The latest news from Baghdad – security updates, business, construction projects and more – brought to you by Iraq Business News
Baghdad International Fair expects its largest participation since the 2003-U.S. invasion when it starts its 37th session next week, according to a report from Azzaman. The fair’s director-general, Sadeq Sultan, said the 10-day fair will see 1,200 foreign firms taking part as well 15 foreign countries. This is quite a change from the 300 companies […]
Iraq's developing situation continues to astound me when I contrast it with much of the west. Take the UK, where Prime Minister David Cameron has on 20 October announced £81bn ($127bn) of cuts from total government expenditure of £661bn ($1,040bn), the largest budget cuts in decades by a large margin. All this it needs to […]
...and it looks like it is going to get it. Iraq has lofty investment targets for the next five years. Sami al-Araji, chairman of Iraq's National Investment Commission, told Reuters: "We'd like to go ahead and shoot for $600 billion. We hope of course we can realize it, but we will be very happy if we […]
With gold recently hitting highs of nearly $1,400 per ounce, an armed raid on a row of goldsmiths' shops in Baghdad has left at least nine people dead. The gunmen used hand grenades and small arms to kill three gold shop owners in a market in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry […]
Iraq is to get new power plants in order to boost its energy capacity by 2,500 megawatts, reports Reuters. This will significantly add to its meagre total current production, which is around 5,500 megwatts. All the contracts for the 20 gas turbines, which were bought from General Electric, have been awarded to three Turkish companies. The contracts are […]
A U.S.-Turkish delegation met the Chairman of the Baghdad Investment Commission on Wednesday to discuss the establishment of two factories for gypsum and Pepsi, according to a statement of the BIC. “The BIC Chairman, Shaker al-Zamel [Shaker A. Shibeeb], received a delegation from a U.S.-Turkish company to set up two factories to produce gypsum and […]
Azzaman news agency reports that the Iraqi government has agreed to allocate $10 billion for the reconstruction of Sadr City, and that talks with international firms have reached an advanced stage. Sadr City is on the outskirts of Baghdad and is perhaps Iraq’s most impoverished town, but if the reports are correct is should become […]
German airline Lufthansa has postponed its scheduled Sept. 30 startup of a Munich-to-Baghdad route, citing a lack of customer interest, according to a report from Businessweek. Company spokesman Christoph Meier said that bookings "were far below the expectations", and that no new date had been set for the launch of the service. The news is […]
The Baghdad Municipality is to build three major housing projects in the capital’s outskirts for low-income families. Azzaman report that the projects, work on which is to start soon, will include 395,000 housing units and will be sold to low-income families at reduced prices, according to Hakeem Abedzahra, the municipality’s spokesman. The first project of […]
Authorities in Iraq say they will install “giant power generators” in Baghdad in their latest bid to put an end to power shortages. The plants will have capacities of about 5MW - hardly 'giant', but the plan is to have more than 500 of them in place throughout the city by next summer, operated by […]
The Mayor of Baghdad has inaugurated new al-Nahrwan bridge, which links Baghdad to northern and southern Iraqi provinces and helps traffic of trucks to the northern areas of the country without having to pass by the capital, according to the Baghdad Mayoralty in a statement on Sunday. “The project, a vital one for the movement […]
We reported recently that the Iraqi government has earmarked $300 million to upgrade Baghdad's hotels for next year’s Arab summit. Azzaman now reports that the Baghdad Municipality of Amanat al-Asima is racing against time to upgrade some of Baghdad’s run-down neighborhoods in advance of summit. The Iraqi government has expressed a willingness to host Arab […]
