15 November 2005 - More than 250 Iraqi businesspeople from Najaf, Basra, Ramadi, Tikrit, Mosul, Baquba, Samawa, Diwaniya, Nasariyah and Hilla recently traveled to Iraq’s capital city to attend an informational seminar about privatization that was conducted by the staff of USAID’s IZDIHAR project.

The business community learned about the benefits and methods of privatization, experiences of other countries, and why successful privatization programs tend to be unique to a specific country’s situation.

“Privatization does not necessarily mean an enterprise is being sold to foreign investors,” explained an Iraqi businessman who spoke at the seminar.  “The people of Iraq could own it.  The company could be purchased by Iraqi investors and its ownership shares could be traded on the Iraqi stock market, available as an investment by all our citizens.”

“In addition, privatization does not necessarily mean we are losing jobs,” he added.  “The company could grow because it would have new investors.  People who work there would need training, but if you work hard you would get a fair salary.  Our businessmen have to take on the role of investing in our own country.”

 “The seminar was very helpful,” remarked a businessman from Hilla.  “It helped add to our understanding of the issue.”

The Government of Iraq presently supports more than 190 state-owned companies at a loss of more than 600 billion dinars ($428 million USD) per year.  By transferring ownership and management control of these enterprises to the private sector, the government would reduce their financial burden to the national budget, enable private investments to spur the growth of these companies so they can create new jobs, and free the companies to focus on producing quality products at competitive prices.

18 October 2005 - Iraq’s new Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Reform and Rehabilitation of State-Owned Enterprises recently met in Baghdad with privatization experts from USAID’s IZDIHAR project.

The new Committee, which was authorized by Iraq’s government in late August, is tasked with providing recommendations to the Council of Ministers regarding the future of the country’s state-owned enterprises.  IZDIHAR staff presented options for the Committee to consider as it seeks to reduce the government’s financial burden of supporting state-owned enterprises and strengthen Iraq’s private sector.

The Committee’s recommendations are expected to be announced by the end of October.

8 October 2005 - Privatization experts from USAID’s IZDIHAR project recently presented a strategy that was approved by representatives of four Iraqi government ministries to systematically collect and analyze data on state-owned enterprises in preparation for their privatization.

The strategy was presented at a meeting in Baghdad of the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources Committee to Transfer State Companies to Shareholder Companies and also included representatives of Iraq’s Trade, Planning and Finance ministries.

As a result, each ministry will create nine new departments responsible for collecting, monitoring, analyzing and disseminating information about the state-owned enterprises within its ministry. Specialists will be assigned to the various departments, which include inventory and evaluation, financial analysis, productivity, marketing, legal and others.

The strategy specifically addresses Iraq’s unique situation and overcomes the obstacles of lack of information and lack of transparency of the numerous state-owned enterprises within the ministries. The information will be collected using the same system across various ministries and will become available to potential investors.

Privatization of state-owned enterprises will allow Iraq to reduce the financial burden of supporting state companies that more properly belong in a revitalized private sector.

2 August 2005 - Twenty-six members of economic journalist associations in Iraq – representing one-third of the business reporters in the country – recently attended a training session in Baghdad to learn about the privatization process and how it has worked in other countries.

The training was organized and led by staff members from the USAID IZDIHAR project.

The journalists learned that privatization is the transfer of ownership title of enterprises from the public sector to the private sector, which typically is better able to grow the businesses and create long-term jobs. They also learned that in many countries it has been necessary to have leaders with political determination in order to privatize successfully because privatization brings about changes in the ways things have been done in the past and this is uncomfortable for many people.

As a result of the training, the journalists are now more knowledgeable about privatization, can identify which countries have successfully privatized, and have strengthened their understanding of the issue so that they can better communicate it to business leaders and to the public in Iraq.

The privatization training was the project’s first step in utilizing the economic journalist associations to increase awareness by business association members of key private sector growth strategies, which also include strengthening trade, investment promotion, capital markets, and business management training as well as private bank lending and microfinance programs.

10 July 2001 - Staff from USAID’s IZDIHAR project recently completed a draft of an international “best practices” law on privatization of state-owned enterprises to support the Government of Iraq.

The new draft injects much needed specifics about international best practices and clarifies the necessity and role of an Iraqi privatization agency in overseeing the privatization process for the entire country.

The draft also stipulates privatization process procedures so that privatization in Iraq can occur in a fair, transparent, and timely manner.

The new draft legislation supports the Government of Iraq’s desire to be free of the burden of carrying the expenses for state-owned enterprises that more properly belongs in the country’s private sector.

21 June 2005 - Six members of Iraq’s Legislative Committee on Privatization recently met with advisors from USAID IZDIHAR project to discuss privatization experiences in other countries that might have relevance for Iraq and ways of moving forward in order to strengthen the private sector.

As a result of the meeting, IZDIHAR’s privatization advisors will continue to provide the Legislative Committee with support in developing model legislation that can serve as the basis of privatization in Iraq.

The legislation will provide a legal framework for the privatization of State Owned Enterprises and define a process to transfer ownership of certain enterprises from the public sector to the private sector.

This in turn will open the way for development of a robust private sector that actively supports business growth and the creation of sustainable jobs.

7 June 2005 - A recent Executive Order by Iraq’s Prime Minister established a Legislative Committee on Privatization, mandating it to prepare a draft privatization law.

To assist the Government of Iraq, staff members from USAID’s IZDIHAR project are supporting development of “best practices” privatization legislation.

By having a sound privatization law in place, Iraq then will be better able to provide clear legal authority for its privatization program and an eventual implementing privatization agency.

26 May 2005 - Representatives from USAID, the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and UK’s Department for International Development recently met in Amman, Jordan to assess the needs of Iraqi government ministries seeking to move key state-owned enterprises off the national budget.

These major donor organizations discussed the coordination of their efforts to support the ministries in Iraq and agreed to accelerate the timetable for privatizing numerous organizations.

Needs assessments were conducted earlier by the donors with the Iraqi ministries and several Iraqi representatives participated via teleconference from Baghdad.

A representative from USAID’s Iraq Private Sector Growth and Employment Generation project spoke about the status of privatization support that is already being provided to the Government of Iraq.

Discussions also addressed donor interest and funding support for developing the privatization framework, training professional employees in a new Iraqi Privatization Commission, restructuring selected enterprises, and implementing a public awareness program to educate Iraqis on the benefits of privatization.

In order to help the Iraqi government achieve its privatization objectives, the donor organizations and the Iraqi ministries collectively agreed that donor assistance should support privatizing specific state-owned enterprises in order to accelerate the process and more quickly free the Iraqi government of the expenses for enterprises that more properly belong in a robust private sector.

17 April 2005 – Seven Iraqi foreign investment and privatization officials participated in the Rebuild Iraq 2005 Expo and Conference held April 4-7, 2005 in Amman, Jordan under the sponsorship of USAID’s Iraq Private Sector Growth and Employment Generation project.

The purpose of the trip was to familiarize the officials with prospective investors’ interests and requirements for making investments in Iraq. While in Amman, Iraqi privatization officials also met with the Jordan Executive Privatization Commission.

The Rebuild Iraq 2005 Expo, held at the Amman International Fair, brought together buyers, manufacturers, suppliers, and contractors - providing them with direct access to project directors, government bodies and a variety of decision-makers involved in the economic rebirth of Iraq.

In conjunction with the Expo, a 2-day Conference entitled "Doing Business in Iraq" was held at the Grand Hyatt in Amman on April 5-6, largely attended by business representatives interested in contract opportunities in Iraq.

A total of 986 exhibitors presented such products as: piping systems, steel bridges, wireless networks, security and CCTV products, mapping and aerial imagery, flour mills, plastics, HVAC systems, weather-sealing technology, concrete and mortar mixers, water and waste water treatment equipment. The exhibitors also included various firms providing services in engineering, transportation, manufacturing, and communications.

Speakers included Jordan’s Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmad Hindawi, who opened the Expo, along with Iraqi Minister of Planning Mehdi Al Hafedh and Chairman of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Task Force William Lash, both of whom stressed the importance of international businesses partnering with Iraqi firms to develop the sort of thriving private sector the country has not seen since the 1970s.