The Iraq Britain Business Council held meetings for its Education, Training & Heritage Sector Table and Oil & Gas Sector Table at the IBBC offices on the 30 and 31 January respectively.

The Education, Training & Heritage Sector Table Meeting took place prior to the IBBC Council Meeting on 30 January and featured presentations from Dr Victoria Lindsay, Country Director Iraq, British Council and Dr Nahi Al-Rikabi, the new Iraqi Cultural Attache, Iraqi Embassy in London.

Representatives from IBBC members BP, Cresent, International Islamic Bank, Bath Spa University, University of Northampton, GulfTek, AlBilal Group, Perkins + Will and UB Holding were present for the meeting chaired for the first time by Professor Paul Boyle, President & Vice Chancellor of the University of Leicester.

Table members discussed at length issues including uniformity of certification across sectors, visa issues, English language and management deficiencies in the Iraqi workforce and the possibility of creating a pilot scheme to address specific flaws in vocational and educational training.

The table also discussed ways in which to deepen Iraqi British partnerships in higher education and heard an in-depth report on the activities of the British Council in Iraq after an absence of 65 years.

  

The Oil & Gas Sector Table chaired by Vikas Handa of GulfTek took place on 31 January and featured representatives from Severn Glocon Group, Wood, Solar Turbines, Cresent, GE, Constellis and SNC Lavalin.

The Table heard a report from Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, President of IBBC and the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Iraq on the current state of affairs in the country before a brief overview of the economic and political outlook for Iraq from Philippe Dauba-Pantanacce, Senior Economist at Standard Chartered Bank. This was followed by an overview from Ali Aziz, Trade & Investment Advisor for the British Embassy in Iraq and an in-depth discussion of topics relevant to the sector.