John Glassey
Director
Iraq Development Program
Opening Ceremony
Tuesday 28 June 2005

Your Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen on behalf of the Iraq Development Program, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to this summit as we look to contribute to Iraq’s future in these exciting times of freedom & empowerment. I am both honoured and flattered to be able to address such an esteemed and prestigious audience and express the gratitude of the Iraq Development Program for you all being here today.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank and welcome our Iraqi Government delegation and the Jordanian Government for supporting this event. It is my pleasure to thank the Iraqi Government Ministers who have taken time out from their demanding responsibilities to be here in Amman: HE Dr Latif Rashid (Minister for Water Resources); HE Juwan Masum (Minister for Telecommunications); HE Abdel Falah Hassan (Minister for Education); HE Ali Al-Bahidili (Minister for Agriculture) and HE Sharif Al-Zu’Bi (Jordanian Minister for Industry & Trade).

Furthermore I would like to thank all of those in the Iraqi Government delegation which includes deputy ministers, director generals and senior ministerial advisors from the Ministries of: Interior, Telecommunications, Oil, Industry, Science & Technology, Electricity, Housing & Construction, Agriculture & Defence. And also I am pleased to thank HE Atta Abdul Wahab, the Iraqi Ambassador to Jordan who has worked closely with us to welcome the official Iraqi Government Delegation.

I am further humbled in wishing to thank the many Iraqi business people who have traveled here enthusiastic to do business, to trade internationally and to better their country – your efforts are to be congratulated. For all of you wishing to sit down face-face with the Iraqi business groups, they will all be available in Halls A & B of the Zara Expo centre.

I wish to further express my gratitude to the prime contractors who are represented by their senior executives. They are here to meet all those who wish to work with them. These prime contractors along with the Project Contracting Office (PCO) and the British Corp of Engineers have their meeting booths in Hall C of the Zara Expo centre.

Of course, I wish to thank all those organizations who are contributing to this 3 day summit, including the World Bank, VEGA (Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance) and the official endorsement of the American Chambers of Commerce – both AmCham Iraq and AmCham Jordan.

We at The Iraq Development Program wish to make the purpose and way this summit operates different from the normal conference format. Probably many of you feel a certain amount of conference fatigue. This is why we have limited the seminar schedule to a select number of key experts who can greatly assist you in developing business in Iraq.

Hence, for much of your time here at the Grand Hyatt the program is open for the real purpose of this event. That is: to sit down face-to-face with those people appropriate for your business. With so many key decision makers here over the next few days there is a wealth of opportunity to strengthen your business, to engage in partnering opportunities and to make breakthroughs in a country and with a people who so desire to work freely and democratically.

What we all have to remember is that Iraq is a country undergoing tremendous & rapid change. Change from autocracy to democracy; change from a centralized command economy to a free market economy. So for all of us here involved in what will be many hundreds of bilateral discussions – we must do so with an understanding of the bigger picture and a consideration that rapid economic change can often move faster than cultural or individual change. That is why we always emphasise as a fundamental part of the Iraq Development Program we are building relationships, developing partnerships and engaging with each other that in some cases may lead to direct tendering opportunities or in some cases plant a seed for the future.

So it is prudent that all international organizations respect the rapid change taking place and respect the needs of the Iraqi people. We all need to show a willing to help and to show an encouragement to give the working opportunity to Iraqis – to invest and utilize Iraqi skills and know how. Such encouragement will tackle the issues of unemployment and allow for the economic growth such a well-educated nation deserves and demands.

We must also make sure we focus on the positives and what a wonderful opportunity Iraq offers to those who wish to create breakthroughs and innovate successfully. Breakthroughs require us to get under the surface and make contact with people’s deeper desires and wishes. Business needs to be based on enduring customer needs & desires. There is only one path to your customers’ hearts and minds – and that is “communication based in trust”. “Communication based in trust” is the very purpose of this Iraq Development Summit.

Recent PCO figures for reconstruction include 240 border posts, 285 police facilities, 88 fire facilities, 164 water treatment plants, 24 sewerage projects, 25 water resource projects, 730 schools, 153 primary healthcare centres, 28 hospitals, 42 public buildings, 77 railroad stations, 34 electricity generation & transmission projects and 109 electricity distribution projects.

What of the work of each individual ministry, the governates, the municipalities and regions. In Erbil 800 families are completing their new homes due to the support of $5.4m from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In the Salah Ad Din Province the reconstruction efforts continue to return big dividends to Iraqis – most notably the Bayji gas turbine upgrade, renovated schools affecting over 13,000 students. $100m has been allocated for the province of Najaf for service & reconstruction plans in the city. Iraq’s Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture are to carry out an expanded network of industrial and agricultural projects in Nasiriyah and the city of Al-Sadr.

These success stories, and I have only mentioned a few, stories of investment, innovation and genuine hard work are repeated across the country whether in Basra, Baghdad, Erbil, Sulimaniyah, Kirkuk, Hilla, Najaf, Karbala, Samarra and in towns and villages across the country. The Trade Bank of Iraq that has succeeded in modernizing Iraq’s trading financial systems, has issued over $5 billion worth of letters of credit. The Iraq Police Service is continuing a huge police training program. More than 30,000 new police have completed the eight-week basic course with another 40,000 having completed the program designed for those with prior police training and experience.

I cannot recommend highly enough that you all take the time to look at the individual websites of the Iraqi Government Ministries. For example the Iraq Ministry of Water Resources has details of ministry projects for the next 4 years – details of small & big dam construction for the purpose of water storage & flood damage protection & supplying water for different purposes; the construction of new irrigation projects; making use of ground water reasonably in regions with unavailable water sources.

Take a look at The Ministry of Education’s website, which will tell you of their procurement requirements for school textbooks, pens & pencils, writing books and an investment into electronic education and educational software. Look at the websites for the Ministry of Oil, of Trade of Health, of Electricity – all of which carry details of tenders available for bidding.

The opportunities to innovate and invest in people and leading technologies exist across all sectors of the Iraqi economy. Take mobile telecommunications for example. Iraqi homes with fixed telephone land-lines are less than 5%. The market for mobile telecommunications is huge and the opportunity to innovate is fantastic. Apart from the highest level of representation from the Ministry of Telecommunications, you will also see at this summit the Iraq National Communications & Media Commission, the regulatory body. And it is with the Commission that I am proud to announce a joint venture agreement with the Iraq Development Program to organise a two day conference in London, as part of the process for the tendering of mobile telecommunications licenses.

I would strongly recommend to anyone interested in the Iraqi mobile communications sector to come to London for the 21st & 22nd of July for the official Iraqi mobile communications conference. You may collect further details from the dedicated booth in the exhibition area. I would also like to recommend to Iraqi business people here today that a sector such as mobile communications offers a wealth of opportunity. There are many international operators and equipment manufacturers and I believe there is great prosperity for Iraq business people to get together, take an active hand in the telecommunications sector and partner with the international companies who are so keen to supply their goods and services.

I am also pleased to report on the highly positive outcome of the Iraq, US, UN and European Union Summit that took place in Brussels last week. The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan urged the international community to share more broadly the burden of reconstruction and stabilization and that we should all be dedicated and determined companions. As the Brussels meeting concluded, The Foreign Minister, HE Hoshya Zabari said “today was a good day for Iraq and the people of Iraq”.

I wish to particularly express my gratitude to the official sponsors of this summit and all the companies who are exhibiting and attending as delegates - who have committed budget to the Iraq Development Program and without whom, this event would not be possible. As I have stated, “communication based in trust” is the very reason and purpose of the Iraq Development Program and this 3 day summit. I look forward to meeting many of you, I look forward to enjoying a wonderful charity dinner tomorrow night with the highlight being a stirring performance of Ilham Al Madfai; and I look forward to seeing you all engage in bilateral negotiations and the opportunity for business development that has brought you here today.

There is a vast amount of work started and completed and a vast amount of work still to be done. The reason we are all here is because we believe that work will be done, with patience and with wisdom. We are here because we are eternal optimists and so long as occasions like this bring together so many like-minded people then it is the optimists who will be proved right. The Iraq Development Program is fueled entirely by such optimism and this event and many more like it will be a regular fixture on the calendar for the next 10-20 years.

Finally, with such a gathering of good people and good food and fine Jordanian hospitality I trust you enjoy and prosper for your stay in Amman. Thank you very much.