The Ninewa Investment Forum, organized by the Iraq Governance and Performance Accountability (IGPA) project and funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), aims to bring together international investors and Nineveh business owners to “showcase” the investment potential of northern Iraq.
The Forum takes place in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil, which borders with the federal Iraqi province of Nineveh, on December 3 to 5.
Peter Dimitroff, who heads the project, told Rudaw English on Monday the main purpose of the Ninewa Investment Forum is to help global investors forge ties with local businesses.
“The purpose of the Investment Forum is to kick start the investment coming from overseas and also around the region to invest in Nineveh governorate and also in northern Iraq as a whole,” Dimitroff said. “We have publicized the opportunities in Nineveh and investors are coming from North America, Europe, and the Gulf States to this Forum.”
USAID is working with elected officials, community leaders, local and faith-based non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to help religious and ethnic minorities targeted by ISIS to improve their living conditions, expand their economic opportunities, and promote democratic participation.
Dimitroff said USAID is supporting the work of small and medium sized enterprises in Nineveh to make them “investment ready”.
“This Investment Forum really falls in the early stages of our program which is a two year program, and following this program we will continue working with the small and medium enterprises in and around Nineveh in few key selected sectors,” Dimitroff added.
The Investment Forum will feature businesses from the sectors of agriculture, food processing, cold storage, and hospitality.
Mosul is the biggest city in Nineveh. It was devastated by three years of ISIS occupation and the nine month battle to oust the jihadists.
Swathes of Iraq’s second city still lie in ruins, with entire neighborhoods flattened and thousands of families unable to return home. Explosives and dead bodies still lie among the rubble.
Nineveh’s business sector collapsed under ISIS control, and its recovery has been slow since the liberation. Corruption and continued insecurity have has a chilling effect.
The unrest currently sweeping southern and central provinces of Iraq has also blunted wider investment.
Dimitroff thinks the Kurdistan Region will play an integral role in the recovery of northern Iraq.
“It is not a coincidence that we are holding the forum here in Erbil and not a matter of convenience,” Dimitroff said. “For Nineveh and the whole north of Iraq to prosper, Kurdistan need to be a big part in this.”
“The Iraqi government is helping and assisting USAID in Nineveh and the programs of USAID would not have been moving forward if it was not with the help and assistance of the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government,” Dimitroff added.
More than 500,000 Nineveh residents are still displaced from their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The province is one of the most diverse areas of the Middle East, home to Sunni and Shiite Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Yezidis, Kakais, Shabaks, and other ethno-religious groups.
It also contains territories with which are disputed by both Erbil and Baghdad.
