Iraq Britain Business Council: Accentuating the Positive

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13 November 2014

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By Robert Tollast.

Luay al-Khairullah has reason to be optimistic. As Chairman of the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], I spoke to him last year about the planned Nasiriyah Integrated Project (NIP) a 300,000 barrel a day capacity refinery not far from his home town.
It’s a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] that will create much needed jobs and provide cheaper fuel for Iraqis.

The NIP is just one of several vital strategic projects for Iraq, some progressing such as the multi billion dollar Grand al Faw port project and the Karbala refinery (a Hyandai led project).

Other projects are still in the blueprint stage. Zaha Hadid’s [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for a new Central Bank of Iraq is one such audacious project, and many more are in the pipeline- Iraq’s second biggest resource is surely ambition.

But Dr.al Khairullah’s humble, quiet demeanor quickly turned to near excitement when I mentioned the possibility of greater tourism in Iraq’s famous southern marshes.

This was “already being prepared for” and soon the province was planning an international showcase for the many sites to visit in the south such as the iconic Sumerian Ziggurat, the Mudhifs of the ancient Marsh Arab culture and the museums of antiquities.

Tourism was one of many investment opportunities in Dhi Qar he said, a message reinforced during his presentation at the Iraq Britain Business Council’s Autumn conference in Westminster, London.

What was clear from the conference was that Dr.Khairullah was not alone in his optimism and was one of a number of Iraqi politicians setting their sights on diversifying Iraq’s economy. At the local level, shopping malls and hotels are still springing up across Iraq, a sign of Iraqis’ fervent yearning for normalcy.

Huge credit has to go to the IBBC for drawing attention to these facts and putting on such an excellent event. The organisation has brought together countless professionals who are committed to Iraq’s progress, from helping the most vulnerable all the way up to capacity building and multi billion dollar strategic projects.

IBBC was established by Baroness Emma Nicholson, an energetic and passionate woman with decades of experience championing the rights of Iraqis and highlighting the country’s potential.


In fact, the number of people who have such in depth experience of Iraq over such a long period number very few globally. Meeting her before the event, it was hard to escape the sense that to her Iraq was not so much a country as a cause, and her enthusiasm was infectious.

Subsequently the organisation has gone from strength to strength and established itself as a vital business conduit for anyone interested in Iraq’s development or exploring the growing investment opportunities. The high turnout of Iraqis (most of the attendees at the event) was a clear testament to the strong relevance of the organisation.

This relevance extends from the most grassroots level in Iraq right up to a network of political supporters at the highest level of government both inside and outside Iraq. The diversity of expertise present gave the event the feel of a genuine dialogue rather than a series monologues, sometimes heard at other events.

Equally important, IBBC has been improving the lives of countless thousands of Iraqis through health clinics and schools or more recently through aid to Iraq’s 1.5 million refugees, work channelled through the excellent Amar Foundation.Amar also work at university level capacity building and human rights, a spectrum of work which makes them one of the most vital NGOs in Iraq today.

Of course, readers of Iraq Business News will know that there is much more to Iraq than the usual headlines. In fact, as we left the conference it was hard to escape the notion that Iraq is arguably the region’s most promising emerging economy, in spite of current challenges.

Currently we are seeing the ongoing expansion of Iraq’s ports which will see a phenomenal increase in containerised goods in the next decade, the ongoing expansion of oil production both in the south and the Kurdish region (both areas with excellent security) and an ambitious plan to build several new airports.

At the forefront of these developments are some of the biggest company names in the world, jostling to enter this promising market. This fact is sometimes forgotten by those who seek to portray Iraq as the interest of a select few countries.

The sheer diversity of businesses now entering Iraq from all over the globe is stunning, and IBBC of course highlighted some of the growing business ties between Iraq and the UK. So in the first of a two part series looking at the work of IBBC, we thought we’d start with a little summary of the conference’s content.

Since there were so many high calibre speakers it was not possible to include them all here, however we met so many fascinating people that we will be interviewing many of them for IBN in the coming months.

In particular, we’ll be drilling down into detail with speaker’s working on ambitious reconstruction projects and academics committed to strengthening the higher education sector in Iraq. Speaker highlights follow:

Jafaar al Hamdan, Chairman of the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce and Head of the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce
Mr. al Hamdan began by stressing Iraq’s commitment to establishing a strategic relationship with the world and noting Haydar al Abadi’s broad base of support not only at home but abroad.

He described Abadi’s new cabinet as being focused on the “strategic tasks” now facing Iraq and that a part of this involved provincial investment commissions building strategic relationships with foreign companies.Al Hamdan ended his speech with a note of defiance, emphasising that Iraq would overcome ISIS, since his country was built on a 1000 years of civilisation and “would not be brought down”.

He stressed that a key piece of Iraq’s way forward was building on its relations with British companies. This no doubt makes sense–insularity or limited strategic relations don’t always favour countries emerging from decades of crisis. But what was the British view?

The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) representative Nick Archer confirmed the dovetailing of strategic vision between London and Baghdad when he described the UK’s commitment to expanding trade with Iraq, what he termed a “high value opportunity” in the parlance of the FCO.

In that respect, he noted Britain’s goal of £10 million in exports to Iraq per year by 2020. On his hopes for Iraq, Nick said he was already optimistic, describing Erbil as being akin to “San Francisco during the gold rush” and highlighting the huge importance of BP’s involvement in the super giant Majnoon oil field in southern Iraq.

Alistair Kett, PwC:


Alistair was responsible for opening PwC’s first office in Iraq in 2009 and has extensive experience in the region. He expressed his passion for working with Iraqis and noted that PwC see huge potential in Iraq and continue to invest in the country. Kett noted that it was vital to look beyond the gloomy headlines: those who follow Iraq closely know there is much to be enthused about.

Mike Douglas, CEO, SKA Group:


Mike began with a compelling recollection of his first trip to Iraq.  With all the bad news that had emerged from the country, how was it possible to do business there at all, let alone thrive as an organization? But going to Iraq for himself, he soon learned how his group could manoeuvre and thrive and in fact Iraq is now a vital strategic country for the $1 billion plus SKA business.

Douglas said that not only was Iraq a worthwhile investment, SKA have “consistently thrived” there. His final message? “Come to Iraq and see the situation for yourself”.

Tony Hayward, Genel Energy CEO:


Genel’s CEO began by emphasising another seldom covered side of this year’s tribulations in Iraq: away from the front lines, business went ahead mostly unimpeded. In the Kurdish region, he noted how normality was gradually returning following the initial concern caused by the June ISIS offensive. Traffic was returning to normal and logistical routes into Turkey were secure. Subsequently, production at key KRG oil fields Taq Taq and Tawke was soaring and 2015 looked set to bring record output, pushing over the 500,000 bpd mark.

Gavin Wishart, CEO of Standard Chartered Iraq:


Wishart led Standard Chartered’s charge into Iraq with the panache one would expect from the intrepid bank, which has built up a solid reputation for operating in emerging markets. He was also keen to stress the immense personal reward he found in nurturing Iraqi talent.

Such talent was impressive due to the enthusiasm the Iraqis have shown when pushing to meet the bank’s high standards. Wishart recounted how his staff were more than happy to take on th gruelling workloads that young finance professionals around the world become accustomed to. Equally impressive was the Iraqis’ astonishing resilience in the face of adverse circumstances, by this point a recurring theme throughout the conference.

Hans Nijkamp, Vice President and Country Manager for Shell Iraq:


Nijkamp began by giving an impressive overview of Shell’s colossal Iraq operations, so vital not only to Iraq but to the global economy.

At the centrepiece of those operations lies the super giant Majnoon oil field which Shell operate in a consortium with Petronas, in partnership with Iraq’s Southern Oil Company. Notably, Majnoon was once a battleground during the Iran–Iraq war, and yet now provides much of the revenue for Iraq’s long transition away from conflict.

In the next ten years, Majnoon and its sister field Rumaila are expected to keep expanding production and between them have tens of billions of barrels of reserves.

Nijkamp spoke on an impressive panel with Genel Energy CEO Tony Hayward, Foster Wheeler Energy CEO Filipo Abba and Commercial Manager for BP Iraq Mike Wenham. Critically, the panel were asked how they felt about the team PM Hayder al-Abadi had put together, with the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq’s Adel Abdul Mahdi at the helm of the Ministry of Oil. All were positive, with Nijkamp noting he was “hugely encouraged by the whole team”.

So there you have it: Iraq today is a story of adversity, hope and opportunity. The next few years will present many challenges, but for the first time in decades Iraq appears to be developing a national level strategy to overcome them. And with that will come more business opportunity.

For more information about IBBC, as well as information on becoming a member, see here.

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To Much To BOLD! One great read... ;)

it was vital to look beyond the gloomy headlines