Improving the business and investment climate in Iraq

With financing from the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida), the MENA-OECD Competitiveness Programme sought to improve the Government of Iraq’s (GoI) ability to attract private investment through a policy dialogue and capacity building project (2014-16). During the project, the Programme worked with the Baghdad-based central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The project had four components designed to help the GoI address impediments to private investment into Iraq:

1. Strengthening the Iraqi Investment Policy Framework sought to assess Iraq’s legal and institutional investment framework and then to train GoI policy makers on methods to improve this framework.
   
   
2. Investment Promotion Diagnostic and Development aimed to increase Iraq’s National Investment Commission and the Provincial Investment Commissions’ capacities as the GoI’s main investment promoters and to align their operations with best practice investment promotion techniques.
   
   
3. Economic Zones (Working Group on Investment Zones) sought to establish a clear framework for the GoI’s three types of economic zones, which the Iraqi government could use to promote investment into strategic sectors.
   
   
4. Integration into the Programme’s regional working groups and activities involved inviting GoI officials to planned working groups on investment, SME policy and competitiveness. In addition, the Programme invited GoI officials to its training activities in Kuwait for MENA economic policy makers and the OECD-MENA Women’s Business Forum.

• Read about the project's work streams on infrastructure finance, investment zones and capaciy development for integrity in public procurment.
• Consult the overview of the Sida-financed components: Improving the business and investment climate in Iraq – policy dialogue and capacity building for key actors   English | Arabic
• Learn about the MENA-OECD Iraq Project (2007-13) 

Events: 

Investment and inclusive growth in the midst of crisis: Lessons learned & ways forward, 11 May 2016, Beirut

Investment policy and promotion in Iraq: Milestones and way forward in a fragile situation, 10 May 2016, Beirut

First meeting of the Project Working Group, 21 May 2014, Baghdad, Iraq

Capstone Meetings with the Government of Iraq, 2-3 February 2014, Baghdad, Iraq

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Project Insights: Promoting Investment in a Fragile Context 2016
English | Arabic 

Supporting Investment Policy and Governance Reforms in Iraq 2010

Contact us:

MENA.Competitiveness@oecd.org