Iraq holds investment roadshow despite violence

Iraq holds investment roadshow despite violence

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Iraqi officials appealed here on Monday for foreign investment
despite unrelenting violence in the country, saying peace will
come before long and an open economy will rise from the ruins of
Saddam Hussein's regime.

Interim Trade Minister Ali Allawi met with Singapore trade
officials and businessmen to assure them the bloodshed would not
last and market reforms were being implemented ahead of the
establishment of a constitutional new government in Baghdad.

At least six people were killed Sunday in a car bombing
outside a Baghdad hotel rented by the U.S.-led coalition, and
home to some Governing Council members.

Violence claimed more lives on Monday when a U.S. soldier died
of wounds from a landmine and a provincial governor escaped an
assassination attempt when a roadside bomb exploded, seriously
wounding two policemen.

Allawi said attacks in Iraq were "sporadic acts of violence"
by "groups of people who are on the way out," and insisted that
"within a matter of months" the security situation would come
"under complete control."

"So by all means, send your teams to visit, by all means send
your people to look at the market," he said at a forum with
potential Singaporean investors.

Opportunities are available in infrastructure and finance as
well as consumer items, foodstuffs, medicine and electronic
goods, he said, noting Iraq's reconstruction was estimated to
cost US$55 billion in the next five years.

"We have been starved of consumer goods," he told the
businessmen, adding that "you will find that there is very little
competition."

The U.S.-educated Allawi, who holds a doctorate in finance and
an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering, was on a
roadshow to seek support for Iraqi reconstruction ahead of a
donor meeting scheduled for October 23-24 in Madrid.

He has visited Japan, South Korea and China, and will proceed
to Australia.

Allawi told reporters that China, which opposed the U.S.
invasion of Iraq, "has been supportive of the reconstruction
needs of the Iraqi economy and we've had some interesting
commitments being made, especially in the humanitarian area."

"The overall position of China I think is supportive of the
reconstruction of Iraq subject of course to the resolution of
outstanding UN. Security Council issues," he said.

Apart from seeking donor commitments in Madrid, Iraq is also
planning to negotiate debt relief from the Paris Club of lenders.

Allawi said Iraq's total commercial debt of 45 billion to $50
billion to bilateral, multilateral and private lenders has not
been serviced since the 1980s.

"We haven't started negotiations but all I can say is that
countries in a similar position such as Egypt and Poland managed
to negotiate 65 to 70 percent debt forgiveness," he said.

He said he hoped for even greater relief because "the debts of
Iraq were incurred by a brutal, authoritarian, dictatorial regime
mainly to fund illicit activities like wars or aggression.

"And as much as these debts relate to that, they (lenders)
have to take these factors into account," he added.

Asked how he felt about his own safety as a member of the
interim government, Allawi said "we have to take our precautions
because the terrorists are targeting people in positions of
authority."

"This tends to restrict our movements but it's a necessary
thing we have to do in the short term," he added.