Investment promotion symposium in Babel

BABEL / IraqiNews.com: Babel’s Investment Commission on Wednesday held a symposium to encourage local banks and companies to invest in the province. “Representatives of all banks in the province will attend the event, in addition to others from the Chamber of Commerce, the Industries Union, the Iraqi Trade Development Center, the Investment and Financing Center…and several businessmen,” the director general of the commission, Alaa Harba, told IraqiNews.com news agency. Babel, a Shiite province that lies 100 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an area of 6,468 square kilometers (2,497.3 sq mi), with an estimated population of 1,385,783 people in 2003. The provincial capital is the town of al-Hilla. The ancient ruins of Babylon (Babil, after which the region is named) are also in the province. SS (P)/SR 1