Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi meets members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in New York.
Zaidi offers US companies land ownership and 10-year tax breaks
NEW YORK — Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi offered American companies land ownership for investment projects and tax and customs exemptions of up to 10 years, in a pitch to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“The government is keen to provide all necessary requirements and facilities for companies and investors,” Zaidi said, including “ownership of land for investment projects in accordance with Iraqi laws” and tax and customs exemptions for up to a decade. Iraq’s resources, workforce and location give the basis for successful investment partnerships, he said. “Iraq wants to build economic relations based on partnership, mutual interests and long-term investment.”
He invited U.S. firms into petrochemicals, glass, phosphate, gas and clean energy, saying the government wants manufacturing and production that diversifies the economy and creates jobs, and to the planned railway network of the Development Road, which is meant to make Iraq a trade corridor between East and West. Preliminary railway and highway designs are complete, the Transport Ministry said in July, with work moved to detailed designs while officials develop a financing mechanism and economic model to attract Iraqi and international investors.
He also invited Chamber members to the forthcoming Baghdad Energy Conference.
It is the third such pitch in ten days, after meetings with French companies in Paris and German firms in Berlin that covered the same sectors. Iraqi agencies and companies announced 48 agreements and memorandums with U.S. firms during Zaidi’s July visit to Washington, covering oil, electricity, industry, technology and finance. The prime minister’s office described them as a framework for wider cooperation but has not published the texts or said how many are binding contracts. The cabinet approved measures in July involving Chevron and General Electric on raising crude production, studying alternative export pipelines and developing generation and transmission.