On the 7th of February, IBBC and its member Mr. Arak Al Bayati, CEO of Al Maseer Insurance Company, hosted an excellent reception at the company’s new offices in Karadat Mariam Baghdad. Guests had the pleasure of enjoying the spectacular view of the Baghdad sky line from the 5th floor of the newly built River Breeze building.

A networking event, with no formal speeches, designed for members and friends to connect together.

In attendance were Ms. Rosy Cave, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy, Mr. Damian Allinson, UK Director of Business and Trade Department, in addition to around 30 members and friends of IBBC.
Christophe Michels, MD, said “The IBBC thanks Mr. Arak from Al Maseer for providing this spectacular venue and for hosting successfully the reception and I thank all members who were able to attend. Special thanks go to the UK Embassy in Baghdad. We are planning to have similar events for members regularly.”

Earlier during his visit to Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Baghdad, Christophe Michels, MD, accompanied by Dr. Ali Jawad, IBBC representative in Kurdistan, and Mr. Mohanad Al Khattab, IBBC Baghdad Office Manager, met with the new Chairmen and Board Members of the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah Chambers of Commerce and various topics discussed most noted the optimism that exists in Kurdistan for the business community and how the chambers can promote stronger involvement of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah businesses in IBBC and its activities.

In Erbil the IBBC team met with Sheikh Salih, CEO London Sky, who thankfully accompanied the team to most of the meetings in Erbil and Sulaimaniya. Next, the team met with Ms. Chapka Othman, CEO Cambridge International Schools, who spoke about the British universities involvement in the development of the education sector in the Kurdistan region.

Later the IBBC team, met with Mr. James Goldman, the British Consul General in Erbil and his Senior Trade Advisor, Ms. Dashne Kareem for an informal discussion on the general situation in the Kurdistan region and its effect on UK business.
In Sulaymaniyah, in addition to meeting with the Sulaymaniyah chamber of commerce, the IBBC team visited the offices of Hiwa Rauf company and Emar Al Sulaymaniyah company for introductory meetings arranged by Sheikh Salih Al Barazanji.

Chrsitophe Michels and Mohanad Al Khattab then traveled to Baghdad for meetings with Dr. Abdulkareem Al Faisal, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Commission at PMAC headquarters, Mr. Zaid Elyaseri, President of BP Iraq and Mr. Mohammed Alsaadi, CEO of Sama Hammurabi for Law and Legal Consultations, who recently joined IBBC’s membership.