Asian businesses eyeing Iraq

Asian businesses eyeing Iraq

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Hundreds of businesses across Asia are preparing to invest in Iraq despite the dangers, U.S. officials on a regional roadshow to promote investment in the war-torn country said here on Monday.

Singaporean, Chinese, South Korean, Japanese and Australian investors have all shown strong interest over the past two months in grabbing a share of the US$18 billion in U.S. government contracts on offer, they said.

The Iraq Reconstruction Project Opportunities roadshow, comprising officials from the U.S. government and Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority, has also stopped in Seoul and Sydney, as well as European and Middle East nations, since the beginning of March.

The communication and planning director with the Coalition Provisional Authority's program management office, Jonathon Thompson, told AFP more than 600 business people from North Asia attended the Seoul briefing.

A further 100 businesses were represented at each of the Singapore and Sydney briefings, with Thompson reporting unanimous enthusiasm among the delegates for venturing into Iraq.

"I have not experienced any company in all of these meetings who are reluctant to participate. They wouldn't be here if they were," Thompson said on the sidelines of the Singapore seminar.

Ted Tan, the assistant chief executive officer at International Enterprise Singapore, the city-state's trade promotion board, also said many local firms were poised to invest in Iraq.

"A lot of companies are really serious about going to Iraq. They are looking at working out concrete plans with the primary contractors," Tan told AFP.

Tan said a number of Singapore companies had already set up operations in countries neighboring Iraq and were waiting for the security risks to subside before venturing across the border.

The director of Singaporean construction firm Wee Engineers, Liew Chee Kian, attended Monday's seminar and said his firm hoped to set up operations in Iraq in the next six to 12 months.

"$8 billion is a lot of money and the country is so big," Liew told AFP. "It's going to take many years to rebuild the country so the opportunities are definitely there."

Asked about the dangers of working in Iraq, Liew said he did not believe it was as dangerous as made out in the world's press.

"The media is always giving reports on the negative side. There are a lot of good sides that aren't publicized. There are a lot of areas that are quite safe," he said.