Baghdad The Prime Minister’s envoy to Saudi Arabia, Minister of Finance Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi, revealed on Friday the axes that will be discussed with the Kingdom to support the Iraqi economy.
Allawi said in press statements, “The aim of the visit to Saudi Arabia is to go through three axes to develop Iraq’s relationship with the Saudi side, the first of which is immediate cash support to the budget, while the second axis is to stimulate private Saudi companies and institutions, especially in the fields of energy and agriculture, and urge them to enter the Iraqi markets through investments, “pointing out that” the third axis is the activation of the commercial side.”
Allawi added, “Iraq has a plan to move towards achieving an economic and financial balance with neighboring countries and that the Iraqi market be open to all, away from harming a certain party.”
He continued, “The government is seeking to urge Saudi companies to contribute to the reconstruction of the country,” stressing that “Iraq needs immediate financial support, so the government could fulfill its obligations towards employees.”
He stressed that “there are many obstacles that prevented investments in Iraq, including the laws and regulations in force and the loss of the incubating structure for foreign investments, as well as the accounting and legal system that is not encouraging, as well as the system of land acquisition that is not encouraging as well, all of these obstacles prevent the Saudi investor and any other investor from investing in other areas outside the oil fields, “he called for” the need to have an environment conducive to investment, the replacement of those laws, and the treatment of existing problems and obstacles. ”
He pointed out that “the administrative system in Iraq is now incompatible with the requirements of the foreign investor, and it also contains major violations of corruption and interference in the way of making decisions from parties not related to the investment work, interfering for the private and partisan benefit which is one of the main obstacles that exclude the foreign investor” Noting that “the investor when he watches this environment will be conservative, whatever the Iraqi market is, it requires encouragement from the private sector, which also suffers from these constraints.”
Source: National Iraqi News Agency