March 2021 - Iraqi Business Council

Economic Event: Participation of the IBC Chairman & Deputy Chairman and Secretary General In the Joint Dialogue Seminar Organized by the Private Iraqi Banks Association

March 21, 2021/in Economic Activities /by User ibc

At the invitation extended by the Chairman of the Iraqi Private Banks Association, IBC Chairman Dr. Majid Saedi, Deputy Chairman and Secretary General Dr. Saad Naji and IBC Director General participated on Sunday March 21^st 2021 in the Joint Electronic Dialogue Seminar organized by the Iraqi Private Banks Association under the title “The Impact of Covid-19 on the Financial Institutions”.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq Mr. Mustafa Ghalib, the Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan Mr. Ziad Fariz, President of Bahrain Banks Association Mr. Adnan Yousif, and a number of Iraqi and Arab specialists and experts participated in the Seminar.

During the session, a number of topics were discussed such as; the impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the financial institutions, the rise of defaulted debts, the method of dealing with them, how to attract investment to Arab countries especially Iraq and Jordan, in addition to the effects of the rate of exchange on attracting investments.

During the Seminar, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq Mr. Mustafa Ghalib spoke about a series of measures taken by the Central Bank of Iraq to confront the impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on economy, indicating that the Pandemic has led to an increase in defaulted debts by 18% during 2020, which requires taking certain treatment measures that simulate the input of Iraqi reality; especially the security and legal inputs.

Iraqi Business Council Deputy Chairman & Secretary General Participates in the Activities of launching the 65th Session of the United Nations Women Status Commission

March 16, 2021/in CSR /by User ibc

At the invitation of the Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Global Compact Mrs. Sanda Ojiambo, IBC Deputy Chairman and Secretary General Dr. Saad Naji participated on March 16^th and 17^th 2021 in the launching activities of the Sixty-Fifth Session of the Women Status Commission, which was held electronically.

The Commission in its 65^th Session held this year focused on full and effective participation of women and their decision-making in public life, elimination of violence, achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

The meeting also assessed the progress achieved in implementing the conclusions agreed upon in the 60^th Session that was held in 2016 on “the Empowerment of Women & Their Relation to Sustainable Development”.

In addition, a number of ministerial round-table meetings were held and high level interactive dialogues, general discussions, interactive dialogues and expert-group discussions took place.

In his speech on the opening day of the 65^th Session of the Women Status Commission, the UN Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres said “the equal participation of women is the factor we need to change the rules of the game.”

He explained that for decades, evidence indicated that women’s participation enhanced economic outcomes, encouraged greater investment in social protection and lead to more sustainable peace and promoted climate action.

Senior executives, including Coca-Cola, Toyota-Motors and the Malaysian Oil Company participated in the conference.

It is worth mentioning that the Women Status Commission is a technical committee of the United Nations Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) dedicated to developing global policies exclusively to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Economic Event: Meeting of IBC Chairman & Members with members of the Parliamentary Economic & Investment Committee

March 9, 2021/in Economic Activities /by User ibc

IBC Chairman Dr. Majid Saedi, IBC Deputy Chairman and Secretary General Dr. Saad Naji, IBC members Dr. Hasenein Al-Ibrahimi and IBC Director General met on Tuesday March 9^th 2021 with members of the Economy & Investment Committee of the Jordanian Parliament; representatives Dr. Khalid Al-Satneji and Mr. Khaldoun Hina.

At the beginning of the meeting Dr. Saedi reviewed some of the investments of IBC members in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the major role of the Iraqi investors and businessmen in supporting the Jordanian economy.

He also stressed the need to support investment during this difficult phase since all economic sectors have been negatively and seriously affected by the Pandemic, and providing the necessary facilities to maintain investment, in addition to renewing the investor’s temporary passport according to the previous instructions and conditions, according to which investors and their families were granted this passport without the need to change or increase the conditions for its renewal, since the new instructions contradict the previous ones, according to which the passport was granted.

For his part, Representative Dr. Khalid Al-Satneji expressed keenness of the Jordanian Government on developing the investment environment and that this meeting was held to start working on that, stressing that the Economic & Investment Parliamentary Committee will form joint committees with the Iraqi Business Council and organize bilateral meetings between these committees, Ministers and the Jordanian Government’s team to develop solutions for investment and provide more incentives and facilities to investors to enhance and develop the investment environment in Jordan, which has been affected by the difficult regional conditions and Cornonavirus Pandemic.

Dr. Saad Naji also spoke during the meeting about the importance of modifying the definition of investment in Jordan, not limiting it to specific sectors, since all economic sectors fall within the concept of investment in a large number of courtiers that witnessed great economic growth and prosperity, and facilitate the residence renewal instruction for investors without the need to refer to the Verification Department of the Jordanian Interior Ministry, and provide incentives and facilities to investors that would enhance investment, settle it, and reduce the chances of the investors’ transferring their investments to other countries.

IBC member Dr. Hasenein Al-Ibrahimi discussed the study and data that he had earlier prepared on foreign investment in the Kingdom, which included a number of important points; the most important of which are the terms and laws for grating citizenship to investors, facilities provided to attract and settle investments in a number of countries such as Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Britain and the united States of America, and stressed the need to be familiar with the investment experiences, conditions and privileges in those countries, which would support the Jordanian economy and move the wheel of investment.