Asiacell Iraq IPO Sold Out

Asiacell Encourages Iraq Bourse Growth After $1.3 Billion IPO

Baghdad Invest - 03/02/2013

Asiacell Communications PJSC’s share listing in Baghdad today, after the largest IPO in the Middle East since 2008, will help lure liquidity and foreign investment to the bourse, the Iraq Stock Exchange chief said.

“The success of the Asiacell shares selling today proved that there is Iraqi and non-Iraqi liquid money willing to be invested in the Iraq Stock Exchange and in Asiacell shares,”Taha Ahmed Abdul-Salam al-Rubaye told reporters in Baghdad today. Trading on the telecommunications company’s shares starts tomorrow, he said.

The initial public offering was fully subscribed, as Asiacell sold all 67.5 billion shares, or 25 percent of its share capital, at a minimum of 22 dinars each in the IPO that closed Feb. 2, he said.

Asiacell, majority-owned by Qatar Telecom QSC, (QTEL) raised 1.49 trillion dinars ($1.3 billion), the most for an IPO in the Middle East and North Africa since Saudi Arabian Mining Co.’s (MAADEN) share sale more than four years ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Asiacell’s public offering will help double the market value of the Iraq Stock Exchange from $4.66 billion last year, al-Rubaye said last month.

“This is an invitation to all the other telecom companies to turn into shareholding companies,” as required by their contract terms before listing on the bourse, al-Rubaye said today.

Like Asiacell, Iraq’s two other main mobile-phone operators-- Zain Iraq (ZAIN), a unit of Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co., and Korek Telecom, part-owned by France Telecom SA (FTE) -- must sell 25 percent of their shares on the stock exchange to comply with their licenses.

Sulaymaniyah-based Asiacell obtained a 15-year mobile telecommunications license in 2007 and had 43 percent market share by revenue at the end of September, with 9.9 million individual and corporate subscribers. 

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Ali Abbas Iraqi Footballer

Ali Abbas - Dream come true for this Iraqi Footballer

 

Baghdad Invest - 28/09/2012 Baghdad.
An Iraqi refugee with a sweet left foot has completed a remarkable journey from the war-scarred streets of Baghdad to one of Australia's most glamorous football clubs.

 

Ali Abbas, a 25-year old midfielder was a member of Iraq's victorious Asian Cup squad that beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in July 2007.

 

Four months later he was to take a decision that was to change his life. He and two Iraqi teammates sought asylum in Australia following an Olympic games qualifier in the city of Gosford 75km north of Sydney.

 

"In 2007 it was a really bad situation in Iraq. We came here and played against the Olyroos. After we lost I decided to stay here to make my life better than in Iraq," Ali explained to the BBC.

 

"Like any sportsman, actor or doctor, I couldn't do my job properly because there were too many bad people there. It is not the Iraqi people, they come from outside of the country and that is why I saw my future here (in Australia)."

 

Ali was granted refugee status and has recently signed a contract with Sydney FC, former winners of the Australian A-League, which has previously boasted within its ranks former Manchester United star Dwight Yorke and Brazilian maestro Juninho.

 

"It was a hard decision to make (to leave Iraq) and look now I'm really happy and playing for a big club in Australia," he added.

'Massively appealing'

 

The former Iraqi international's footballing journey at the elite level in Australia began in the industrial city of Newcastle with the Jets in 2009. He has gone on to impress some of the sharpest minds in the game with his tenacity and skill.

 

The midfielder was the first signing for new Sydney FC coach Ian Crook. The Englishman says Ali Abbas' technical ability and desire to succeed will suit his team's up-tempo style.

"He is technically very good, he's got lovely technical ability and he can beat people in one on-ones and deliver killer passes," Mr Crook said.

 

"To go through what he put himself through to come here proves to me that he is hungry and desperately wants it. To me that is a massively appealing thing," added the former Spurs and Norwich City mid fielder.

 

Australia has offered sanctuary to waves of Iraqi refugees, but the transition to a new country and a very different culture is not always easy.

 

But Dr Mohamed Al Jabiri, a former Iraqi diplomat who went into exile in Australia after being imprisoned by Saddam Hussein, says Ali Abbas is a tremendous role model for other migrants.

 

"He is very easygoing, very humble. He is a good person from a good background. He has adapted to Australian society and I hope he will not forget he was part of Iraq," Dr Al Jabiri told the BBC at his home in Sydney.

 

"The Iraqis, my goodness, are so fond of soccer and they are so happy to see their players are achieving fame all over the world," he added.

 

Asked whether Abbas has the professional qualities to succeed at the highest level, Dr Al Jabiri, a keen follower of the English Premier League, declared: "I think he is like a fine racehorse ready to go the race."

 

Sydney FC's new Iraqi signing will make his debut for the Sky Blues against the Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand in early October.

 

Ali's journey took another significant step forward on Australia Day this year, when he became a citizen of his adopted country.

 

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Amanat Baghdad Clean Up Operation

Baghdad Invest - 05/09/2012 Baghdad.

Amanat Baghdad is planning to sign contracts with foreign companies for clean-up work in several neighbourhoods of the capital, officials said.
The move comes as part of a new strategy to privatise the cleaning sector.

According to Amanat media director Hakim Abdul Zahra, "This policy was adopted following the success of a pilot project with a Turkish company, which was awarded work cleaning up the neighbourhoods of Karrada and Rusafa."

In December 2010, Amanat Baghdad announced it signed a one-year, 31 billion dinar contract with the Turkish firm Akdeniz to clean the area extending from the University of Baghdad in Jadiriya through Karrada Dakhil, Karrada Kharij, Abu Nuas Street, Bab al-Sharqi, Palestine Street and up to Bab al-Muadham.

"The work was praised by several government bodies, such as the general secretariat of the council of ministers, the Baghdad Services Commission and residents who live in the areas that were cleaned," Abdul Zahra said, citing an Amanat survey on the company's performance.

"After evaluating the results of this project, the mayoralty found it necessary to continue to develop the initiative by providing the same opportunity for more foreign companies to compete to clean up larger areas of Baghdad," he added.

Officials invited a number of international companies to submit offers for clean-up work in Karkh and Rusafa municipalities, Abdul Zahra said, confirming that "several companies from Europe, the Emirates, Turkey and Jordan submitted bids."

"We are evaluating the offers and will choose the best one based upon the company's experience, reputation, its previous similar works and cost estimates of the work," he said. "When we are done with this phase, we will announce the winning bids."

Abdul Zahra said, "Privatisation in this sector will not mean the end of the municipal district clean-up services. Instead they will be sharing in the provision of these services [with public workers]."
"This step is also important for economic reasons, because the contracts make it conditional on companies to benefit from the local manpower and provide work for a big number of unemployed people," he said.

Privatisation to support municipalities

Meanwhile, Ghalib al-Zamily, deputy chairman of Baghdad provincial council's services commission, told Mawtani, "Privatisation will help us achieve progress in clean-up services in order to create a clean, civilised environment."

"We support the idea of allowing foreign investment companies not only to enter into this sector, but also to venture into other service sectors, such as water, sewage and roads," he added.
Al-Zamily said meetings were recently held with representatives from Italian, Swedish and German companies that specialise in clean-up services.

"These companies expressed eagerness to compete for available opportunities in the clean-up sector, and they presented us with numerous documents and pictures to show the clean-up projects they completed in several Arab countries," he said.

Wahda al-Jumaily, member of the parliament's services and reconstruction committee, emphasised the necessity of "attracting the investment companies that specialise in clean-up services to support the efforts of municipalities".

"It is also necessary to intensify the education process through media, seminars and posters to increase public awareness of cleanliness as a basic, civilised practice for a healthy environment," al-Jumaily said.

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Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi

Iraq's communications minister has resigned, accusing Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of refusing to stop "political interference" in his ministry.

Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, a member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiyya bloc, said he had submitted his resignation a month ago, but that it had only now been accepted.

There has been no word yet from the prime minister on the allegations.

Mr Allawi is thought to be the first member of the national unity government to resign since it was formed in 2010.

Last year, Electricity Minister Raad Shallal al-Ani, an independent who was nominated by Iraqiyya, was sacked after allegedly authorising £1.1bn ($1.7bn) of improper contracts for power stations with foreign companies.

Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi, Iraq's most senior Sunni Arab politician and a leading member of Iraqiyya, is meanwhile on trial in absentia, accused of financing a sectarian death squad targeting Shia officials.

'Conditions'

Mr Maliki's support of the prosecution led Iraqiyya to boycott cabinet meetings for more than a month, bringing the government to a standstill.

They accused the prime minister, who is a Shia, of trying to marginalise the country's minority Sunni community and cement his grip on power.

On Monday, Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi told the AFP news agency: "I required certain conditions from the prime minister, to stop the political interference in my ministry."

"Otherwise, I told him: 'I am not ready to work at the ministry with this big interference.'"

"I told him: 'Either you fulfil those conditions or accept my resignation.' He decided after one month to accept my resignation."

In separate development on Monday, security officials said gunmen had shot dead a senior army officer outside the capital, Baghdad.

Brig-Gen Abdul Muhsin Khazal was killed in the town of Taji. One report said the assailants used weapons with silencers.

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Iraq Water Project

Iraq signed a contract with Pell Frischmann Ltd. for the design of a $85 million water project in the western Al Anbar province, a local municipal official said.
The U.K.-based consulting company will draw designs for a new water station in Hadeetha, which will pump 4,500 cubic meter of water an hour to feed surrounding towns, within two years, Basim Naji said by phone today. Pell Frischmann will also design an upgrade to an existing water station in the same district which pumps 1,500 cubic meter an hour, he said.
The Iraqi government is seeking foreign investment and expertise to rebuild its infrastructure and energy industry damaged by decades of conflict and sanctions. Iraq holds the fifth-largest proven crude reserves, including Canada’s oil sands, according to data from BP Plc.

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Baghdad History

Baghdad was once the capital of an empire and the centre of the Islamic world, but at 1,250 years old, the Iraqi city is a far cry from its past glories after being ravaged by years of war and sanctions.
Construction of the city on the bank of the Tigris River began in July 762 AD under Abbasid Caliph Abu Jaafar al-Mansur, and it has since played a pivotal role in Arab and Islamic civilisations.
"Baghdad represented the economic centre of the Abbasid Empire, and it was used as a starting point for controlling other neighbouring regions to enhance Islamic power," said Issam al-Faili, a professor of political history at Mustansiriyah University.
"Baghdad witnessed a renaissance of thought through translation, which was usually mastered by Jews and the Christians, and became a destination for intellectuals, poets and scholars from all parts of the world, and a centre for craftsmen and a city of construction," Faili said.
"Baghdad today, after it was the capital of the world, has become one of the most miserable cities," he said.
British consultancy firm Mercer ranked Baghdad as the worst place in the world to live in its 2010 Quality of Living Survey.
The city has been conquered several times in its history, the first in 1258 when the Mongols destroyed Baghdad.
It was captured in 1831 by the Ottomans, in 1917 by the British, and in 2003 by a US-led coalition that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein but also ended up unleashing internecine violence that killed tens of thousands of people.
Baghdad was a modern capital known for its nightlife in the 1970s, but it has fallen into gloomy disrepair in the years of conflict since.
Saddam started a war with Iraq in 1980 that lasted for eight years, and then launched a disastrous invasion of Kuwait in 1990 only to be forced out in 1991.
Iraq was hit by a harsh regime of international sanctions over the Kuwait invasion, and later lived under an ever-present threat of bombings, assassinations, gun battles and death squad killings in the years after 2003.
Even now, government employees, including high-ranking officers in the security forces, are frequently gunned down in the streets.
Concrete blast walls still surround official buildings, hotels, and other structures that could be the target of attacks.
Despite its long history, there are only fleeting signs of historic buildings on even its oldest streets. Ugly, uninspired concrete boxes are far more common.
Checkpoints cause massive traffic jams, and security forces in the city are armed for war, with equipment including assault rifles, machine guns and armoured vehicles.
Baghdad's streets are often strewn with rubbish and riven by potholes. What public works projects there are move at a glacial pace.
Spider webs of power cables criss-cross many streets, linking houses to private generators -- a testament to the failure of the government electricity grid to provide citizens with consistent power.
The government is headquartered in a heavily fortified area known as the Green Zone, which is defended, among other things, by newly acquired US-made Abrams tanks.
Entry to the area requires passing through a Byzantine series of security checks, some of which are of questionable value in deterring attacks, and journalists' cameras are regarded with deep suspicion.
While Baghdad was once the centre of an empire, the Iraqi government has been paralysed by political crises for almost eight months, during which it has accomplished little.
"Baghdad today is like Baghdad of yesterday in terms of the luxury that was enjoyed by the caliph and his family in the days of the Abbasid era, while the people were in misery," Faili said.
Corruption is widespread, and while Iraq takes in billions of dollars a month in oil revenues, signs of it benefiting the general public are hard to find.
Iraq has made some efforts to return its capital to regional prominence, hosting a summit of Arab leaders in March and talks between world powers and Iran on the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear programme in May.
Preparations for those events cost around $1 billion, although the impact of that outlay for most Iraqis was limited.
Iraqi writer and journalist Rifaat Mahmud said that the "issue of restoring Baghdad to what it was is a difficult matter, and cannot be achieved in circumstances such as those in which the neglected city now lives.
"Baghdad needs what we can call a miracle to regain its form and heritage and at least a part of its past."

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Iraq Oil Producers Opec

Iraq has finally overtaken Iran as the second largest oil producer in OPEC according to the International Energy Agency. Baghdad chalked up 3mb/d production compared to 2.9mb/d from Tehran. For some, that’s cause for celebration – ‘proving’ that international sanctions against Iran are ‘working’ – but it merely highlights the profound supply side problems afflicting the oil world. Bad news all round.
The idea that Iraq, now the second largest producer in OPEC, could be relied upon to provide consistent (let alone) excess supplies, flies in the face of all the political problems afflicting the country. Its main output gains have come in Kurdistan, a region that the central Shia government in Iraq refutes as a self-standing oil producing region. The dictum was very clear after Saddam fell; those who do business in Kurdistan will be barred from far bigger fields in the centre and South of the country. Ballpark numbers certainly backed it up. Baghdad sits on 143bn barrels of ‘proven’ oil reserves, compared to 40bn barrels in Kurdistan. For a time, it was a message that most IOCs were happy to heed. The likes of Exxon, BP, Lukoil and Shell signed very unattractive service contract agreements (i.e. hired help), with a view to securing proper production sharing agreements with Baghdad down the line. The problem is that Baghdad has never worked out what’s good for them; decent contracts have never been put on the table to entice IOCs (or national counterparts) to see Iraq as a serious proposition. Fields haven’t been developed. New infrastructure hasn’t been built.
That’s exactly why the biggest players, including Exxon, Chevron, and Total have called Baghdad’s bluff by signing bilateral deals with Kurdistan as the more credible (if modest) output option. Unless Iraq blinks first to revise contractual terms, don’t expect IOC investment anytime soon. Baghdad might take their chances with the Chinese, (if Beijing happens to still be interested). Russia might invest when asked, but they’ll make sure new fields only come online at times of their choosing for global fundamentals. Alas, far from blinking, Baghdad has kept their eyes wide shut. Although it didn’t chuck Exxon out of West Quarna plays, it barred them from their latest licensing rounds, and indeed Chevron for their ‘Erbil betrayals’. Baghdad will hit its ‘12mb/d’ production targets by 2017, with or without international help – or so the story goes. The snag isn’t just that Kurdistan provides IOCs with the perfect hedge to put pressure on Baghdad, but that Iraq hasn’t understood the unfolding contours of the new energy world. Ten years ago, the greatest risk for IOCs wasn’t operating in high risk, uncertain return markets, but not having access to prospective elephant fields in the first place. It was ‘follow the resources, or die’.
The global unconventional explosion has totally re-written this analysis. If you aren’t willing to offer decent terms and decent conditions, investment won’t come. International players can pick and choose jurisdictions for the best returns. You’re as likely to find a herd of elephants in the US Mid-West these days as you are in a highly explosive Middle East, which, if anything, provides the real kicker for Iraq here: Not only is Baghdad offering poor fiscal terms on new concessions (without any serious legal structure), it’s doing so in an increasingly large security vacuum. Since the US upped-sticks, local grievances have been sharpened without a common enemy. 19% unemployment and chronically high levels of absolute poverty afflicting the population don’t help. But it’s sectarian schisms that remain the most divisive fault lines rather than rich vs. poor in Iraq. Oil sits at the heart of this debate.
However you spin things, IOCs are bankrolling Kurdish succession in the North thanks to enhanced oil receipts (Turkey could obviously do without such developments), while Sunni politicians (let alone insurgency groups) have never come to terms with Shia power, embodied by the al-Maliki central government. Something will eventually have to give in Iraq on how state formation does (or doesn’t) play out, with oil providing the underlying formula for who gets what, where, and when. That’s before you ‘price in’ external meddling from neighbouring Iran, a nation that’s more than happy to stir the Shia pot to progress its economic and political interests in the region. Clipping Iraqi oil production is the perfect way of doing that. It hardly went unnoticed in Tehran that Iraq made as much cash ($22-24bn) in the last quarter. That’s not been the order of things since the 1990 Gulf War; Iran will work hard to keep it that way.
Put all that together, and Iraq will struggle to nudge output towards 4mb/d over the next few years, let alone hitting 5, 6, or 7mb/d over the next decade. As for 12mb/d production targets by 2017 as a the new ‘swing producer’, forget it. Iraq has squeezed out all it can from its older fields; any further gains will be attritional, at best. The upshot is that we’re left with the same oil market equation we’ve had for decades: Saudi Arabia and Russia are simply too big to fail. No one, least of all Iraq is going to change that anytime soon when it rejoins OPEC quotas in 2014. It’s therefore all the more disturbing that the IEA are pinning their main global supply growth hopes on Iraq over the next decade.
But let’s be generous and assume Iraq prevails against all the odds; you then have to beg the serious question: Would enhanced oil royalties from 7mb/d oil production be the catalyst to hold Iraq together from sharing the spoils, or would it rip the country apart? In a winner takes all system between its constituent parts, my bet would be on the latter. The more Iraq gets it oil ‘right’, the more likely things will end in spectacular (and very crude) failure…

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Iraqi Lawyers face daily risks

Iraqi lawyer Ahmed al-Abadi put up with years of threatening phone calls for taking on sensitive sectarian cases but, after he narrowly escaped death when three shots were fired at his car last year, he could take no more.
Abadi had just finished successfully defending a woman accused of involvement in a sectarian killing and he thinks this was the reason behind the gun attack - but he decided against seeking legal redress.
"I did not go to the police station to report it. I knew it would not get me anywhere," he said, seated in the lawyers' room of Rusafa appeal court in eastern Baghdad. "It has affected me mentally and sapped my enthusiasm for work. I started to handle only easy cases which do not cause me problems."
After years of vicious sectarian strife between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, individual cases are increasingly coming to court. But justice suffers because lawyers are an easy target in a country where rule of law remains weak, tribal loyalties take precedence and sectarian armed groups still operate.
Abadi is one of many lawyers who have suffered constant threats and intimidation from relatives of the accused or the plaintiff. Lawyers come into contact with both sides of a case and they must appear in court, where everyone can see their faces. Lawyers say some judges treat them as if they were involved in the crime simply because they defend the accused.
"We are very sensitive about terrorism cases," the 55-year-old Abadi said, employing the term regularly used to describe sectarian cases in Iraq.
"After taking more than one terrorist case, I quit," he said as he removed his robe after attending the guilty verdict in a corruption case of two clients who worked in a government-spending watchdog.
RISING LAWYER DEATH TOLL
Sectarian warfare plagued Iraq in 2006-7, when death squads, insurgents and militias claimed thousands of victims.
Violence is no longer an around-the-clock menace but remains common. At least 116 people were killed and about 300 wounded in bomb and gun attacks on July 23 - by far the bloodiest day since U.S. troops withdrew in December, eight years after the invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
And tensions between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims still run high as politicians feud over power-sharing in government.
Practicing law is often a life-threatening profession.
Iraq's lawyers syndicate says 103 lawyers were killed between 2003-2008 but the actual number could be double that since not all cases are reported. The syndicate, which has 50,000 members, lacks figures on victims for after 2008.
Abadi defended a woman who was accused with her husband of kidnapping and killing her husband's friend, a Shi'ite, when he visited them in their home in a Sunni district of Baghdad.
The couple said gunmen had broken into their house and kidnapped the guest, but the victim's relatives accused them of the crime. Abadi, who was the woman's lawyer, won the case and his client was released from prison.
Shortly afterwards three gunmen in a BMW car opened fire at him when he was driving and three bullets whizzed past his head, shattering the window. He stopped his car, and they thought he was dead and drove away.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the judiciary faces enormous pressure in Iraq, particularly lawyers when intimidation, including threats through text messages, is a fact of life.
"The lack of security allows lawyers to be threatened particularly if they take on sensitive cases and those who make threats are able to do so with impunity," Samer Muscati, a researcher at the New York-based watchdog, said.
'SIR, LEAVE THIS CASE ALONE'
Thair al-Qassim, a Baghdad-based specialist in sectarian cases, said he has been threatened 32 times.
His son was kidnapped and beaten severely in 2006 and only freed when Qassim paid a $40,000 ransom. He was kidnapped briefly himself in 2009 after militiamen targeted his car, interrogated him and told him to stop covering certain cases. He managed to escape unharmed.

Qassim has endured hand grenade attacks, threatening phone calls and text messages and a letter thrown into his garden.
"All that because I defend Sunnis against Shi'ites or Shi'ites against Sunnis," Qassim said.
"When I defend a client who is from the Sunni sect...someone from the other side, the Shi'ite side, calls me and says 'Sir, leave this case, otherwise you will face regrettable consequences' - and vice versa."
But Qassim said he did not abandoned these cases because this is how he earns his living.
He was part of the defense team for an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush in December 2008. He received a phone call from someone telling him to drop the case or he or his family would be killed.
It proved an empty threat - but it sticks in his mind.
Apart from the threats, lawyers say they are often prevented from meeting clients, who undergo lengthy interrogations. The Iraqi legal system is especially slow and bureaucratic.
According to Iraqi criminal law, arrested people should be presented to a judge in 24 hours, but this rarely happens in practice, lawyer Farhan al-Bighani said. "They should not stay at the mercy of a police officer for a month or longer just because he wants to extract a confession."
Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council, said lawyers could present their complaints and the council would take legal procedures in such cases.
Lawyers complain some judges are under political pressure, make decisions based on sectarian or tribal affiliations or are corrupt, charges rejected by the Supreme Judicial Council which says judges are independent, and not politically affiliated.
In one of Iraq's most high-profile and contested cases, Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni politician in the Iraqiya bloc, says he is being targeted in a legal investigation partially because of sectarianism.
Hashemi fled Baghdad in December when the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought his arrest on charges that he ran a death squad.
Hashemi has said he is ready to face trial, but not in a Baghdad court, which he believes is under the sway of Maliki in a judicial system tainted by political bias.
Maliki's allies say the Hashemi trial is not political. But many Iraqi Sunnis say they see a sectarian hand behind the case, accusing Maliki of shoring up his position at their expense.
Lawyers and Human Rights Watch criticized a government campaign in November to arrest Baathists and former military officers who authorities maintained had plotted to oust Maliki one month before the departure of U.S. troops.
Maliki said more than 600 people had been arrested on evidence that they sought to undermine security in Iraq.
"We have spoken to lawyers and the families of detainees who said they would not take on these types of cases because it would put the lawyers at risk," HRW's Muscati said.
For lawyer Abadi who dodged the bullets, the lawyers syndicate is not doing enough to defend his profession. He even laments that lawyers cannot be armed to defend themselves.
"The lawyer is in the courtyard, fighting alone," he said.

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Baghdad Property Investment

Baghdad needs 750,000 new homes to make up for a massive housing shortfall, Iraq's investment commission chief said on Sunday as he called for bidders for a new property development project.
Iraq is aiming to build one million new homes in the coming years, including a vast construction project southeast of Baghdad that officials hope will provide new housing for 600,000 people.
"Baghdad now needs 750,000 more homes," Sami al-Araji told reporters.
Araji called for bidders for a new housing development project at a former Iraqi army military camp known as Al-Rasheed in southeast Baghdad.
The area is currently home to a small Iraqi army base, as well as a refuse dump where poor families have built make-shift accommodation.
Araji hopes that up to 70,000 apartments and 5,000 independent houses will eventually be built there, along with sports and entertainment facilities, shopping and medical services.
After decades of war, sanctions and under-investment, Iraq is experiencing a major housing shortfall, and the difficulty in finding a home was one of the reasons protesters demonstrated nationwide last year.
Around 57 percent of Iraq's urban population lives in "slum-like conditions", according to a report published by the United Nations in 2011.
The report noted that 13 percent of houses in urban areas have more than 10 people living in them, with 37 percent holding three or more people per room.

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Iraq Shopping Malls

Baghdad Invest - 05/07/2012 Baghdad.
Once a traditionally socialist country, Iraq is witnessing a burgeoning growth in malls, according to a report.

Big malls are being built across the capital, Baghdad, the largest will include a five-star hotel and a hospital, and at one already in operation, a truck arrives each week carrying frozen Big Macs from a McDonald’s in Amman, Jordan, The International Herald Tribune reported on Monday.

On the edge of the upper-class neighborhood of Mansour a huge mall is under construction and will eclipse any of the existing malls. Boutiques will sell Western brands like Ecco shoes, Zara suits and Timberland outdoor apparel, and there are plans for a video game arcade, several cinemas, more than a dozen restaurants and a bowling alley.

“People have to have fun,” said Maythem Shakir, the chief engineer of the $25 million project, which is being underwritten by a group of wealthy Iraqis and built by a Turkish company.

“People have to have the same things as everyone else in the world.”

Lamiya al-Rifaee, 40, a mother and a businesswoman, however, complained that the mall was not as big or as fancy as the ones she had visited in Dubai or Turkey. But for Iraq, she said, it is a good start, and one of the few places where she would let her children out of her sight.

“I can watch my kids playing safely and get whatever I need in the stores.”
While, the construction boom is encouraged and hailed as proof of Iraq’s progress, economists and other experts warn of a dark side. They say that the budding consumer culture covers fundamental flaws in an economy by stifling productive enterprise through the sole dependence on oil profits.

“Basically, Iraq is trying to build a consumer society, not on state capitalism like in China, but on socialism,” said Marie-Helene Bricknell, the World Bank’s representative in Iraq.

The country, mainly dependent on government jobs, also suffers from a patronage system that can quash entrepreneurial and private spirit.

“The state’s payrolls have massively expanded, not with technocrats but with party functionaries, because the state has become a way of funding party loyalty,” said Toby Dodge, a professor at the London School of Economics, at a recent panel discussion in London about Iraq.

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Indonesia Investment in Iraq

Baghdad Invest - 03/07/2012 Baghdad.

Iraq is calling on Indonesian companies and professionals to help build the fledgling nation, its deputy prime minister for energy, Hussain Ibrahim Saleh al-Shahristani, said in Jakarta on Monday.

“The Iraqi deputy prime minister stressed that the situation now is relatively safer and they will welcome Indonesian companies and professional workers in participating in their development process,” Yopie Hidayat, the spokesman for Vice President Boediono, said after the latter had met with Saleh.

Saleh said Iraq’s development needed professionals in construction and in services such as finance and logistics. There were also good opportunities in the energy sector, he added.

Yopie said that according to the Iraqi official, “Indonesia should have the biggest opportunity in entering those fields, not only focused on energy but also its supporting services.”

The two countries are currently discussing ways to overcome visa problems that continue to be an obstacle to bilateral exchanges.

“The vice president directly asked the deputy foreign minister to follow up this demand. The facilities and ease to get visas, including official and diplomatic [visas], is currently starting to be addressed,” Yopie said.

He added that the Iraqi government was offering various investment opportunities for Indonesia.

The 30-minute meeting between Boediono and his guest was also attended by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik and his deputy minister, Mahmuddin Yasin, as well as the deputy foreign minister, Wardana.

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Baghdad Fast Food

An Iraqi entrepreneur has opened a burger joint in Baghdad reminiscent of the classic New York diner - a symbol of the changing face of the war-torn city.


Frank Sinatra croons from speakers and the walls of the small restaurant in the Mansour commercial district are decorated with posters of Miles Davis, James Dean and Muhammad Ali.

"Burger Joint is a quick service fast-food restaurant and the only one with a western look and feel to it," said Omar Hadi, the managing partner of VQ Investment Group, an Iraq-focused firm run by private-equity veterans and entrepreneurs based in Abu Dhabi and Baghdad.

A slew of new restaurants has opened in the same area, and many more are expected to launch in coming months as Iraq returns to something like normality with falling levels of violence and the withdrawal of the last United States troops last December.

Like many adventurous businessmen in Iraq, Mr Hadi hopes to capitalise on Baghdad's large population. He plans to open six Burger Joint restaurants in the capital before the end of the year with an investment of a "few million dollars".

"In Baghdad alone, you have a population of 8 million people with an increasing middle class, and sizeable income," he said.

VQ has also bought franchise rights through Turkey to Pizza Pizza, a Canadian company, with two restaurants already open and plans for two more this year. Mr Hadi and his investors expect to make their money back in 18 months to two years.

"Iraq is a virgin market," he said.

Burger Joint plays on nostalgia, but also uses international quality standards and cutting-edge technology. The cooks use 100 per cent Iraqi lean beef and the servers take orders using iPads.

"We are using new technology, and can see from our offices in Abu Dhabi how the orders are being made."

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Al Wifaq Iraq Printing Company

Al-Wifaq Printing Company of Iraq has signed an order with Goss International at the drupa trade show in Düsseldorf for two new 16-page M-600 web presses. The investment is part of the company's drive to modernize and innovate in ensuring the highest commercial print quality in Iraq.

Goss International and Al-Wifaq Printing Company at drupa 2012. Shaking hands on the order for two new M-600 presses are Jean Segura, vice-president of sales EMEA (left); and Mr. Muthanna Abdul Samad Al-Samarraie, owner and managing director of Al-Wifaq Printing Company.
According to representatives of Al-Wifaq Printing Company, the Goss M-600 press will be a huge contribution towards the development of the printing industry in Iraq, in particular, and throughout the Arab countries in general.

‘Iraq is currently going through an intensive investment program, but technical capabilities are only one side of the equation,’ commented Muthanna Abdul Samad Al-Samarraie, owner and managing director of Al-Wifaq Printing Company. ‘We aim to invest in the latest, state-of-the-art technologies that will allow us to reflect the unique spirit and artistic endeavors of our nation. We are investing for the ability to produce publications with the highest quality and aesthetic appeal so that we can give clients the means to express their creative ideas in beautiful, highly impressive print.’

The two Goss M-600 presses ordered by Al-Wifaq will initially be used to produce a range of high-quality books and magazines. The presses will incorporate a number of the latest-generation automation features as displayed on the Goss booth at drupa to ensure maximum efficiency and low makeready waste. These include the enhanced Goss Autoplate automatic plate changing functionality.

The presses are scheduled for installation in the first quarter of 2013.

Al Wifaq was established in 1988 by the late Abdul Samad Al Samera'i. His sons, Muthana, Abdul Samad, Ahmad and Muhammad continued the efforts of their father and worked on developing the company. Al Wifaq is specialised in printing books, magazines and posters.

According to Muthanna Al-Samarraie, it is his late father's passion for the printing business and a dedication to the future development and prosperity of his country that inspires Al-Wifaq Printing Company to leave no stone unturned in meeting current and potential needs of its customers, ‘By investing in the best brand in commercial web printing, we are dedicating our relentless pursuit of modernisation and development to help translate the ideas of our customers into a daily reality,’ Al-Samarraie concluded.

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Generator Man - Baghdad Electricity

Baghdad Invest - 20/06/2012 Baghdad.

What is life really like in Iraq?

Filmmakers: Rashed Radwan and Carmen Marques

Nine years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's national grid struggles to provide more than six hours of electricity a day - so a new form of entrepreneur has sprung up, the 'Generator Man'.

For a price, he will fill the gap.

Hadi is a 'Generator Man', who owns two generators but finds that being on call for hundreds of people, all desperate for power, means that his life is no longer his own.

Witness follows him as he wanders the backstreets of Baghdad to talk to some of his customers for whom power - or the lack of it - has become the most important fact in their day-to-day-lives.

Of the many ironies of post-conflict Iraq this is perhaps the starkest: how a country afloat on a sea of oil and in receipt of $5bn of US investment since 2003 cannot yet guarantee power for its people.

Filmmaker's view: Rashed Radwan

They say the war in Iraq is over. But is it really?

George Bush declared it over when he was president and Barack Obama did the same. But ask ordinary Iraqis and they will tell you that a new war is just starting in a country where the most basic of infrastructure has been destroyed.

In the summer of 2010, I spent two months filming in Iraq.

It was during that summer that I first met Bakr, a 12-year-old boy from Sadr City; a child carrying the soul of an adult.

He told me about the death of his brother, a victim of an American apache, as though it was something that could not have been avoided; an almost inevitable part of his destiny as an Iraqi.

And, when asked about his dreams, Bakr revealed that he had just one: to have electricity so that he might have a fan to keep him cool in summer and a heater to keep him warm in winter.

It was an unusual conversation to have with a child. After all, aren't their dreams usually filled with the more remarkable, with the less mundane?

In the comfort of my hotel, power outages were only a problem in the few minutes between the national grid going down and the lights coming back on - triggered by the huge and noisy generator behind the building.

But Bakr had opened my eyes to a problem I had not been aware of. I began to notice the tangled mess of wires hanging from buildings all over the city. And for the first time I understood why I had met so many people wearily climbing the stairs of Baghdad's general hospital with their sick children in their arms, trying to reach a doctor on a higher floor: without electricity, elevators do not work.

When I spoke to doctors, they told me of patients who could not visit the hospital because they were too weak to reach the higher floors. In these tales, I thought I had found the starting point for this story - but I soon came to realise that doctors and patients are too afraid to talk about their daily struggles in these hellish conditions.

For the past nine years, two words have been at the forefront of Iraqi minds: kahraba (electricity) and amn (security).

Security has improved markedly, although only to the levels that many of those who proclaim this war over would consider murderously dangerous in their own countries.

But the single most crucial ingredient in the country's reconstruction - electrical power - continues to lag far behind the country's needs.

On Tuesday, June 22, 2004, forty pallets of cash were loaded onto a truck that delivered the money to Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, D.C. The money was then transferred to a C-130 transport plane. The next day, it arrived in Baghdad. That was the largest shipment of currency in one single day in the history of the NY Fed. But it was not the first shipment of money to Baghdad. For more than a year, $12bn taken from Iraqi oil revenues - in other words, belonging to the Iraqi people - was delivered for use in reconstruction. At least $9bn has gone missing.

Iraq is swimming in oil, which generates revenues of nearly $2bn a week, but Baghdad's 7,216,040 million people are reliant on private generators. And the private generator is a luxury most people cannot afford. Fuel prices are too high for many and the poorest are literally living in the dark.

Those who are fortunate enough to have their own personal generator must either spend hours waiting in line to buy fuel or pay the steepest premiums on the black market.

The generator man - owner and operator of the neighbourhood power plant - is the solution for the vast majority of the Iraqi population. Iraq depends on the generator man to survive. They are the country's umbilical cord, bringing power to hundreds of thousands of homes and shops.

I wish I could tell all of the stories hidden behind the headlines declaring to the world that the war in Iraq is over. I wish each of you could know the suffering and despair that has been left behind and how Iraqis must live huddled in dark houses, sleeping outside during the summer months because the heat inside is unbearable, afraid that they may be hit by a stray bullet from somewhere in their neighbourhood.

I have covered the war in Iraq since 2003, and if there is one thing that I can say for sure, it is that beyond the tragedy lies the triumph of the human spirit as ordinary people fight to preserve their dignity.

I wish I could tell all of their stories - the stories of the children dying from strange diseases never seen before the war or of the army of women awaiting the return of their missing husbands and sons. But Generator Man is a simple story about common people - people who will probably never find a place in the history books. These people are the real witnesses to the reality behind the headlines that the war is over.

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Iraq Salinity Project

Baghdad Invest - 20/06/2012 Baghdad.


The Iraq Salinity Project aims to develop long-term strategies to manage salinity in central and southern Iraq.

It is coordinated by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and is scheduled to run until the end of 2014.

Kamal Hussein, Iraqi deputy minister of environment, told SciDev.Net that farmers abandon an estimated 25,000 hectares of farmland in central and southern Iraq every year because of elevated salt levels.

"Watering crops [through traditional irrigation canals] is one of the main causes of the salinity problem in Iraq," said Hussein, pointing out that the irrigation water washes out the salt (from natural sources and fertilisers) from soil in the more elevated northern parts of the country and brings it to the southern parts.

Nasri Haddad, coordinator of ICARDA's West Asia Regional Program, told SciDev.Net: "The project will develop in-depth research to identify how to rid the water and soil of salinity, and suggest strategies for water management to achieve this goal".

He added that rising salt levels in soil and water is a global problem.

"This project is a glimmer of hope to many other countries that have a bitter experience with salinity," he said, adding that the techniques to tackle the problem developed in Iraq will be made available to other countries.

The project is operating at three different scales: regionally to identify the distribution of salt-affected soils and causes of soil salinity; locally to assess the irrigation and drainage infrastructure; and on farms to find out the best ways to control salt levels in soil.

Kasim Ahmed Saliem, the project coordinator and the head of the planning and follow-up department at the Ministry of Agriculture, said: "We hope that there will be a second phase of the project based on the results that will be achieved, but this depends on the ability to bring additional support from donors to finance long-term efforts to combat salinity."

The initiative involves the training of Iraqi researchers and linking the country with potential donors to ensure the project's long-term sustainability. It also aims to establish reliable agricultural infrastructure.

The project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Italian government, and implemented by ICARDA in partnership with the University of Western Australia, Australia's national science agency CSIRO, the International Water Management Institute and the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture.

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Czech Companies Iraq

Baghdad Invest - 20/06/2012 Baghdad.
Czech companies to ink more deals in Iraq

With deadly attacks and political violence threatening to wreck a hard-won power-sharing agreement in Iraq, business is booming in at least one part of the country, and Czech companies are positioning themselves to take advantage of the thriving investment opportunities.

In the relatively peaceful and semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan, foreign ventures and soaring oil exports helped drive a remarkable economic growth rate of 8 percent last year.

A delegation of businessmen, led by Industry and Trade Minister Martin Kuba (Civic Democrats, ODS), has just completed a high-level visit to Kurdistan that culminated in the announcement of plans to build a new steam-gas power plant in the region, with an output of 980 megawatts.

The project will be designed by Czech company PSG International, and will be built with the help of Turkish and Kurdish companies over the next few years.

The power plant is being financed by the Czech Export Bank in a deal that will hopefully attract further foreign and domestic companies, the Kurdish Globe reported June 9.

"I am pleased to represent the first Czech bank to organize financing support to this kind of project. There is a strong desire among Czech businessmen to be more engaged and present in Kurdistan," said Tomáš Uvíra, CEO of the Czech Export Bank.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Kuba said he was impressed with Kurdistan's continued economic growth and stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral ties with the Kurdistan regional government (KRG).

"Today, a number of our companies are doing good business in Kurdistan; however, there are many more opportunities for further engagements, and we are here to explore those opportunities."

Kurdistan's prime minister, Nechirvan Barzani, highlighted the recent progress the KRG has made in electricity and energy production.

"We are continuing our efforts to achieve more progress; we are taking steps to further modernize the electricity sector, and we will continue these efforts until we can provide all the necessities of our citizens in this sector throughout the region," Barzani said.

The Czech delegation, comprising 24 businessmen and three representatives of the Confederation of Industry, also traveled briefly to the Iraqi capital Baghdad to participate in another forum and to meet with representatives from government ministries.

"It was a very successful exercise. We are hoping to welcome a Kurdish delegation to the Czech Republic very soon, perhaps as early as this year," said Olga Zuláková, the international relations manager of the Confederation of Industry, after returning from Iraq.

In March, Iraq was named one of 12 "priority" countries for the Czech Republic's export strategy 2012-20.

However, Zuláková concedes that while Kurdistan remains an attractive destination for business, trade in other parts of Iraq such as Baghdad is considered too risky for many companies.

Czech trade with Iraq sank some 40 percent to 1.54 billion Kč last year after previously experiencing growth.
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Double-Decker Red Bus in Baghdad

                                      

Common across Baghdad in years past, red double-decker buses are again plying the Iraqi capital's traffic-choked streets after many were ransacked in the years of unrest following the 2003 invasion.

The brand-new red buses with long white and black stripes on their sides began limited operations on Saturday, making halting progress amid masses of taxis and pedestrians in central Baghdad.

They have metal floors and plastic seats that are comfortable enough, though somewhat cramped for taller passengers. Air conditioning keeps the buses cool in spite of the Baghdad heat, which will only worsen in the summer months.

One bus was packed with boisterous Iraqis who were pleased by the features, especially the air conditioning.

"With this comfort, I will stay here enjoying the air conditioning and won't get off until the electricity generators start working in our area," joked Kadhim Karim, a 31-year-old musician.

"The new bus contains all the amenities, including air conditioning and cleanliness," said Kadhim Saba Rasan, 57, a government employee.

Only 70 buses have so far been bought from a Jordanian firm -- 60 double-deckers and 10 single-storey buses -- but 100 more are expected to be added later this year, said Adel al-Saadi, the director general of the state-owned firm responsible for public transport.

Even at its peak before the 2003 US-led invasion, the Baghdad bus network was a limited one. Its 300 buses at the time pale in comparison to the 8,500 that ply London's streets, according to the British capital's public transport authority.

This despite the fact that London's population of seven million is not vastly greater than Baghdad's six million residents.

The firm providing Baghdad with the buses, Jordan-based Elba House, first made its name constructing pre-fabricated buildings, but since 1992 has also built a variety of vehicles, including buses.

Each double-decker bus costs around $205,000.

Tickets for the buses are 500 Iraqi dinars, about 40 cents, offering a far more comfortable alternative to the cramped minibuses that criss-cross the city, and one that is cheaper than the fleets of mustard-yellow taxis.

"The new buses are very successful and better than taxis, which cost at least five or six thousand dinars ($4-$5)," said Mohammed Samir, an 18-year-old policeman.

Security remains a key priority in a city where brutal sectarian bloodshed killed countless residents, partitioned off key neighbourhoods and badly damaged Baghdad's infrastructure in the years following the invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

The buses are equipped with cameras that allow the driver to monitor both floors of the interior, and Saadi said that each bus driver will work with an assistant whose role it will be to monitor the vehicle for signs of explosives and to search each passenger getting on the bus.

But while an assistant collecting fares was present on one of the buses, many passengers were not searched.

Samir, the policeman, said that he thought it would be better if they were searched.

Smoking, which is banned on the new buses, is another challenge -- one passenger lit up soon after sitting down on the upper deck of the bus, and the numerous cigarette butts in the trash bin indicated that he was not alone.

In the immediate aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq, while many people stayed at home and government buildings were all but shut, the red double-decker buses would still traverse the city from 7:00 am every day.

As worsening violence racked the city, many bus drivers transformed their vehicles into ad hoc taxis, ambulances and hearses. Over time, though, looting and pillaging across Baghdad eventually targeted the city's buses.

Rasan, who said he had ridden Baghdad's old double-decker buses and now on one of the new buses as well, described the style of bus as a fixture of the Iraqi capital.

"These buses are a beautiful means of transport and represent a part of the history of Baghdad," he said

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Najaf Investment Boom

Baghdad Invest - 08/05/2012 Baghdad.

With its sweeping highway, solar-powered street lights and plethora of hotels, the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf is a beacon for investment in Iraq, outshining other areas where projects have been slow to take off.

Virtually every economic sector in the country needs funding and attention to redevelop crumbling facilities that were neglected during decades of war and financial sanctions.

Foreign and local investors are eager to participate in rebuilding the country but complain that bureaucracy, a weak banking sector, poor legislation and a lack of land allocated for projects are huge deterrents.

Out of 780 investment licenses worth $32 billion granted to businessmen around the country since 2008, only about 30 percent of the projects have been started, according to Sami al-Araji, head of the National Investment Commission.

But the southern city of Najaf, the capital of a province with the same name, offers hope. Its success in pushing through projects suggests that with the right policies, obstacles can be overcome, and it may be an early sign of an investment boom in the country as a whole.

In fact, Najaf has become something of a model for other provinces; officials from elsewhere in Iraq look to it for guidance on issues such as how to allocate land for projects and how to work around the inefficiencies of the banking system.

Over 50 percent of about licensed 200 investment projects totaling $8 billion are under construction in Najaf province, with most development coming in the housing and tourism sectors, said Najaf Investment Commission chairman Wafy al-Bahash.

Home to the Imam Ali shrine, one of Shi'ite Muslims' most revered sites, Najaf city receives millions of pilgrims annually. The provincial investment commission has awarded 51 licenses for hotels alone to try to accommodate the influx of visitors.

Drive through the relatively clean city and you will spot boards hanging from lamp posts that read '2012 Al-Najaf: The capital of Islamic culture'. Towering cranes overshadow many streets and construction sites are filled with workers, in contrast to other provinces where half-finished buildings lie deserted.

One of the major projects in Najaf is a $25 million, five-star hotel being built by Iraqi firm Alkhawarnaq Palace. With 10 floors and a revolving restaurant at the top, the hotel is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. Construction started in April 2011.

A typical example of a Najaf project is a $7 million deal, funded by three local investors, to build 134 houses on the outskirts of the city. Construction started in April 2011 and is expected to be completed within another year. More than three-quarters of the units have been sold, and a family moved into the first house two months ago.

By comparison, in the neighboring province of Babil, infighting between officials has delayed development of at least one building for two years.

"The investor has been waiting for two years for a decision from two directorates in the same ministry. One is insisting on a two-floor building, while the other wants a single-storey building," said Alaa Ibrahim Harba, chairman of Babylon Investment Commission.

In the western province of Anbar, investors have been waiting since last year for approval to build a fertilizer factory worth $800 million.

"It was delayed because it was sent from the governate to the central government and it's taking a lot of time there for approval," Anbar investment commission head Amer Awadh told Reuters. "We have preliminary approval but not final approval."

"MINISTERS DON'T UNDERSTAND"

Iraq's economy is still very state-centric, and a weak credit culture has hampered development. Investors say a lack of laws and guarantees also makes working in the country, once a Middle Eastern breadbasket, extremely difficult.

At a recent investment conference in parliament attended by Araji and all of Iraq's provincial investment commission heads, officials openly admitted they needed to intensify efforts to improve the business environment.

A key problem is a backlog of projects awaiting approval from the central government. Provincial officials say they should be given more authority to work with investors.

Baghdad has awarded 70 licenses of which seven projects are in the works, documents showed. In Maysan, Wasit and Diyala, out of every 10 investment projects licensed in each province, work has started at only three or fewer.

"We should minimize the routine and bureaucracy in granting investment licenses," Awadh told the conference. "We are losing big opportunities to other countries because of these problems and many other issues."

Rising tensions within Iraq's fragile coalition government of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds has hampered work and delayed approval of many laws, such as a long-anticipated hydrocarbons law which is crucial for the oil sector.

Policy-making is also paying the price of decades of economic isolation. Many officials are unused to moving at the speed demanded by foreign investors, and even when new legislation is passed, it can take months to be understood and implemented within the government.

Bahash says the key to Najaf's success has been close cooperation between the province's investment commission and the local governate, with officials taking the initiative to tackle problems rather than wait for a national directive.

"The governor and members of the provincial council are cooperating with us; they support our investment steps, and that has not happened in other provinces," Bahash said.

Razzaq Shareef, deputy governor of Najaf, said the province had seen so many projects take off because it had a strict policy that any investor granted a license had to pay 10 percent of the project's costs upfront as a guarantee that it would meet its commitments.

The rule has proved successful with both local and foreign investors, and is now being rolled out in other provinces following an order from the central government, Shareef said.

Iraq has a target under its five-year economic development plan of attracting $85 billion in investment by 2014. Luring pledges of that amount of money looks likely to be relatively easy; translating them into concrete projects on the ground may require educating many more government officials in Najaf's approach.

"The help from the central (government) is limited in this field," said Anbar investment commission head Awadh. "Some officials don't even understand the culture of investment. Even at the level of a minister."

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