At the Invest Iraq conference, held last month in London, a flood of investment projects and opportunities were presented by the Iraqi government to more than 250 foreign investors from British and international companies. The high-profile delegation from Iraq included Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and officials from Iraq’s various ministries and provincial investment commissions. This was going to be an all-out team effort because Iraq, quite simply, needs foreign investment and expertise. The country needs a colossal $400 billion worth of infrastructure to meet the basic needs of its population. It needs power plants to generate electricity (electricity rationing still occurs in the country); it needs water systems, new hospitals, schools, transport networks and more than 3.5 million residential units within the next 10 years at a rate of 350,000 per year. The list continues to include agricultural and food production needs. Falling oil prices
Dr Ranj Alaaldin is a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Doha. He specialises in intrastate conflict, governance and human security issues in the Middle East.
