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.