Issawi says 4 more provinces to benefit from Japanese investments

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Rafie al-Issawi said on Saturday that four provinces, apart from an Iraqi Kurdistan province, will benefit from investment projects to be carried out by Japanese companies. “A meeting was held on Saturday (Oct. 10) between Deputy Premier Issawi and Sadako Ogata, President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and her accompanying delegation in the presence of Japanese ambassador in Baghdad Shoji Okawa to discuss investment plans and projects by Japanese firms operating in Iraq,” according to a statement by Issawi’s office as received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “The deputy prime minister announced during the meeting that four more Iraqi provinces, including Diala and Ninewa, will make good use of the Japanese investments in the country,” read the statement. Okawa, for his part, said that the Japanese government has released $900 million out of a total $5 billion in a soft loan for Iraq, bringing the sum appropriated by the Japanese side to $3.5 billion. The meeting was attended by the Iraq National Investment Commission (INIC) President Sami al-Aaraji, Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research Abad Dhayyab and Chief of the Cabinet Advisors’ Panel Thamir al-Ghadban. AmR (S)/SR 1