The Department of International Trade West Midlands invite you to join Mr Jon Wilks, CMG, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq, and his Department for International Trade colleagues to explore the opportunities for business in this market…
18 March | 09:00-13:00 | iCentrum, Birmingham
This is an exciting time for doing business in Iraq. Perceptions of the country are dominated by conflict and security concerns. But look deeper: Daesh has been territorially defeated and the security situation is stabilising. Exports of goods and services from the UK are increasing (reaching £0.5bn in 2017). So the opportunity is there for UK firms to get into this market early – not least through UK Export Finance which has been offering support in the market since 2017 and recently completed £1bn of business, with more will follow.
To reflect the close ties between the UK and Iraq, our Embassy in Baghdad has been working with the new Iraqi government to boost our economic partnership. Priorities for the next 4 years have been identified in the following sectors:
- oil & gas
- power
- infrastructure
- security & defence
- healthcare and life sciences
- education
- financial & business services
- technology
- retail
- agriculture
The international community is also increasing its activity in Iraq, which is creating opportunities for aid-funded business. And donors are moving into the economic space to create the conditions to stimulate the private sector and improve the ease of doing business.
So whilst Iraq is still a challenging business environment, the opportunities are there and the British Embassy and DIT Iraq are on hand to help. Come along to this event on 18 March and hear from the Ambassador and his team direct.
