UK Travel Management Company is First to Open Offices in Iraq

CT Business Travel will be the first UK travel management company to open offices in Iraq. It will organise business travel to Iraq and provide local support to help minimise the risk to UK companies who are involved in re-building and improving Iraq's infrastructure. Corporate travel specialists CT Business Travel has operated a number of […]

Iraq's Risks and Rewards

The visit to Iraq last weekend by US Vice-President, Joseph Biden, may help to accelerate the process of forming the next government, but the frustrating delays in reaching an agreement highlight the risks of doing business in 'frontier' countries. Often, though, our perception of risk can be out of step with reality, and what appears […]

Lukoil Allocates $5 Billion to West Qurna

According to a report from Bloomberg, OAO Lukoil, Russia’s largest non- state oil producer, allocated $5 billion to finance the West Qurna-2 project in Iraq. The funds were provided as a loan to its Lukoil Mid-East Ltd. unit exclusively for the Iraq project, spokesman Dmitry Dolgov said. The loan matures at the end of 2030, […]

Security Still a Deterrent, but Perceptions Improving

A new survey of senior businesspeople by the Economist Intelligence Unit finds that investor perceptions of Iraq are slowly improving, despite the country’s many problems. Preliminary results from our survey of 300 executives – all of whom have direct input into their company’s decisions on doing business in the Middle East – show that the […]

Kurdistan Govt Approves $500m Avro City

The regional government of Iraq's Kurdistan has approved the construction of the $500m Avro City in Dahuk province as security in the area improves, Meed has reported. The project will include 120 low-rise buildings, 3,396 apartment units, 56 single-family villas, 40,000 sq m of education facilities, a five-star hotel, sports stadium, commercial district, healthcare facilities, […]

Erbil Stock Exchange Opens for Business

AK News reports that the Erbil Stock Exchange has opened for business. "The Kurdistan regional government (KRG) has continually strived to create an environment for the local businessmen and traders to have shares in the local companies of Kurdistan," the secretary of the high economic council of KRG, Izzat Mullah said. Erbil stock market is […]

Iraq's Navy Will Be Ready to Defend Oil Rigs

The Iraqi Navy is on track to assume full command of protecting Iraq's vital offshore platforms within the next two years, outgoing US Navy 5th Fleet commander, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said Monday. 'We are working very closely with the Iraqi Navy and within two years we will be ready to turn over the entire […]

Oil Flow to Turkey Resumes

Further to our report yesterday on the attack on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan Pipeline, Israel National News reports that oil started to flow again on Monday. A bomb, reportedly planted by Kurdish resistance fighters, had temporarily halted pumping on the Kirkuk to Ceyhan pipeline at the weekend. The bombing by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) added a […]

Karbala-Anbar Railroad Hits Snag

There are obstacles that curb the execution of the Karbala-Anbar railroad, a member of the Karbala Provincial Council said on Monday. “The railroad passes through an archeological site between the two provinces,” Hussein Shadahan told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He added that the Iraqi Transportation Ministry originally approved the project around four months ago. (Source: […]