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Basra back in business

5 September 2008

Basra is back in business and to prove it the co-chair of the city's Development Commission, Michael Wareing, recently held his first meeting with Iraqi business leaders at their new offices downtown.

 

Mr. Wareing, who is also the head of KPMG International, was appointed by DFID to drive forward the economic development of Basra. He was in Iraq to launch a new youth-into-work scheme aimed at tackling the high levels of unemployment amongst the city's young people.

The Commission has masterminded the project with 50 local employers. Up to 500 trainees aged 16 to 30 will start vocational courses in October at three colleges that are being supported by the city's private sector.

In time it is expected that each of the colleges will take between 3 to 4,000 trainees a year. The UK Government is providing funding of £250,000 to help the scheme get off the ground.

Watch our film, left, to find out more about the scheme and to see an interview with Michael Wareing himself.

Encouraging investment

Co-chairmen of the Basra Development Commission Michael Wareing and Munadhil Abd Khangir outside the BDC's new offices in the citySet up in 2007 with support from DFID, the Basra Development Commission's work to encourage investment is already paying dividends in the city that was once the powerhouse of commerce and industry in Iraq.

Area businessmen are now guardedly optimistic that the conditions exist in which industry can expand. Mazen Al Sa'ad, an IT specialist employing 30 people in offices in Baghdad and Dubai, sits on the Commission. Thanks to the new climate, he is considering setting up a branch of his company in his home town.

"In 2003, when the war started," he explains, "I closed down my business to protect my family. But I don't think the militias will come back, because they're no longer organised.

"I've come back to Basra to see if I can reactivate my business. Many businesses left Basra because of the war, but already 10 or 15% have come back.

"We want a business park close to the airport - then companies will invest here, because of the security."

After a spring offensive earlier this year in which the Iraqi army broke the stranglehold of militias and insurgents over Basra, the city is slowly getting back on its feet. The British Army is now working with the newly confident Iraqi forces to provide the stability crucial for business life to re-emerge.

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New opportunities

Emad Khalib Hassan, 50, is another businessman who stands to benefit from a more stable Basra. The owner of a firm that provides electricity generators for businesses and shops, he plans to expand into transport and shipping through the Gulf region.

"Trade has improved by 95% because people can move around," he says. "Fear has left the people. There used to be no law and order, with kidnappings taking place.

"Now there are more opportunities, and I might open a new factory within the next year."

That the Commission was able to hold its inaugural meeting in Basra is itself a sign of how security in the region is improving. And with investment plans already submitted to both the Commission and the Iraqi Government, businesses are showing a willingness to make use of the new opportunities available.

International steel giant ArcelorMittal has submitted a proposal for modernising the steel plant in the area. The plant would receive an initial investment of $1 billion, rising to a total of $3.2 billion. An associated but separate company, Mittal Investments, has put in a bid - in excess of $1 billion - for another petrochemical facility.

Both proposals, which relate to existing plants in various states of disrepair, have come about as a result of visits by seven companies looking at investment opportunities in the Basra/southern Iraq region.

These companies were represented at the Basra Development Commission investment conference hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street earlier this year. Since then the Commission has helped take their plans forward, supporting Iraqi Government efforts towards economic regeneration.

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