| 2008: Vice president urges businessmen to invest in Iraq |
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May 15, 2008 Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi called on businessmen from inside and outside Iraq to boost the Iraqi economy and invest in the war-ravaged country on the sidelines of the 2nd Iraq Business, Investment Conference, which opened this morning in the Egyptian capital. "The most important feature of the current renaissance stage is the establishment of residential and medical compounds all over the country and the encouragement of tourism by building huge hotels, such as the Marriott, and tourist facilities overlooking the Tigris River," Abdul Mahdi said in his opening speech addressing the conference. The 2nd Iraq Business and Investment Conference (IBIC) opened this morning in downtown Cairo's Grand Hyatt Hotel under the auspices of the Iraqi vice president and Egyptian Prime Minster Ahmed Nazeef. The conference entitled, 'Today's Iraq…homeland for investment,' will last until May 16. Meanwhile, the Egyptian premier said that Egypt will spare no effort to help Iraq rebuild itself. On Wednesday, an Iraqi delegation of 630 figures, including 130 officials and 500 businessmen, investors and economists, arrived in Cairo to take part in the conference. The officials included Minister of Finance Baqer Jabr Solagh, Minister of Industry Fawzi al-Hariri and university presidents. Nearly 200 Egyptian businessmen and investors attended the conference, which is expected to tackle the role of private business and companies in boosting the Iraqi economy. The first IBIC was held in Dubai in 2007 with the participation of prominent Iraqi and Arab figures. One of the recommendations of the Dubai conference was to support the Iraqi economy by all means. |