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Twenty years after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraq is attracting investment from Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi Arabia, for the first time. This is a landmark event, given the great differences between the two countries in the past regarding relations between Iraq and Iran.
Saudi Arabia has announced multiple investments worth more than $5 billion in various sectors in Iraq. The largest share is the real estate sector in the capital Baghdad.
The United Arab Emirates, the first Gulf state to invest in Iraq, recently announced that it would expand its investments in the country. After 20 years of limited investment in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Autonomous Region, the UAE has announced that it will expand its investments to include a major real estate project in Baghdad.
Qatar also formally announced investments in Iraq, but did not disclose the amount. The Qatari government will now join Qatari private investors who previously made large-scale real estate investments in Baghdad.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund, the economic arm of the Saudi government, officially announced the establishment of a new unit for investment in Iraq with a capital of $3 billion. Investment sectors include infrastructure, mining, agriculture, real estate development, and financial services. To support these investments, the fund established Arabi Bank of Iraq, a branch of Saudi Arabian Bank.
The fund also established the Saudi Iraq Company as part of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s initiative to establish five regional companies targeting investments in Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan, Iraq and Oman. Established.
According to official figures and statistics, trade between Iraq and Saudi Arabia increased by 50% from 2021 to 2022, reaching a total of $1.5 billion.
Saudi Ambassador to Iraq Abdulaziz Al Shammari recently announced Saudi Arabia’s largest investment project in Iraq, the Baghdad Avenue project near the city’s airport. The $1 billion investment includes Iraq’s largest shopping mall, 4,000 apartments and 2,500 villas.
Other Gulf states are investing in Iraq as well.
As part of the UAE’s investment efforts, $3 billion has been deposited into a special fund for investment in Iraq, as UAE company Emaar announces new real estate projects in the Iraqi capital.
An official from Iraq’s Ministry of Commerce said, “Preparations are underway to announce 10 major real estate projects in Iraq with investments from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.” media line. The project, with an initial estimated value of $15 billion, is located on a vast swath of land around Iraq’s capital, officials said. He said “dozens” of trade delegations travel between Iraq and Saudi Arabia every week, and in January Saudi Arabia exhibited its largest pavilion at a special investment exhibition in Baghdad.
According to the sources, these projects are directly followed up by the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office and are also under the jurisdiction of the Investment Authority.
“A number of agreements have been signed with Saudi Arabia and are now fully implemented on the ground,” he said.
said Sinan al-Jaber, director general of Iraq’s Ministry of Housing and Construction. media line“We discussed trade exchanges with Saudi Arabia, and we proposed participating in a real estate project to support Iraq’s reconstruction and providing housing as the country is in a serious housing crisis, and both sides agreed.”
He said the country plans to provide further investment opportunities to Arab and other countries.
“Land is available, most of it within the boundaries of Baghdad province and other provinces of Iraq, and other projects will soon begin in new provinces,” he said. Al-Jaber said that with recently announced real estate projects, “Iraqi’s real estate market has achieved stability, and prices have fallen in some areas where there was irrational inflation, which is a big deal for Iraq. It’s a big profit.”
said Farouk Ali, an Iraqi who works as a real estate consultant on the Baghdad Avenue project. Media line: “The Iraqi market is hungry for real estate projects. There is a demand for more than 1.5 million housing units, including 1 million immediately and 500,000 over the next four years.”
Ali said that most of the current real estate projects have Iraqi or Turkish investments, and most of them are carried out by Turkish companies.
“But now we are seeing the entry of investors from Gulf countries, which is a major development that will benefit everyone,” he said.
“A feature of real estate projects in Iraq is that they offer continuous profits. The government requires real estate developers to develop infrastructure and provide electricity, water, and public services, and investors pay these services for a monthly fee. “The continued presence of investors means continued profits for investors in other countries.”
Gulf companies’ huge investments in Iraq signal confidence in the country’s security and stability, officials said.
“Saudi investments were made after the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement. Iraq is part of this rapprochement and these projects are a gift to Iraq,” said Ibrahim al-Janabi, an Iraqi political analyst living abroad. he said. media line.
“In my view, the militias are still in control of Iraq and could, whenever they receive orders from Iran in this regard, launch projects hostile to Saudi Arabia and its investments in the Gulf. The political message that they are trying to send is that they are the dominant country, controlling Middle Eastern countries by promoting investment.However, this issue is relative and can change at any time. depends on certain key political agreements.
Al-Janabi said the Iraqi people will benefit from these projects, which are supported by the Coordination Framework government led by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani. But he also warned that despite success in attracting investment, “in reality there is no political stability and it is now relative.” He said.
“As long as there are signs of war in the region and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian Quds Force are within 100 kilometers of these projects, they will be directly affected by an American attack or a war waged there. ‘,’ he said.
“Perhaps the existence of these projects and their approval by the Iraqi government is an attempt by Iran to gain more allies not to conduct any military operations against Tehran. Interests will be at risk, in which case these countries will put pressure on the American and Israeli sides not to carry out any actions, including military operations, against Iranian interests and presence in Iraq.”
Awad al-Tunayan, a Saudi political analyst, said: Media line: “Saudi Arabia is currently assisting economically exhausted countries, but through projects rather than through direct aid, which is wasted by corruption. Iraq is currently in the midst of many wars since the 1980s Everyone recognizes that economic development is the best path forward, as Saudi Arabia is in the process of rebuilding from the They will not be exposed. These projects are real and not just letters on paper. Iraqi militias have changed their military course and started paralleling their economic course. They are now “We only protect our own interests, and as long as our economic interests are not harmed, there will be no armed conflict.”
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