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Kurdistan unveils itself to the business
world
23.7.2010
By Eli Manaz |
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July
23, 2010
LONDON, — The
first conference on Trade and Investment in the
Kurdistan region was recently held in London. The
conference was in the downtown business court of the
British capital, at St Paul’s Hotel, right next to
St Paul’s Cathedral.
As I passed the cathedral searching for the hotel, I
saw random groups of dark headed men in elegant
suits on the pavement. I couldn’t see the name of
Hotel but it was obvious that I was at right place.
I was greeted with smiles by these relatively young
Kurdish businessmen as I was going in. In return, I
said ‘roj bash, beyani bash!’ Good morning in both
the Kurmanji and Sorani dialects of the Kurdish
language, not knowing which dialect they spoke.
The conference was organized by the High
Representative of the KRG (Kurdistan Regional
Government) in the United Kingdom, Ms Bayan Sami
Abdul Rahman.
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Dr Barham Salih, Prime Minister of Kurdistan region
at the conference on Trade and Investment in the
Kurdistan region. KRG photo. |
‘I hope this conference
gives you both the information and insight you need’
says Ms Abdul Rahman - daughter of prominent Kurdish
leader, Sami Abdul Rahman.
The KRG was represented with heavy muscles in
conference. Prime Minister Berhem Saleh was
accompanied by eight Ministers from Kurdistan and
two ministers from the Federal Government.
The KRG-hosted conference brought over 600 people
from both the Iraqi and Kurdistani business
environments as well as investors from America,
Europe, Turkey, Egypt and the Gulf states.
Berhem Saleh, the Prime Minister of Kurdistan,
briefly mentioned what his government did in various
sectors in his opening speech. And before he invited
investors to invest in Kurdistan he underlined two
key facts:
-Our demand is higher than supply.
-Our plan is to continue to achieve the Kurdistan
regions’ potential to be a hub for these industries
in Iraq.
After his speech Mr. Saleh left the conference for
his meeting with Parliament and with the Private
Sector and we didn’t see him again.
During the first day of the conference, the main
subjects of discussions were international
cooperation, investing in Kurdistan, the Trade and
Industry of Kurdistan and financing and protecting
investment.
There were presentations of the newly built Erbil
and Suleymaniye airports, the Erbil stoke exchange,
and the tripling of oil production.
I noticed that there was discontent, openly
mentioned a few times by speakers, that most oil and
building industry were ‘take and go’ type businesses
and that the Kurdish region would need more
investors who could remain as part of Kurdistan.
That view was shared by Russell Jones,www.ekurd.netCEO
of JMJ Group who he told the conference that they
had invested hundreds of millions of US Dollars and
that the return would take over two decades.
The issue of security was briefly mentioned as one
of the speakers said that: ‘Not a single coalition
soldier was killed and not a single foreigner has
been kidnapped in the KRG region.’
The session of trade and industry was chaired by
Nadhim Zahawi, the first Kurdish MP in the British
Parliament, elected from the city of Stratford,
birthplace of Shakespeare.
Mr. Zahawi also conveyed British Prime Minister
David Cameron’s message to the conference.
Sinan Celebi, the Minister of Trade and Industry was
the key speaker of this session. Mr. Celebi told the
conference that about 10,400 companies were
registered of which 1,080 were foreign, with 60% of
those foreign companies being from Turkey.
A Turkoman by origin and Ankara Middle Eastern
Technical University educated, Mr. Celebi
accompanied President Barzani on his recent visit to
Turkey and their first ever meeting with TUSIAD
(Turkish Business Association) which is a ‘king
maker’ of Turkey. During a coffee break I asked him
about his joint press meeting with the Chairwoman of
TUSIAD, Mrs. Boyner:
‘In Turkey, when we meet and talk, things are
getting much easier. This is what I have been crying
for, to meet, to talk and work together’ said Mr.
Celebi in Turkish.
During the conference speakers were showing hundreds
of diagrams, pictures, and statistics. But it was
during those coffee breaks that I actually got some
key notes from participants.
There was one issue which was mentioned by many:
costly air travel to Kurdistan and Iraq.
Because of bulky figures from insurance companies,
air carriers are still far from providing a
reasonable price.
I put this question to the representative of (THY)
Turkish Airline in Baghdad. Mr. Al Bayati, who told
me that he originally was from city of Maras, in
Turkey, said that they have increased flights from
14 to 34 but that they were just waiting for the new
government to be formed. After the new government’s
Transport Ministry’s approval, THY would then be
able to fly to Erbil, then to both Suleymaniye and
Basra.
Would that make it cheaper to fly for passengers?
Mr. Al Bayati wasn’t sure.
That was an issue for Mr. Pierre Simon, the founder
of Babel Tours as well. Mr. Simon had started to
take tourists to Kurdistan, told me that his company
was specialized on variety of tours including
spiritual tours.
His first tour at the end of 2008 was by the name of
‘Christmas in Iraq’ and they travelled from Paris
via Vienna to Kurdistan.
I asked him about the first reaction of his
costumer. ‘I took them to Erbil, Duhok and
Suleymaniye, including visiting historical Assyrian
sites and churches as well as visiting Muslim, and
Christian communities. We met the Yezidi communities
in Lalesh. They were surprised by such peaceful
atmosphere. Off course they trusted me when they
came but with what they saw, that was a surprise for
them. And soon we will bring people from all over
the World to Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq.’
Mr. Simon said 8 days package tour’s cost was about
2000 Euro per person and added, ‘But a big part of
this is air fare which is still very expensive’
One other issue was high dependency on food export.
‘Kurdistan’s fertile land has a capacity of feeding
60 million people’ said Minister of Agriculture
Jamil Suleiman Haider. I asked him why the cost of
growing local vegetable and fruit was much higher
than importing. ‘Well’ he said, for a while people
did every thing they wanted to do. But now, we are
bringing all to under control’
Tom Hardie-Forsyth, special adviser to KRG told to
the conference that on the 27th of October, this
year, a combination of fruits from Kurdistan,
including famous Kurdish pomegranate will be taken
to the Excel Food Fare, in London.
At the end of the last day of the conference came
the most vivid and striking speaker: Dr Dlawer
Aladin, Minister for Higher Education.
An ex Nottingham University lecturer Dr Aladin, made
his speech with a combination of pictures and
diagrams about the old system. Mr. Aladin said that
up to 70 percent of students in some universities
were from the Faculty of Law. Then he showed us two
pictures; a leaking ceiling, and a Land Cruiser. He
explained that when he had asked why the ceiling had
not been repaired he had been told by the rector of
a university that there wasn’t the money. But
apparently there was enough money for them to buy a
Land Cruiser.
With many other figures and diagrams it appeared
that there was an ongoing comprehensive change of
the old dysfunctional system. Change was not just
around the structure and priorities but also the
democratization of universities which would give
students a say.
As Dr Aladin, was presenting a complete
‘perestroika’ in Kurdistan higher education, there
was a question; would he get the backup required
from the top of government?
‘Yes’ he said toward the end of his speech; ‘I have
the full backing from the Prime Minister and the
government. Also I am happy that people who argued
against change are now cooperating as they can see
the changes are beneficiary for all of us.’
As expected, Dr Aladin received loud applause after
a rather impressive speech and demonstration of
commitment.
During two days of this first-ever conference on
Trade and Investment in Kurdistan, I witnessed ups
and downs. Perhaps having more time and especially
workshops in smaller groups with the participation
of ministers or senior government’s figures would
have made the conference better.
And one another issue which is still is a problem in
Kurdish life; the lack of women.
And finally, comes the question of delivery. Will
KRG people actually be able to deliver what they are
saying? That is a question for we will have to wait
for an answer to.
Actions speak louder than words.
Before I left the conference I asked Tom Hardy
Forsyth, special adviser to KRG what he thought.
‘Well’ he said ‘I remember in 1992, I couldn’t find
5-6 people who would be able say something on Kurds.
Now we had to squeeze 600 people in a room for 550
people’
Mr. Forsyth’s word reminded me my first encounter
with –Southern- Kurds; it was after the ‘Anfal’
campaign now over twenty years ago. Millions of
Kurds fled Kurdistan and sought shelter in other
parts of the world. There were refugee camps in
Turkey and the then Prime Minister of Turkey Turgut
Ozal was visiting one of these camps on the Bank of
the river Tigris, in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
As an Ankara-based journalist I was following that
visit along with other journalists.
They were hundreds of tents in a muddy field
surrounded by metal fences. In those desperate
condition I spoke to a Kurdish women in a
traditional outfit, who turned out to be a professor
of Biology. Then I remembered how along with my
Turkish colleagues we were talking to one of the
representatives of the camp - a Kurdish Peshmerge in
his late 20s. ‘What do you need?’ asked one of the
Turkish journalists. ‘We need nothing’ said the
young Pashmarga in a dignified manner. ‘We are
fine’.
Then I overheard the old Kurdish man who was
squatting outside the next tent.
“Well, I AM not fine. My tobacco has run out and I
can’t do anything... How could I be fine,” He said
in Kurdish.
Who knows, maybe among these people attending this
conference, were his children, or nephews or
villagers.
Kurdistan has changed and now unveiling itself to
the rest of the World business.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
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