First Meeting of the Project Working Group (PWG)

 

21 May 2014 – Baghdad, Iraq

The MENA-OECD Investment Programme held the first meeting of the Project Working Group (PWG) for the “Improving the Business and Investment Climate in Iraq – Policy Dialogue and Capacity Building for Key Actors” project on 21 May 2014 at Iraq’s National Investment Commission (NIC) in Baghdad. The Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) funded this project.

From 2013-2016) the PWG provided overall project guidance and advised the Programme on its implementation strategy. The PWG included high-level Government of Iraq (GoI) officials and stakeholders including: Iraqi business associations and private sector representatives, Iraqi NGOs, multilateral organisations and Sida.

 

During the meeting, PWG participants discussed the four project components:

• strengthening the Iraqi investment policy framework
• the investment promotion diagnostic and development
• continuing the Working Group on Investment Zones
• integrating the GoI into the Programme’s MENA-region activities

The Sida-funded project is part of the Programme’s Iraq Project. Created in 2007 in partnership with the GoI and with funding from the US Department of State, the Programme’s Iraq Project has helped support the GoI’s efforts to spur private sector development in Iraq. The Sida-funded portion of the Iraq Project includes capacity-building measures and policy dialogue activities to help the GoI attract non-hydrocarbon private investment to diversify the economy.

 

• Read the meeting conclusions and agenda