children to look after.”

Mohammed is not alone. It’s estimated that there are 43 billion barrels of oil under the ground in this region. Almost all of Iraq’s oil currently comes from here. All of which clearly means big business, not only for the oil companies, but also for the Iraqi government.

Around 80 executives from the world's leading companies doing business in Iraq will arrive in Baghdad this weekend as part of a major trade delegation.

They will attend a two day conference on Sunday September 30th and October 1st at the Al Rashid Hotel, Baghdad, to hear speeches from Deputy Prime Ministers Sharistani and Shaways and Dr Sami al-Araji, chairman of Iraq's National Investment Commission. Other Iraqi ministers and Mrs Hamdiyah al-Jaf, Chairman, Trade Bank of Iraq, will also attend along with trade groups including Basrah Chamber of Commerce.

Western companies represented will include: Shell, ExxonMobil, AMEC, DWC, Kier, Foster Wheeler, Fluor, Ernst and Young, Mott MacDonald, Kuwait Energy, Weir and major security companies including Olive Group , Control Risks and Aegis.

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (pictured), the IBBC's Executive Chairman, will lead the trade delegation. She said:

"I am delighted the conference is being held under the patronage of His Excellency the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mr al-Maliki. The trade delegation will be one of highest level groups to travel to Iraq in recent years."

(Source: IBBC)