The Iraq Britain Business Council’s (IBBC) Christophe Michels, Managing Director, and Richard Cotton, Commercial Adviser, attended an Iraq-UK Ministerial Trade Council roundtable on trade, economics and finance at Lancaster House, London on Wednesday 12 October 2016. Hosted by the Department for International Trade (DIT), the discussion was held as part of the fourth annual UK-Iraq Joint Committee Meeting. The Kurdistan Regional Government was also represented at the meeting.

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, IBBC President and the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Iraq, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, chaired the session and led the UK team. She was supported by Frank Baker OBE, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Iraq, and Stuart Smith, DIT Director Iraq.

The Iraq team was led by Dr Sami Al Araji, Chairman of the National Investment Commission (NIC). He was supported by H.E. Dr Salih Husain Ali, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the UK, as well as officials from the Ministry of Health and Interior. IBBC members Faisal Al Haimus, Acting Chairman and CEO of the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI), and Haider Al-Rubeiy, Vice President of the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce, were also in attendance.

During the meeting, Dr Al Araji emphasised that conditions were slowly improving in the Iraq. He outlined the many opportunities available to British companies in the country and expressed the willingness of the NIC to assist companies wishing to explore the market, sentiments that were echoed by his team.

Visa issues experienced by nationals of both countries were also discussed. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s negative travel advice, which restricts British companies from travelling to Iraq, and a lack of good governance, which dissuades British companies from doing business in the country, were two issues also covered during the session.

Sessions on security and politics, which the IBBC did not attend, were held following the trade-focused meeting.