IBBC General Manager, Monjed Salha, accompanied by the IBBC Baghdad Office Manager, Mohanad Al Khattab, and the IBBC Representative in KRI and South of Iraq, Dr. Ali Jawad, visited several Iraqi cities after the successful SMEs Business Forum that was organised by the IBBC and held in London on July 6, 2023.

In Baghdad, the IBBC delegation had a productive meeting with the Chairman and board members of the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce at their head quarters located at Al Rasheed Street, followed by a meeting at the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce with the President, Mr. Abdulrazzaq Al-Zuheeri.

The extended meeting addressed, in detail, the challenges facing the Iraqi economy, with discussions focused on the requirements of the member companies of the Federation in exchanging business with the UK market. Mr. Al Zuheeri praised the IBBC for the hard work and support its giving to the Iraqi companies through the programmes of the IBBC annual Conferences, specifically facilitating the SMEs trade delegations to the UK which has created a bright new window of business opportunities for numerous Iraqi businesses.

The IBBC delegation accepted the kind invitation from Mr. Fakhir Al Fadhily, CEO of Ziusudra Company, to visit the company and meet with Mr. Fakhir with the attendance of Mr. Ali Tarfa, Communications Manager for Ziusudra. A brief presentation of Ziusudra Company was well received by the IBBC delegation and  Monjed Salha invited the hosts to attend upcoming IBBC events.

Meetings also were held with IBBC member Ms. Hadeel Hasan, Managing Partner at Al Hadeel Al Hasan LLC. Ms. Hadeel Hasan is an Executive Committee Member of IBBC.

In the evening, the IBBC delegation attended dinner hosted by Mr. Steve Alexander, General Manager at Jaguar Land Rover Sardar Group.

Next on the 10-day Iraq visit agenda were meetings in Karbala and Najaf. The IBBC delegation visited the  Karbala Chambers of Commerce and met with Eng. Abdulkareem Albazi, Vice President and Mr. Hazem Nazim Abdul Hadi, Director of the Chamber.

Eng. Abdulkareem Albazi welcomed the delegation and praised the IBBC efforts and energy produced to support and facilitate procedures to access and attend conferences and business forums.  Monjed Salha praised the Karbala’s Chamber serious work for the participation of Karbala respected businesses in conferences and its endeavor to find economic relations and cooperation with British companies towards establishing a strong partnership in order to enter into competitive investment projects in global markets. Mr. Mohanad Al Khattab stressed the need for all those who obtained UK entry visas based on the invitations of the IBBC make sure to attend the IBBC events and network with the IBBC members. Mr. Mohanad Al Khattab noted that the Karbala Chamber members should pass notes to the IBBC indicating the topics they wish to discuss with the British companies and what is required from the UK market for the purpose of taking these notes into account in the upcoming events, especially the SMEs Business Forum taking place in January 2024.

At the end of the meeting, the Karbala Chamber Vice President presented the IBBC delegation with the Chamber gifts trophy shields, appreciating their efforts and continued support and fully delivering in what was stated in the memorandum of understanding previously signed with the Iraq Britain Business Council.

The IBBC delegation’s next stop was in the holy city of Najaf. A productive meeting was held with Eng. Haider Jasim, Chairman of Najaf Chamber of Commerce.

The discussion focused on similar topics that were mentioned at the meeting in Karbala and the members of the chamber were keen to maintain active participation in coming IBBC events.

The IBBC delegation headed for Basra and met with numerous Members and friends of the IBBC, including government officials. The delegation met with Mr. Imad Assfor, the first Vice President of the Basra Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Ali Al Hamdani, Manager of the Basra Chamber of Commerce, as well as Mr. Talal Rasmi, GRO at Al Faris Group.

The visit to Basra included a meeting at the Basra Gateway Terminal company where Mr. Romeo Salvador, General Manager, welcomed the IBBC delegation hosting the meeting. Other meetings were held in Basra with IBBC member companies, Mr. Bahaa  A Mohsen, Larsa Security company and Mr. John Kitchen, Dhefaf Al Khaleej company. The visit was concluded with with Iraq Star company, hosted by Mr Stuart Mackay and Mr David Bettney Iraq Star Country Manager

The meetings in Kurdistan Region of Iraq included Mr Serwan Mahmood, Chairman of the Sulaymaniyah Chamber of Commerce & Vice Chairman of the Kurdistan Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and businessmen

In Erbil, the IBBC delegation attended a meeting with Mr. Majid Sadeq, Vice President, Erbil Chamber of Commerce with other members of the board.

The delegation also visited several IBBC member companies where meetings held with Shaikh Salih Albarzinje, CEO of London Sky company and Dr. Kodo Salam Aziz, Board Member at CISQ – Cambridge International School – Queen Anne, Mr. David Tannourji from Mselect, Mr. Ranajit from Sardar Group, Sheikh Baz Barzinji CEO of KAR Group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The team ended their travels to Iraq by visiting Dahuk, where they met at the Chamber of Commerce with Mr. Ayad Abdulhalim, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Board Members.

The team would like to thank all members they met during their travels to Iraq, as well as friends of IBBC, chambers of commerce, and the Federations, for their ongoing support of IBBC and exceptional hospitality to the team.