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.