Iraq-Italy Business Council Holds Meetings in Rome

The Iraq-Italy Business Council (IIBC) have recently held a series of meetings in Rome to discuss investment opportunities and bilateral cooperation. This comes amidst efforts to increase economic engagement between the two countries.

On January 22, representatives of the IIBC as well as its President, Salar Omar Saleh, attended a meeting with the Italian Trade Agency (ITA). Key discussions in the meeting centred around initiatives to promote the introduction of Italian companies into the Iraqi market, encouraging cooperation between public and private sectors, and expanding opportunities for investment and trade between Iraq and Italy.

On the same day, members of the IIBC also met with ANIMA Confindustria, a federation protecting the interests of the mechanical engineering industry in areas such as construction, technology, machinery, and logistics. The meeting covered questions of boosting Italian investments in Iraq, easing challenges faced by Italian firms in entering the Iraqi market, and deepening positive and productive representation of Italian firms in Iraq. The meeting concluded with the signing of a monumental Memorandum of Understanding regarding the establishment of trade and industry delegations from both parties, exchange of technical expertise and experience, and the development of deep-seated cooperative efforts to support productivity growth in Iraqi firms.

On January 23, Salar Omar Saleh met with delegates from GVM Care & Research Group, a transnational healthcare, medical research, and biomedical company based in Italy, as part of large-scale efforts to promote bilateral cooperation in the health sector. Among the subjects focused on in the meeting were the exchange of medical and scientific expertise between the two countries, facilitating Iraqi doctors’ participation in specialised medical conferences in Italy, and engineering mechanisms to refer Iraqi patients to Italy to receive advanced medical treatment.

These series of meetings highlight the benefits and importance of strengthening multi-sector bilateral cooperation and provide hope for the furthering of business and investment opportunities for Italian firms in Iraq.

Source: IIBC