DEARBORN — The American Arab Chamber of Commerce (AACC) held a business delegation Nov. 17 at the Fairlane Club in Dearborn featuring Dr. Sami Al-Araji, the chairman of the Iraqi National Investment Commission.

AACC Executive Director Fay Beydoun and Dr. Sami Al-Araji. PHOTO: Nafeh AbuNab/American Elite Studios

The delegation is part of the AACC’s effort to increase exports from Michigan to the Middle East and introduce Michigan-based companies to investment opportunities in the Middle East.

AACC Executive Director, Fay Beydoun, said Iraq has one of the biggest markets existing in the Middle East, and Michigan has $1.3 billion in exports going to the Middle East. Beydoun says the AACC’s goal is to increase that by 30 percent within the next five years. The AACC is holding an export conference that will include delegates from Iraq and other countries in the Middle East that have investment opportunities.  “We want to make the Michigan business owner aware of these opportunities so they can take advantage of them,” Beydoun said.

Dr. Al-Araji has held high level government positions, including Deputy Minister of Industry and Minerals, Director General of Planning and Director General of Engineering Inspection and Quality Control at the Ministry of Minerals, and Head of the Nuclear Safety Authority at the Atomic Energy Commission.

According to Al-Araji by 2016 or 2017 Iraq will have between 10 million to 12 million barrels of oil being produced. “That puts Iraq at the number one producer, and hopefully among the top five in the world,” Al-Araji said. Investment opportunities exist in the steel, factory production, recreational, tourism and several other sectors. There are about 750 investment projects with a value of $600 billion.  One-hundred million housing units are expected to be built in Iraq. The housing units are being distributed by population concentration. To date, 165 companies have applied to invest in Iraq according to Al-Araji.  

The National Iraqi Investment Commission will work with its one-stop-shop to prevent theft surrounding investments. Al-Araji addressed the concerns potential investors may have about security in Iraq. He says the only two destabilized provinces are Mosul and Baghdad. 

Revenues from the oil production will be used to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure that’s been damaged by the 2003 U.S. led Iraq invasion.  “Because the level of losses has been so big before and after the 2003 invasion, waiting for all the generation from the oil to rebuild Iraq will take us a long time and that’s why we had a five year plan, 2010 to 2014 and 2015 to 2019 that will rebuild Iraq fast and try to and put infrastructure needs as a priority,” he said. Al-Araji believes infrastructure will give Iraq war victims rewards for their pain and suffering. He says both the five year plan and investment plan make providing important needs to Iraqis a top priority.  To invest with the National Iraqi Investment Commission visit www.investpromo.gov.iq.