The goal is to further establish connections with The health minister and other essential departments to further strengthen our relationships and to research
fields for a better trade between the Swedish and Iraqi companies.

The manager of the Najaf branch of the private Babel bank is, however, a man. He must make an appointment before making a visit and enter the premises through a back door.

“Through this bank they (women customers) can unveil and exercise complete freedom in dealing with the employees,” said Mazen Abdul-Razzaq, Babel’s deputy director.

A study by The Boston Consulting Group, which included Iraq, found that women worldwide were particularly dissatisfied when it came to financial services.

Iraqi women interviewed at the women-only bank in Najaf say they felt uncomfortable dealing with male bank clerks in regular banks and felt much more relaxed in the new branch.

The establishment in Najaf of the branch, which opened a week ago and gave access to a few male journalists to publicise the event, reflects to some extent the religious conservatism that pervades the city — a major centre of Shi’ite learning.

Women in the city have long been expected for religious and cultural reasons to wear all-enveloping abayas, and hijabs, or scarves, to cover their hair.

Iraq was once considered among the more westernised countries in the Middle East. After the first Gulf war and the sanctions in the 1990s, former dictator Saddam Hussein used religion to shore up support for his largely secular regime.

In the aftermath of the 2003 U.S. invasion, which led to Iraq’s Shi’ite majority taking power, religious conservatives and militias on both sides of the sectarian divide imposed often draconian restrictions on women.

Some restrictions have since eased, though many remain.

MORE DEMAND?

In the women-only branch in Najaf, women tellers sit behind windowed booths, bricks of Iraqi dinars piled to one side, while counting machines flutter through wads of U.S. $100 bills.

Standing in line, a woman calling herself Um Zina or “Mother of Zina”, said Najaf needed more places like it.

“Woman will go out freely to places where there are only women,” the beauty parlour employee said. “I encourage such ideas so women don’t get embarrassed.”

Iqbal Mohammed, head of accounts at the bank, sees the new branch benefiting all Iraqi women, but especially those in Najaf who are “isolated in her house and busy raising children”.

“We have backed her to exercise one of her rights. We have given her the right to go outdoors and do some business.”

Iraq’s banking sector, like its society, is changing.

Most is still run by the state, which controls about 80 percent of gross domestic product. But the private banks that have set up shop are booming. Bankers speak of a surge in deposits and loans as the violence began to subside.

The increasing security is still fragile – twin suicide bombs in Baghdad on Sunday killed 155 people.

If the women-only branch is successful, others may follow, said Abdul Aziz Hassoun, head of the Iraqi Private Banks League.

“This is going to be something that is desirable, and it is not limited only to the holy cities … maybe other banks will copy this example once there is demand,” he said.

Here is a link to the article published in reuters India.

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43475520091027?sp=true

Arlanda airport shuts down their security checks at midnight so Hussein Kanber-agha, my local Swedish Iraqi associate, and I had to be the by 23.00h to clear security and passport control to catch the 02:30h Iraqi Airways flight to Baghdad. The Iraqis love flying when the rest of the world is curled up in a warm bed! It was rather a good flight because this new Arlanda-Baghdad service has an efficient Swedish crew. We left on time and arrived on a hot sunny morning in Baghdad.

The airport was clean and we had no trouble going through passport control. It was a friendly “good morning, Sir” and a short walk to the taxi stand. Here a special taxi superintendent took our names and address just in case something happened on the way. And nothing happened except we encountered heavy traffic when driving to a friend’s home. Every few kilometers a checkpoint soldier and policeman stared in to our car and waved us on. Most of the faces smiled under their helmet. Their guns were all pointed downwards in polite deference. We arrived at the house and had a shower and some breakfast – small pizzas from a cousin’s bakery and sweet brown tea.

Refreshed, we started or visits with Hamid, our driver, a young man who is a friend of Hussein’s family, in a small unmarked white Toyota sedan. I sat in the back seat while Hussein and Hamid exchanged their stories from the last two years since their last meeting.

That Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we visited 12 banks and several other business people. Each bank was similar to the next. Burly security men stood outside the gates and five meter high concrete slabs that surrounded the buildings. When they saw me, the white European, get out of the car they saluted and smiled. Only one of them scared me. He was on guard at a very crowded bank where there were a lot of people coming in and out. He was probably nervous, poor man.

All the banks typically have the same style banking area filled with people making payments and trying to borrow money. The staff is predominantly women who are counting thick wads of notes and filling in hand written forms. Computers have yet to be introduced widely to the banks!

In order to be careful about our own security, we had only told our banking friends that we would arrive on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. We did not have to worry about being on time on any particular day. They do not receive many visitors and the odd visitor arriving from one of those unknown European countries is a welcome reason to show off in front of the young staff. In every bank our arrival was greeted with curiosity and smiles. The managing directors and chairmen of the board in all the banks made up for their lack of computers with the number of mobile telephones that they used all the time when we were sitting in the meetings. The bigger the boss, the more calls he took in mid-sentence.

When you travel a lot in different countries, you look out for physical clues to evaluate companies and governments. I have always used the toilet test. Travelling from bank to bank means that you have to use their facilities especially when you are served black Turkish coffee and sweet tea a dozen times a day. Only three banks passed the test – most of them had unwashed, cracked and rusty facilities.

I spent the nights in the bunker of the new Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. The embassy is housed in a smart top security compound that our government has invested in to spearhead business and social development in Iraq. They have done an excellent job in providing a safe and comfortable environment for Swedes who are visiting Iraq. It is an exceptional solution when compared to the embassies of other countries. Exportrådet are setting up an office there and Sida already have people on the ground. This solution will go far in promoting Sweden’s interests in seeing economic and social development.

Over the three days there, we only saw one damaged building, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry building that had been bombed some three months ago. We learnt about three small bombings during our stay there but we saw or heard nothing. The city is huge with traffic jams and busy crowds fill the streets, restaurants, street markets and shops. Men dress in suits and women in normal coats and dresses. Baghdad is a modern busy city. If it was not for the guards, security checkpoints and army convoys, you would not have thought of the terrible violence that these people have experienced.

Travelling from one meeting to another in 35C degrees is hot work especially when many of the meeting rooms did not have any air-conditioning. Electricity blackouts happen every day. Most of the banks had their own generators. These are noisy machines that spew out diesel fumes at the back of the buildings. To cool off we stopped at open air cafes and had cool drink and grilled freshly slaughtered lamb. The small stands always want to make sure that their customers see that the meat is clean and fresh. They hang it above the charcoal fire for everyone to inspect. Their other specialty is Masgouf. This is a traditional Iraqi dish, it is an open cut carp grilled and spiced with salt, pepper and tamarind. When you see it for the first time it looks like a thick pizza. The shiny smoked surface is crispy. Its taste is delicious. After the meal we washed our hands under a tap with a gritty piece of soap.

Our visit to Baghdad coincided with a meeting of the security people from the big Swedish companies at the Embassy. A short unannounced visit is relatively safe because nobody knew about us or about our car. But when our colleges and friends are there every day to meet clients, partners and others, security is a real issue. A kidnapped person from a major company can be used to secure a ransom. Even though this practice has practically disappeared, it is important that security is taken seriously.

On the last day we finished at 19.00h and were driven to the airport by the security men of one of the banks. They used the car for transporting dollars from the airport to the banks. This is a cash society where dollar notes are used to pay for houses, cars, cloths, food and services! Our journey was slow because an American convoy of heavily armed security vehicles drove in front of us. A soldier waved a red flag if any car got too near. This was a warning to stay back or be shot at. The vehicles had thick antennas on the four corner of each car that cut the GSM network around them to prevent roadside bombs from being activated by mobile phones.

We left Baghdad on the comfortable return flight with Iraqi Airways and arrived at 04.00h the next morning in Stockholm.

Iraq has huge oil reserves, a well educated population that badly needs the basic infrastructure of a modern country. Swedish companies have a good reputation as honest and reliable suppliers. Many Iraqis have relatives living in Sweden. You can expect that many of the 100 000 Iraqis now living in Sweden will want to return to Iraq to have a decent job in the rebuilding of their country. This is the opportunity of a life time to extend another helping hand to a people that deserve something better than what they have experienced the last thirty years.

http://www.swedfund.se/sv/pressrum/nyheter/tre-dagar-i-bagdad

Ett intensivt program i Bagdad inkluderade möten med bland andra Iraks minister för mänskliga rättigheter, premiärministerns rådgivare, ordföranden i den nationella investeringskommissionen samt den irakiska ordföranden i valkommissionen.

Vistelsen i Irak gav också möjlighet till samtal med företrädare för FN, EU-kommissionen samt USA.

Genomgående teman var hur den nya femårsstrategin för utvecklingssamarbetet med Irak som regeringen beslutade om i somras skall kunna genomföras, vilka sektorer och program som bör prioriteras, samt hur olika givares insatser kan koordineras för att bäst svara mot Iraks behov.

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De har bland annat informerats om den forskning och utbildning
som bedrivs vid LTU.

På tisdagseftermiddagen träffades ett avtal mellan Luleå tekniska universitet, LTU, och den irakiska regeringen om forsknings- och utbildningssamarbete.

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Artikel
Ewa Björling, Handelsminister

Iraks storslagna möjligheter

“Det existerar alltid möjligheter, genom vilka företag kan göra storslagna
vinster om de bara känner igen och fångar dem”, så uttryckte sig en gång den
kända amerikanska industrialisten, tillika USA:s vid tiden rikaste person,
Jean Paul Getty.

Den 7:e oktober deltar jag när Svensk-irakiska handelskammaren i Stockholm
anordnar en konferens under parollen “Möjligheterna är många”. Detta är ett välkommet och viktigt initiativ. Irak besitter enastående förutsättningar
att bli ett nytt tillväxtfenomen.

Irak har med världens tredje största oljereserv betydande naturresurser.
Utbildningsnivån i landet är förhållandevis hög och befolkningen växer i bra
takt.

Tyvärr har terrorism, krig och förstörelse har ställt den irakiska ekonomin
inför gigantiska utmaningar. Men landets centralbank har trots detta lyckats
pressa ner inflationen från 53 procent 2006 till 6.8 procent 2008, vilket är
lägre än många andra utvecklingsländer. Ny statistik från Internationella
valutafonden visar att tillväxtstakten i Irak förväntas ligga på mellan 6-7
procent årligen fram till 2013, bland de högsta i Mellanöstern och
imponerande även jämfört med resten av världen.

Färska siffror från de irakiska försvars-, inrikes- och
hälsovårdsdepartementen tyder dessutom på en halvering av antalet
våldsrelaterade dödsfall. Denna kraftiga minskning av våldet ger ytterligare
hopp för framtiden.

Från en rent kommersiell utgångspunkt är ett särskilt fokus på Irak lätt att
motivera. Svenska näringsidkare har varit verksamma i Irak under decennier.
Under 70- och 80-talen var landet en av Sveriges största exportmarknader i
Mellanöstern. Iraks stora uppbyggnads- och utvecklingsbehov samt möjlighet
till finansiering genom naturresurstillgångar innebär stor potential för ett
starkt handels- och industrisamarbete.

Vår svensk-irakiska befolkning ger dessutom svenska företag en fördelaktig
möjlighet att bli framstående i Irak. Irakier har kommit till Sverige sedan
början av 80-talet och idag är omkring 100 000 Irakfödda bosatta i Sverige.
Irak är nu det land varifrån flest icke-nordiska utlandsfödda i Sverige har
sitt ursprung.

Jag har initierat Projekt Kosmopolit precis för att ta tillvara på
utlandsföddas kunskaper för att öka handeln. Med detta blir svensk-irakierna
viktiga handelsambassadörer. Svenska företag får en konkurrensfördel, vilket
är positivt för svensk ekonomi i stort. Irak gynnas givetvis genom mer
handel och fler investeringar.

Ifjol ledde jag den första svenska handelsdelegation till Bagdad på 20 år.
Besöket resulterade bland annat i en order för Scania om 500 lastbilar, men
även andra företag hade framgångar. Tillsammans med det stora irakiska
besöket i Stockholm i slutet av maj förra året har vi skapat goda
förutsättningar för ett snabbt växande utbyte mellan våra länder. Vår export
till Irak det senaste året har ökat med hela 148 procent. Affärer som denna
kommer att bidra till att utvecklingen fortsätter i positiv riktning.

Mycket är nu på gång. Sveriges ambassad i Bagdad har nyligen öppnats. Arbete
pågår med att starta ett honorärt konsulat i Erbil. En ny svensk strategi
för utvecklingssamarbetet med Irak antogs i somras. Eftersom det är
irakierna själva som efterfrågar större fokus på näringslivsutveckling är
det positivt att utvecklingssamarbetet avser stödja handel och näringsliv.

Den svenska regeringen arbetar hårt för att förbättra handelsrelationerna
mellan Sverige och Irak. Men svenska företag måste själva fånga och dra
nytta av Iraks tillväxtpotential. Landets behov passar väl med vad svenska
företag kan erbjuda inom exempelvis infrastruktur, hälso- och sjukvård,
miljöteknik samt telekommunikation. Irak erbjuder, som Jean Paul Getty
skulle ha sagt, många möjligheter genom vilka företag kan göra storslagna
vinster. Det gäller bara att känna igen och dra fördel av dessa.

Källa / Source

http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/11388/a/133406