Security situation limits British companies’ ambition to invest in Iraq – experts

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Two economic experts agreed that the London conference will not attract British companies into Iraq, unless the security situation improves which is currently limiting their ambition to invest in the country. “The economic conference, being held in London today (April 30), will not attract British investors because there are several obstacles, mainly the security situation which had begun to stabilize prior to the recent deterioration,” the official of the economic section of al-Mustansiriya institute, Abdulrahman Nejm al-Mashhadani, told IraqiNews.com news agency, noting that any news about explosions leaves the bad impression on foreign investors that the whole situation is deteriorating, and this will not encourage them. The official spokesman for the Iraqi government, Ali al-Dabagh, said on Monday (April 27) that al-Maliki and his British counterpart Gordon Brown will attend a conference in London on investments in Iraq on Thursday (April 30), which will also be attended by Iraqi and foreign businessmen and investors to discuss investment opportunities in the country. “The Iraqi government may get contracts or certain agreements but it will never pass this stage,” al-Mashhadani said. “Foreign investors are still observing the Iraqi private sector, mainly in the neighboring countries and in the Gulf and comparing it with the situation in Iraq,” he explained. “The biggest problem for the foreign companies are the Iraqi laws, which are considered discouraging,” al-Mashhadani said, calling to speed up all necessary changes in the investment law. For his part, economic expert, Abduljabar al-Halafi, said that “this is not the first time that an economic conference has been held in London to discuss investment opportunities in Iraq, considering the security situation is the biggest obstacle before foreign investments. “Britons do not have the lion’s share in Iraq. We have not yet heard of a British company invested in the Iraqi oil field, and British companies are still reluctant because of the absence of the oil and gas law,” he said. The London-based conference on investment opportunities in Iraq opened on Thursday (April 30) with the participation of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The conference, organized by the U.K. Ministry of Development, is presided over by Deputy Premier Burham Saleh. Representatives from around 250 companies, from Shell to Rolls Royce and Barclays Capital, will join Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Deputy PM Burham Saleh and Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani, for two days of talks. The Iraqi delegation had previously said it would offer a map of 500 investment opportunities in 11 sectors, including petroleum, infrastructure, finance and banking services and tourism. SH (I)/SR 1