During his meeting with Deputy Secretary of State… and as a complement to the Washington meetings
Chairman of the National Investment Commission Announces Establishing the Iraqi- US Business Council

Dr. Sami Raouf Al-Araji Chairman of the National Investment Met with Mr. Thomas Naidz Deputy U.S. Secretary of State and the economic delegation accompanying him on Saturday, 09/07/2011.
NIC Chairman said during an expanded press conference that the meeting was a continuation and update of the meeting held in Washington, which was taken care of by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her deputy, Mr. Naidz to see the progress made in the light of the first meeting and to have a close glimpse at the situation in Iraq.
Dr. Al- Araji also announced the official opening of the Iraqi-US Business Council in Iraq, which would be an extension of the work of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Iraq, that will deal directly with the Iraqi private sector to promote economic development in Iraq, particularly in the field of small and medium industries and will also deal with the National Investment Commission to attract investors to enter into various economic sectors.
NIC Chairman reviewed during the bilateral meeting with Deputy U.S. Secretary of State and his group a number of vital projects in Iraq, seeking support for some U.S. financial institutions to provide the required facilities to investors and to help in their entering Iraq as soon as possible, especially in the areas of housing, electricity and infrastructure, which are often in need of funding, the matter that needs giving reassurance to the U.S. banks by two important American governmental institutions which are the American Export-Import Bank and the American overseas Private Investment Corporation .
They are two very important in supporting the great effort made with the investors in the various disciplines and what gives them the security that their investments are going in the right direction and that Iraq is the headquarters of the economy in the Middle East, stressing that Iraq is open for investment to all countries in the world for the best offers in all sectors and various forms of investment and that there is an investment map in each of the governorates of Iraq as well as The National Map.
For his part, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Naidz said that the U.S. is the best partner and best friend of Iraq and Iraq was lucky because of having a lot of diplomatic efficiencies in it, saying that the transitional phase in the diplomatic field has already begun and that this transition is a big commitment to the private sector in Iraq , calling for U.S. companies to exploit opportunities in Iraq in different fields in cooperation with public and private sectors, stressing that more efforts in this area would make excellent relations between the two countries.
Mr. Bruce Larsen, President of the Iraqi – Us Business Council welcomed any one from the Iraqi side wants to enter the Council’s membership and participates in its works that is encouraging U.S. investment in Iraq by Iraqi and U.S. governments all the way to the goal of a prosperous Iraq.
The meetings were also attended by Mr. James Jeffrey, U.S. Ambassador in Iraq, members of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, in addition to members of the US-Iraqi Business Council

The continuation of the offer of reducing the down payment of Bismayah housing units

According to continuing the demand of people, NIC decided to extend the offer of reducing the down payment of Bismayah housing units to (10%) instead of (25%).
NIC Chairman, Dr. Sami al-Araji said that many requests had reached to NIC through email and phone calls demanding to keep the offer on to enable them to reserve the units in the biggest project in the Middle East, adding that the work in this project is progressing according to schedule prepared by NIC and the executing company” Hanawah Group for Engineering & Construction).
Al-Araji added that people can visit the project’s registration center on the land of Baghdad International Fair to see the models of housing units in the normal size and to get answers about all questions that come to mind every day except Friday from 9:00 am till 16:00 pm, indicating that NIC will organize a field visit to the project location for people who are registered and those who wish to register.

In order to promote Bismayah housing project
NIC holds a Seminar in the Ministry of Health

An NIC specialized committee held a seminar at the headquarters of the Ministry of Health on Wednesday 25/6/2013 to explain the importance of Bismayah new city project that contains one hundred thousand housing units with integrated services to solve the housing crisis and provide a modern housing for Iraqi citizen, this seminar comes within a series of seminars which were held by NIC in many ministries and Governmental Institutions.
A source in NIC confirmed that the seminar included a detailed explanation for the workflow in the project that is implemented by Korean Hanawah company through a working team composed of hundreds of Korean engineers and technicians in addition to national work force, indicating that construction in the city will be according to the vertical style ,where every building consists of 10 floors at 12 housing units in the floor and there are three areas of housing units priced at (630 $ per square meter).
The source added that the seminar showed the mechanism of the registration to buy a housing unit within the project is to pay( 10%) of the value of the housing unit as a down payment while paying the rest of the amount of the total unit price by installments over (15 years) with grace period reaches (5 years )to make the overall duration (20 years ), it is planned to complete the entire project during (7 years ), where the first two years devoted to infrastructure construction according to international standards then building up the housing units on basis of (1800) units a month , where the first batch will be distributed at the beginning of (2015) .
The source also said that the seminar witnessed a large turnout by the employees of the Ministry of Health who have got all answers about their questions concerning the project , and have been informed about the project registration center which is in Baghdad International Fair that receive citizens wishing to register or who have any question concerning the project every day except Friday from 9:00 am till 4:00 pm in addition to enabling them to view models of the residential units at full size as well as singing contracts in case of purchase.

As a part of its quest to create fully trained cadres
National Investment Commission holds in Baghdad a training course for drawing up the country’s image and building reputation to attract foreign investments

NIC organized in cooperation with the investment program in the Middle East and North Africa of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the U.S. embassy in Baghdad a training course for drawing up the country’s image and building reputation to attract foreign investments in the period (24-25-2013)at the headquarters of NIC for the purpose of making participants acquire the expertise necessary for the process of designing and implementing strategies to build and manage Iraq’s reputation as an important location for foreign investment.
The NIC Economic Advisor, Dr. Abdullah al- Bandar, in the opening speech on behalf of NIC Chairman, Dr. Sami al- Araji, welcomed the attendees who represent provincial investment commissions and NIC as well as a representative from the Office of Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Salih al – Mutlaq, stressing that NIC has taken a new approach to build an advanced cadre who is familiar with international expertise to contribute in reconstruction and development process of Iraq.
Al- Bandar added that the (OECD) played a great role in working to activate capacity building to attract foreign investment and change the investor’s viewpoint towards Iraq from a country of conflicts to an investment attracting country , adding that advantages have been taken from the experiments presented by the OECD through a series of seminars and meetings which have been held since 2007 indicating that this is the second course held by (OECD) in cooperation with the U.S. embassy in Baghdad where participants received lectures about new methods in attracting investors through new practices to influence investors decisions concerning the location as well as putting a plan to build and manage Iraq’s reputation with the necessity of activating partnership with the private sector through (PPP) program .
For his part Mr. Anders Johnson, Iraq project coordinator in (OECD) expressed his happiness to launch such a training course in Iraq after it was held in the neighboring countries , praising the NIC role to create an advanced cadre who have a clear vision on how to attract investment companies to Iraq and change their viewpoints about it because Iraq is a highly attractive investment destination for enjoying a strong consumer market as well as the availability of raw materials , and labor force which can lead in the end to diversifying the national economy.

In order to create an investment partnership between the two countries

NIC Chairman Receives the Chairman of the Sudanese Supreme Investment Council

NIC Chairman, Dr. Sami al- Araji, received on Sunday (3/6/2013) the Chairman of the Sudanese Supreme Investment Council, Dr. Mustafa Ismail and the delegation accompanying him that included Dr. Ishraqa Sayid Mahmoud Minister of Labour and the Governor of the Central Bank of Sudan and representatives from Ministries of Oil ,Foreign Affairs and Sudanese National Youth Federation .
Al- Araji , during a meeting chaired by him with the visiting delegation with the presence of Deputy Minister of Agriculture ,Gazi al- Abudi ,and number of Iraqi Businessmen ,expressed Iraq’s desire for openness on Sudan in deferent economic sectors because of the great experience of Sudan in the field of agriculture stressing that there are investment opportunities in the two countries from which great investment partnerships could be created between the private sectors of the two countries, on the other hand the Iraqi private sector can be a good supplier of the Sudanese agricultural products which have a good reputation among Iraqi people .
NIC Chairman reviewed the available investment opportunities in Iraq showing the NIC’s readiness to submit all guarantees and facilities guaranteed by the amended investment Law no. 13 for the year 2006 for the Sudanese Businessmen and investors.
In his turn, Dr.Mustafa Ismail thanked the Iraqi side for the warm reception showing the Sudan desire to enter the Iraqi market and cooperate with the Iraqi State and privet sectors in deferent economic fields and to develop relations between the two countries.
During the discussions session, the two sides agreed to establish a joint Business Council and work on signing an agreement for protecting and encouraging investment between Iraq and Sudan as well as working on establishing a joint stock company dealing with investments and trade between the two countries.