DFID Blogger - Encouraging foreign investment to Iraq

Simon
DFID Representative, Iraq

I'm the lead DFID representative in Basra, Iraq. Here we're focussed on developing the Iraqi provincial government and the local economy. I lead the local programme work and provide development advice to UK and international civilian and military colleagues.

It’s been a hectic couple of months in Basra (you may have noticed I’ve not posted recently). The big story has been the drawdown of the British military from the province. I’ll write about that in a future post. For this post I wanted to write about DFID’s work to encourage inward foreign investment to Basra (and Iraq more generally). This has unsurprisingly had a lower profile but has been an interesting, atypical – for DFID - but very successful part of our programme. It also hit a recent high with the Invest Iraq event DFID held on the 30th April in London.

So why have we been working to encourage companies to come to Basra. Because, as I wrote in an earlier blog, unemployment is one of, if not the, major issues facing the province. One way of creating jobs and also of raising living standards and providing goods and services is through encouraging foreign companies to invest and set up operations in the province. It’s not the only answer – Basra’s still going to need huge amounts of government and domestic investment – but it is likely to be part of the answer.

To date our work has taken two approaches. Firstly, we’ve actively gone out to potential overseas investors to sell them the idea of investing in Basra. And I should add here that we’ve not focused on UK companies but on any companies worldwide that might potentially and credibly be prepared to invest significantly. For those that were interested we brought them in to Basra and Baghdad to see the opportunities for themselves and to meet with key people.

In just over a year we’ve brought in twenty different companies to Iraq. Often these visits have included trips into downtown Basra city or to other key sites, for example the port at Umm Qasr. And for these trips we’ve often drawn on the support of the military, for example using military helicopters to move people around or military escorts to provide security; support that’s been both invaluable and has reflected the military’s enlightened approach to supporting the development effort (and interestingly the Iraqi military here in Basra have also expressed a desire to help visiting investors coming to the province).

Secondly we’ve been working with the provincial investment agency, the Basra Investment Commission (BIC), to develop their capacity so that they can generate inward investment without our help. The BIC’s the official legal investment promotion agency for the province. DFID’s Secretary of State Douglas Alexander attended the launch of the BIC in Basra in November last year. Since then, and with our active support, the BIC’s come on apace and it’s now supporting visits from investors without our direct involvement.

As part of both strands we’ve supported investment events, held in conjunction with the BIC and the National Investment Commission (NIC) to promote Basra and Iraq to interested companies. Last year we supported events in Kuwait, London and Istanbul. This year one of the high points in Basra was a visit by Lord Mandelson along with a twenty four person delegation of high ranking British businessmen. On the 6th April we, together with the British Consulate and the BIC, hosted an event at Basra airport attended by two hundred Basrawi businessmen, politicians and local government officials.

The latest milestone was the Invest Iraq event in London on the 30th April. DFID co-hosted this along with the Iraqi NIC. This had a focus on encouraging investment to Iraq as a whole rather than just Basra. Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki led a delegation of over 100 which included just about the entire Iraqi cabinet plus government officials and Iraqi business people. From the investor side over 250 of the world’s biggest companies attended, including most of the UK’s leading firms from the oil and gas sector and financial sectors and numerous other household names. Interest was such that we had to turn away a further 200 companies in the days before the conference. I attended on behalf of DFID Basra. As the military would say the ‘atmospherics’ were terrific with a definite buzz to the event.

So what success have we had in getting companies setting up here in Iraq? Well it’s clear that there’s a lot of serious interest. The trick of course will be to turn this interest in to actual investment, operations and jobs on the ground. In truth for this it’s still early days – foreign companies are instinctively cautious and decisions on investment can take months if not years – so it’ll be some time before we see the full fruits of our labours. The Iraqi Government will also have to seize any opportunities that are presented. I am however very hopeful. Recently the BIC approved its first Investment Licence for a $100m tourism project funded by a Kuwaiti firm. There are also a number of other companies on the brink of setting up operations here in Basra.

And where do we go next with this line of work? Well we, DFID, are moving away from the direct investment promotion game and London was our last major event. Increasingly the Government of Iraq can and should do this for themselves. We will however be continuing our support to help them to do this - we’ll be continuing to work with the NIC in Baghdad and the BIC in Basra – and we’ll also be working with the Government of Iraq to make Basra an easier place for companies to do business.

Art: Behind Basra - Essam al-Sudani's Photos from the City - Mirror

As British troops leave Basra, this exhibition by Iraqi photojournalist Essam al-Sudani looks at the daily life of ordinary Iraqis.

Through his lens al-Sudani, 29, captures a series of wonderfully composed images from a city that has been much in the news but little seen by the world at large - and which itself has seen traumatic but also hopeful changes over the past year.

This exhibition presents portraits of everyday life from a city that is now daring to look to the future with optimism.

Al-Sudani is from the southern Iraqi city of Basra. He has worked since 2004 for the French news agency Agence France Presse and this is his first European exhibition.

The exhibition is supported by the Department for International Development (DFID).

DFID was introduced to Essam's work when he attended a DFID funded Iraqi media training initiative to support a strong, free and independent media in Basra. The media training was part of a range of programmes that DFID has funded in Iraq to support reconstruction.

Bargehouse
South Bank
Oxo Tower Wharf
London SE1 9PH
020 7021 1600
www.coinstreet.org

Going downtown in Basra - DFID

Simon

DFID Representative, Iraq

I’ve been downtown twice in the last couple of weeks now, so I thought it might be interesting to set down some impressions of the city (as well as some photographs). Now that security has improved, we’re out and about in town on a regular basis. One of my trips included a long drive into and through town which gave me a particularly good opportunity to get a sense of the city and how things are doing.

Firstly, the atmospherics (as the military term them) are very positive. I’ve worked in other cities in conflict zones and there’s nothing like getting out on the ground for getting a sense of how you’re viewed. As we drove into town lots of I was positively impressed at the warm reception we received – lots of people waved or gave us the thumbs up and in many ways I found it reassuring that often people didn’t bat an eyelid at our presence either way.

Secondly, it’s very obviously been election time. The provincial elections took place on Saturday, and the city is covered in political posters - and since there were over 1200 candidates there’s a huge range of posters. Maybe this’ll seem simplistic but it looks to me like a town in which the population is engaged in the democratic process (and I’ll write about the elections more shortly). Together with the election posters there are a lot of banners and flags still up from the recent Shia religious festival of Ashura so the streets are nothing if not colourful.

Thirdly, though it’s down at heel and seen better days you can see that the downtown area - particularly the Corniche which runs alongside the Shatt Al Arab waterway, with its cafes and floating restaurants and the canals that spur from it - has real potential to be an attractive location. It’s often repeated to us that Basra used to be the ‘Venice of the east’ and while getting back to that is clearly some way off you can see how that may have been true and how it could be again.

Fourthly, there’s a strong and visible Iraqi Security Force presence – both police and army – on the streets. Checks points are set at regular intervals. Security has improved dramatically, and while the situation remains fragile it is incredibly encouraging that it is now the Iraqi Army that people rely on to provide security, not the UK or US.

Lastly, the city is vast, dirty and in places squalid – the journey into town takes over an hour, much of which runs past obviously poor communities where ramshackle houses stand next to pools of stagnant water and piles of rubbish. Much of this reflects decades of under-investment in the city – the city did particularly badly during the Saddam years (the city’s predominantly Shia and the Saddam punished it by starving it of funding following the Shia uprising in 1992 – it also suffered particularly severely during the Iran-Iraq war).

That said, I’m told by many of the people who’ve been here for a number of years that the city is currently in a better state than they’ve seen it before and that visible progress is being made. And while it’s clear that the city’s going to need years of sustained economic growth and investment in basic infrastructure to bring it to where it should be - given Iraq’s relative wealth – it’s also clear that the city’s moving in the right direction.

To see the blog on the DFID website click here

My week: Keith Mackiggan of DfID - Times Online

Rebuilding Basra with a dollop of help from Ben & Jerry

BACK TO SCHOOL

Every day is a work day in Basra - there’s no weekend. We live at the air base, which is about six miles across the dusty desert from the city, so helicopters are the easiest way to get around. It is my favourite part of life out here: you are skidding 100ft above the ground, swooping over the electricity pylons - it’s exhilarating. Commuting to work will never quite be the same again.

I’ve been living here since September as head of the Department for International Development’s reconstruction team for Basra, in southern Iraq. I spent the beginning of the week visiting some of our projects with my interpreter. He is from Sudan and fled his country about 20 years ago, settling with his family in Manchester. He’s a hero doing fantastic work and we couldn’t really do anything without him.

We touched down at a couple of primary schools for which we’d built eight new classrooms. Before that, there would be up to 100 children in each room; our efforts will cut the class sizes in half.

The children were so cute, dressed in their freshly pressed, gleaming white shirts and chanting their times tables. As we were leaving they shouted out, “Merry Christmas and a happy new year,” in English.

KARAOKE DREAD

As New Year’s Eve approached, I began to get butterflies in my stomach. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Basra hosted a party with karaoke and I was forced on stage. A few weeks ago I played Widow Twankey in a production of Aladdin put on by the British military base and my colleagues now seem to think that I’ve found my vocation as a singer.

It was a beautiful starlit night: there was a kind of Arabian crescent moon in the sky and it was in this setting that I wowed the audience with my rendition of Madonna’s Material Girl. I wasn’t in costume this time, although the party was fancy dress. There were some great outfits - a Christmas present and a policeman - but my favourite was the consul-general who came as a beach bum, sporting an ironing board as a surfboard. There was some cross-dressing, inevitably.

The military clerk, whose name is Corporal Burley - highly appropriate for a a physical training instructor - uses any excuse to get dressed up in drag. Wednesday was no exception.

DEMOCRACY TAKES OFF

There were a few sore heads on New Year’s Day but no time to relax for the Brits on the airbase because it was the day of the handover of Basra international airport. I head a team of about 30 people coordinating efforts to improve infrastructure, train Iraqi officials and attract foreign investment.

The UK has been working with the airport authorities and they are now handling numerous commercial flights each day; indeed, about 5,000 local residents flew to the haj in Saudi Arabia last month. I’m really glad about this because in the past the airport was never used commercially: it was only ever used by Saddam Hussein. To me, that’s democracy in action.

NOW FOR MOZAMBIQUE

Towards the end of the week I flew up to the marshlands, to one of the villages near the Iranian border. The area is neglected and remote but the scenery is stunning. Basra’s army chief, General Mohammed, was in the area recently and was horrified when the villagers told him that he was the first government official they’d seen in 30 years.

We’ll be working up there to create joint community action centres, which will provide access to basic services such as a school and a clinic for the first time.

I always look forward to Friday because that’s when I sit down to dinner with three of the other senior allied officials in Basra. We take it in turns to host the meal in our canteen and last week it was at the Donkey bar at the US consulate, where they have Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. You have to be careful not to get fat out here - the canteen food is so good.

I’ll be leaving Basra at the end of March and will be sad to go. It’s a weird and wonderful place and I feel lucky to be here. I don’t miss much about the UK - apart, perhaps, from cycling. I have a strict luggage allowance and I don’t think I could smuggle a bicycle into my suitcase.

My next posting begins in the summer in Mozambique, but I’ll need to go out there almost immediately to have some language training - everything is done in Portuguese and I’ll need to get fluent in three months flat.

Keith Mackiggan is the head of the Basra provincial reconstruction team for the Department for International Development

To see the full article click here to see it on the Timesonline

Basra calm offers better future

In late August Mike Sergeant from BBC News visited Basra.

For most of the past five years, Basra was more of a battleground than a business centre. After many false starts, British and Iraqi officials say they are finally seeing signs of change.

While here in Basra the BBC and FT travelled with a British businessman Michael Wareing, who is also the co-chairman of the Basra Development Commission - the body overseeing reconstruction efforts here. Find out what the BBC and FT made of the trip:

For the full article click - Basra calm offers better future
The FT also visited - read their article and see pictures of the trip
For the media ops video cast on www.youtube.com/basrablog