Iraq on Wednesday rolled out the red carpet for the private sector with the aim of developing its untapped natural resources, as the Opec member struggles to diversify its oil-reliant economy.
The country's Ministry of Industry and Minerals began a two-day conference in Baghdad to encourage investment in mineral exploration and petrochemicals as well as the fertiliser and cement industries, highlighting the large reserves of minerals available and the abundant energy to exploit them.
During the event, Minister of Industry and Minerals Kahlid Battal Najam offered investors long-term partnership opportunities in a long list of state-linked phosphate, nitrogen, sulphur, fertiliser and glass production projects.
Mr Najam also promised tax exemptions, export subsidies and the lifting of tariffs on imported raw materials for projects for up to 10 years.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani said that businesses coming to Iraq would be able to operate in a safe environment with the full co-operation of the government, which would soon undergo economic reforms.
Improved security
Mr Al Sudani emphasised his country was now safe for business, saying it desperately needs help in looking for new sources of income outside of oil.
“Today we are confidently talking about a new Iraq,” Mr Al Sudani told the conference. “An Iraq that is stable, independent, unified, prosperous and strong.
“From a security perspective, thanks to be to God, we are now in our best condition, as our security forces control all Iraq and they are capable of maintaining security and peace.”
He said ISIS was “no longer a threat and there are only small groups hiding in caves and mountains, not controlling even 1 metre in Iraq”.
Between 2014 and 2017, the terrorist group overran almost one third of the country before it was declared militarily defeated, having fought bloody last-stand battles in northern and western Iraqi cities such as Mosul and Tikrit.
“Now is the appropriate time to call all investors to seize all the investment opportunities,” Mr Al Sudani said.
The event is far from the first time Iraq has offered investment opportunities in the non-oil sector. In 2008, it tried to offer investors licences to establish new projects in rehabilitated idle factories, but these efforts were derailed by red tape, political wrangling and security issues.
Only a few projects, mainly in the cement and a few in fertiliser industries, succeeded. A similar push occurred during a Kuwait reconstruction conference in early 2018, but once again, Iraq struggled to attract investors.
Mohammed Ali Salih, chief executive of Baghdad-based Kahirat Al Kanz trading company, told The National that bureaucracy, nepotism, corruption and lack of modern investment regulations are the main challenges.
He has been trying to get a licence for a phosphate factory for the past four years, to no avail.
“Iraq has a strong potential but the environment is not suitable,” he said.
Many industries, including fertiliser and cement production, saw a golden era in the late 1970s and early 1980s, exporting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of product as well as meeting local demand.
Diversifying away from oil
Iraq, Opec’s second-largest producer, holds about 153.1 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. It is highly reliant on crude revenue, which makes up nearly 95 per cent of its income.
The country exports about 3.3 million barrels of oil per day, while production in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region amounts to more than 450,000 bpd.
However, Iraq is not only a country rich in oil and natural gas — it also sits on a wealth of minerals.
Iraq was among the first countries in Middle East to initiate mineral exploration in early 1950s and non-oil industry accounted for 23 per cent of its gross domestic product during the 1970s, the Ministry of Industry and Minerals reported.
But decades of war since the 1980s, UN-imposed economic sanctions during the 1990s, and political and security instability that followed the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein derailed development in the sector.
The country’s minerals have never been fully explored by either local or foreign companies.
Iraq is thought to have the some of the world's highest sulphur reserves at up to 400 million tonnes, according to the Iraq Geological Survey Commission.
It also has the largest marine phosphate deposits, almost 10 billion tonnes — making it also the second-largest phosphate reserves in the world after Morocco, amounting to 8 per cent of total world reserves.
Geologists say the country has even more untapped resources and minerals, including sand that can be used for filters, specialised construction and fracking in the oil industry, as well as salt, gypsum, limestone, marble and bauxite, in addition to metallic deposits such as strata-bound zinc, lead, copper, chromium, nickel, iron and manganese.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour Calendar 2018/19
July 29: OTA Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan
Sep 22-23: LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, US
Nov 16-18: Carioca Arena Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mar 9-10: Copper Box Arena in London, UK
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Japan
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Canada
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
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*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
The%20specs
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Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
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Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
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Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
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Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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Delhi Daredevils 60-4 (6 ov)
Rajasthan won by 10 runs (D/L method)
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Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
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