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The United States Consul General Irvin Hicks sat down with Rudaw’s Roj Eli Zalla to discuss a growing trade relationship between the US and the Kurdistan Region as the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) looks to expand its economy beyond the oil and gas sector.
“The most important piece of this trade and investment mission is sending a signal to, here in KRG, but also to the business community in the United States, that there are opportunities here,” Hicks said of an American trade delegation visit last month that explored possibilities in the agribusiness sector.
Hicks commended the KRG and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani for making the Kurdistan Region a more attractive place for investors, improving transparency and making services more accessible, but he pointed out that respect for human rights is equally important.
When there “stability, when there’s transparency, when there are issues addressing anti-corruption, when there’s guarantees that when you put in your investment, you’ll get paid for the services provided, those are enabling environments to get stakeholders to agree to put millions, sometimes billions of dollars in investments. And so that’s very important,” said Hicks.
The following is a transcript of the full interview.
Rudaw: Mr. Hicks welcome to Rudaw
Irvin Hicks: Thanks
I was reading your profile. It says you are learning Sorani. How is learning Sorani going for you?
Well, Sorani is such a beautiful language - very poetic. It requires a lot of intensive study and care. But I must confess that we have been focused so much on hosting senior leadership from Washington and most recently a trade and investment mission that I really haven’t had much time.
So we will talk about that trade mission. I know you speak other languages as well. Is Sorani difficult?
It is complex simply because most languages if you don’t use it on a day to day basis then, it becomes more challenging. But I enjoy in conversations, such as we had coffee this morning, we did ‘nosh’ together as well. So it is a great language, it is a beautiful language.
Tell me about your role here in Kurdistan Region. I know in the past I have been following some of the work that you guys do. But what are some of the priorities, that you came to Kurdistan replacing the former consul general, what are some of the priorities for you?
Well, our number one priorities, both our national security priorities as well as the Ambassador [Alina L.] Romanowski’s goals and priorities, and what we have been doing for the last ten months has been broadening and deepening the relationship beyond the issues of security, oil and gas. Now we are having conversations, increasing, about cultural exchange programs, as an example. We have provided funding for the restoration of the [Erbil] Citadel as well the Badinan Gate in Amedi. And the chancellor also visited Lalish Temple, where we provided $2.2 million in restoration there.
But most recently, we are now bringing in trade missions here to the IKR [Iraqi Kurdistan Region]. And we had twelve companies that came in and there a number of them that are actually doing business or about to do business here in the IKR. And we are also expanding it to the issues of climate change. So the whole part is deepening, broadening and strengthening the relationship but extending beyond the usual issues that include security, and oil and gas.
Right. You mentioned the trade mission. Actually that was my next question. We saw a delegation recently visiting the Kurdistan Region. What was the main aim and when will we see some concrete results coming out from that particular visit?
I’d say that the main aim was to highlight that American companies are interested in pursuing trade and investment opportunities, not only here in the IKR but throughout Iraq, that they took time away from their business to come in and to engage and to identify where there are opportunities. We have got a company for example that is growing raspberries here, blueberries here in Kurdistan. We had a company, a restaurant, called Green Zone that came here and looking to get spices and other areas to add to the menu back in Washington DC. I am looking forward to visiting that restaurant when I am back in Washington. We have also had companies that are looking for ways to have greater transparency for their products coming across the border, because they are doing business here and they are providing jobs and employment.
So the most important piece of this trade and investment mission is sending a signal to here in KRG but also to the business community in the United States that there are opportunities here. There is a move by the KRG, for example the Board of Investment has just launched the Invest Kurdistan while the trade mission was here. That was great timing on the part, which we thought about that, but it was a great time and place to be there. And this shows the serious purpose of companies and so this is the first step, but we look forward to [the] ongoing process of companies visiting.
Right. I know this may be a little too early to kind of evaluate the visit but how was it received in the Kurdistan Region and how do you kind of communicate this - there is an environment for investment in Kurdistan for companies back in the US?
The group that came through here, with the US-Iraqi Business Council through the Chamber of Commerce. So there has been a long-term relationship here, not only in Baghdad but also here in the KRG, IKR I should say. And one of the things that we have done in the last ten months is we have established the American Chamber of Commerce network. Working with the American Chamber of Commerce Kurdistan here, we have now established a network that includes the Chambers of Commerce of Duhok, Halabaja, Sulaimani and Erbil. And during the course of this trade mission, they actually met with the trade mission. So we are not just looking just Erbil-centric, we are looking across the entire Region for opportunities. But this particular group came in focused on agribusiness and the fact is that the north used to be the bread basket for all of Iraq, it shows the potential and the opportunities. United States has such a strong agricultural sector that there is opportunity to see where there could be partnerships, both in terms of new technology as well as in products from the United States, come here, but also agribusiness-related products being exported to the United States.
One term that I kept hearing when the delegation was here was ‘farm to fork.’ What areas do you think have the opportunity for or have the environment for American companies to invest in? Why was it called ‘farm to fork?’
It is important to look at the full chain of events, if you will, from growing products to animal husbandry, veterinarian services, then also we had companies that visited a milk factory which produces yoghurt, cheese as areas for opportunity. There are also, in terms of visiting the agricultural products where we have Pepsi company that is here and they have over a thousand employees in Sulaimani and over 20,000 tons of potatoes they are producing to enjoy the potato chips. But they are now also going to expand into corn for their Doritos.
All these equal jobs, equal opportunities for advancement. We have one company, a smaller company, that has an irrigation technology that would be very beneficial here. It captures the moisture in the air. And it is rather low-cost, compared to some of the more high tech aspects of that. But that would be very helpful to many of the farmers who are engaged in sustainable farming.
We also had a center for international programmes. They provide advice to governments on how to improve their investment climate. So all of these, bringing these networks together, building these relationships, building upon established relationships, all those present opportunities to build for the future. So, in terms of hedi hedi [Kurdish word for gradually], this is one step toward a long-term engagement we hope, where there will be additional investments, but also having trade missions from IKR, from Iraq going to the United States looking for partnerships, looking for trade and investment opportunities.
Kurdistan Region has been kind of looking for American investment for a while now and that environment for agribusiness has been there for a while. Why now are we seeing this kind of, on the American side, this kind of ‘let’s take some companies, let’s see what they can do and invest in the region.” What changed?
This particular case, we have to congratulate Prime Minister Masrour [Barzani] for focusing on diversifying the economy, specifically in the area of agribusiness or agriculture. He had a discussion with the US Chamber of Commerce over a year ago on this idea. So that kind of prompted the notion of having a trade mission prior to my coming here to serve as consul general. Followed by that is that there have been initiatives introduced by the KRG, the prime minister’s office. And that particularly is enabling or inviting to the private sector. And we have technology in the United States that’s focusing, because we have such a strong agribusiness sector.
So we just saw that there was just a great, a great way to bring together a partnership, an inviting environment, a recognition by the KRG of the need to diversify the economy beyond oil and gas. And so, with that, we had interest, we had efforts to improve the investment climate and so it was a perfect match up. We had an excellent visit.
Awesome. What can the Kurdistan Region do in terms of facilitating the environment even more for these American companies to come and invest here in the Kurdistan Region?
One of the observations the companies made is about the need for transparency and how to go about doing business. And so congratulations again to the prime minister and to the KRG for the recent launching of Invest Kurdistan webpage so you can do, kind of one stop shopping to get what are the requirements and what are the procedures if you’re pursuing investments or are already engaged in investments.
The second piece to that is that there is a guarantee that when you make your investments, that you’re going to get a return on your investment, if you’re providing services and products, that you’re going to receive payment for those. Those are very important.
But another aspect to it may not be viewed as directly is importance on the issues of respect for human rights, as well as for freedom of the press. Stakeholders and companies look at, looking around the world, looking at where there’s a place to do their investment and when there’s stability, when there’s transparency, when there are issues addressing anti-corruption, when there’s guarantees that when you put in your investment, you’ll get paid for the services provided, those are enabling environments to get stakeholders to agree to put millions, sometimes billions of dollars in investments. And so that’s very important.
And equally important is that those companies that already have invested here, billions of dollars in the oil sector, we see payment for the services being provided.
That’s really interesting. From what you are saying, the companies or businesses are, contrary to what many think, not just about money. They are also concerned about human rights, freedom of press and other areas where they see the environment fit for investment. But speaking of the companies getting paid, there have been American companies in Kurdistan but these have been some challenges. I would say I have not seen a prominent enough role from the US to resolve those issues. Why is the US not trying to increase the pressure just a little bit more to get the governments to resolve the issues and have companies invest? All of us can benefit from that.
The art of diplomacy, effective diplomacy, is not necessarily being out, being seen, and being viewed. All I will say is that we have raised the issues with the government, mindful of the budget challenges. And we are gratified that the government is committed to meeting its financial obligations, in recognition of the budgetary challenges and constraints. But at the same time, as a result that these conversations are taking place, particularly between KRG and these private companies, that we’re doing our part to raise these issues, to impress upon that it’s not only important in terms of just paying for services provided, but that companies speak among themselves. And that as we look to diversify beyond agribusiness to other companies that are interested in coming here, one of the things they’ll be asking those companies that are established is that, what’s the return on your investment, are you getting paid. And there’s a recognition of that, not only in terms of the investment climate here in the IKR, but also in Iraq writ large. If you don’t pay - companies are not getting paid, they’re not going to continue to invest and so forth. So there’s a recognition of that and going forward, particularly now that there’s agreement on a budget, we anticipate that those issues will be negotiated privately with those companies. But rest assured that the US government, US embassy, US consulate, we are using quiet diplomacy. We are working on these issues.
You know, I am still thinking about the part where you were saying that human rights is also an issue for companies, or they want to see a better human rights environment. Why would a company, that is more interested in just doing business, care about the situation of human rights?
Well, that is what makes American companies quite different than say some other countries in the world, is that there is a bottom line but recognize that quality of life, pursuit of happiness, a stable environment are also conducive for having a profitable environment. And so, there are those companies or countries that just focus on the bottom line, regardless of the human rights, but I’m proud to say that the United States of America, we recognize and value the importance of - when we say life, pursuit of happiness - that that extends not only to United States of America, but also internationally.
When we were saying human rights, there are very different definitions unfortunately in different parts of the world. What is human rights? What kind of human rights progress do companies want to see in the Kurdistan Region?
Well, let me just use an example of where, the effectiveness of having companies. In apartheid South Africa, multinationals, American companies played a major role. They ensured, for example, that the system of segregation, racism was not extended into their companies. That was based upon merit. That, in terms of places where you have large investments, that there’s a social responsibility component, that the money that is being generated from that particular location or country is reinvested for schools, for educating, to ensuring that. That’s where you’re seeing enlightened companies, they recognize the need, that it’s not, beyond just the bottom line. That’s very important. But also giving back to those communities, giving back. Ensuring there’s an educated workforce that they can recruit from. Ensuring that the environment is protected, particularly in the time of climate change, and so forth. So you’re seeing that enlightenment. And I’m very proud that American companies, there are other companies in the West as well, but American companies in particular raise these issues because their board members, their stakeholders raise these issues. That it’s not just about the bottom line. We also have to be good neighbours, good partners, because that provides for long term investment, long term relationships wherever they are looking to do investments.
I want to go back to the delegation but just before I do that let me ask the second part of my previous question which was when I was in Washington I would frequent the State Department for briefings and every time I asked the question the response was ‘We desire a strong Kurdistan Region within a unified Iraq.’ Is that desire still there or do we see some sort of American fatigue of the issues that have been happening in Iraq?
Not at all. In fact there was a statement just this week from our spokesperson at the State Department, Patel, saying the same thing. That has not changed. In fact, the relationship remains strong. The number of, as I highlighted, the senior visits - we have at least two congressional delegations visiting in the coming weeks, a senior representative from USAID, we had a senior Pentagon official here a couple of weeks ago, we had our assistant secretary along with our ambassador meeting with the senior leadership here. I would say that, for a consulate, the level of senior-level Washington visits, it’s very robust. And now to add to that, we have now trade and investments as part of our hosting of visits. I see that as a strong, ongoing relationship.
Going back to the delegation. What other sectors are there for American companies to look into? What can American companies do in terms of investing in renewable energy?
Well, some of that we’ve already been doing. There’s solar power companies that have business relationships here. Example - Burger King is fully operated by solar power. They also have a recharging machine for electrical vehicles - the only one, I understand, in Iraq.
We’re looking on the issues of flaring, dealing with the issues of flaring, which is the loss of millions of dollars as well as polluting the climate; renewable energies; water conservation management. We are hosting 25 Iraqis, seven of them will be from Kurdistan, in August, [they] will be going to the United States to learn about water conservation and management. Off the top of my head, I believe it was Colorado being one of the three places that they’re going. But this is going to be the beginning steps of that relationship. Our ambassador, Ambassador Romanowski is giving high priority on the issues of attracting green companies that come to Iraq to give technology transfers, give best practices in the area of renewable energies, but also water conservation and climate change.
And we recently met with the senior members of the KRG who have highlighted that a strategy paper will be coming out, highlighting what are the top climate change concerns for the government, and see how, and there was other members of the consulate community there, so we can take it back to our government and see where we can be helpful.
The delegation that was here, I know there were months of preparation for them to visit the Kurdistan Region. Is the visit just a business trip where they are looking into, you know, American companies investing in Kurdistan and taking Kurdish and Iraqi businessmen to the US. Or was there a kind of, in a way, a political message in the trip?
I wouldn’t necessarily say there was a political message. We, the US government, we cannot dictate to private American companies where to invest. What we can do is to facilitate when there is interest. So I would say that it wasn’t a political message, it was a business message. The competition for American investment is highly competitive because it’s not just say the Middle East, it’s around the world. And so, to get 12 companies to take time from their business to come out and spend three days, to explore and to learn about what is being done by the government to be an inviting place to invest - that’s very important. It’s also, when they go back, they’ll be speaking to other companies. And as I’ve highlighted, we’re looking to diversify beyond agribusiness, but that’s a very important start. It’s an important start because that is a priority in terms of diversifying the economy for the government. And so we look forward to being partners. But there will be other issues, particularly issues on green technology, climate change issues where we’re also very strong.
I think I have time for one more question. I was accompanying a Kurdish delegation from Duhok to Florida, in Gainesville particularly. We visited some universities there and the universities were conducting tons of research on agribusiness, on agriculture in general. Some of the things that I learnt there and the professors were interested, they were like ‘Well, Iraqi Kurdistan has a very different climate in terms of, you know, the climate is very different from the climate of Florida. So maybe we could do some of the research that we're doing here in Iraqi Kurdistan where the climate is different. We can learn better about the crops and so forth.’ But the reason I was saying all that is, what opportunities are there for Kurdish businesses to perhaps one day they could export to the United States or what are some of the things that, maybe not in the near future but in the long term, Kurdish companies can work on and eye that market?
Well, one of the members of the trade delegation was from the US Department of Agriculture. His team is based in Cairo. And what’s important about that business is to highlight what are our requirements for exportation, particularly food products to the United States. And so that’s a first start, there, learning that we have very high standards, obviously, and then meeting the criteria, and building the relationships for the potential of exporting particular products. So we have the interest of the restaurant called Green Zone and it’s interested in importing products from Kurdistan for his restaurant. But there are going to have to be certain quality control products and handling and exportation, all those kind of very important details that will have to be understood.
On issues of universities, I’ve met recently with the presidents of Salahaddin University, Polytech [Erbil Polytechnic University], also the minister of higher education. And what we have been advised is there is a desire to broaden their focus from being teaching to also research. So we are exploring opportunities to introduce these universities to American universities, particularly focusing in the area of Tennessee because of the recent sister city relationship now between Erbil and Nashville. But that’s a starting point. Gainesville has relationships in Duhok. I know that in Sulaimani there’s a desire for a sister city relationship to expand as well. So that’s something that we’ll be focusing on in the coming months and years.
Thank you so much Mr. Hicks for your time.
Thank you very much.
“The most important piece of this trade and investment mission is sending a signal to, here in KRG, but also to the business community in the United States, that there are opportunities here,” Hicks said of an American trade delegation visit last month that explored possibilities in the agribusiness sector.
Hicks commended the KRG and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani for making the Kurdistan Region a more attractive place for investors, improving transparency and making services more accessible, but he pointed out that respect for human rights is equally important.
When there “stability, when there’s transparency, when there are issues addressing anti-corruption, when there’s guarantees that when you put in your investment, you’ll get paid for the services provided, those are enabling environments to get stakeholders to agree to put millions, sometimes billions of dollars in investments. And so that’s very important,” said Hicks.
The following is a transcript of the full interview.
Rudaw: Mr. Hicks welcome to Rudaw
Irvin Hicks: Thanks
I was reading your profile. It says you are learning Sorani. How is learning Sorani going for you?
Well, Sorani is such a beautiful language - very poetic. It requires a lot of intensive study and care. But I must confess that we have been focused so much on hosting senior leadership from Washington and most recently a trade and investment mission that I really haven’t had much time.
So we will talk about that trade mission. I know you speak other languages as well. Is Sorani difficult?
It is complex simply because most languages if you don’t use it on a day to day basis then, it becomes more challenging. But I enjoy in conversations, such as we had coffee this morning, we did ‘nosh’ together as well. So it is a great language, it is a beautiful language.
Tell me about your role here in Kurdistan Region. I know in the past I have been following some of the work that you guys do. But what are some of the priorities, that you came to Kurdistan replacing the former consul general, what are some of the priorities for you?
Well, our number one priorities, both our national security priorities as well as the Ambassador [Alina L.] Romanowski’s goals and priorities, and what we have been doing for the last ten months has been broadening and deepening the relationship beyond the issues of security, oil and gas. Now we are having conversations, increasing, about cultural exchange programs, as an example. We have provided funding for the restoration of the [Erbil] Citadel as well the Badinan Gate in Amedi. And the chancellor also visited Lalish Temple, where we provided $2.2 million in restoration there.
But most recently, we are now bringing in trade missions here to the IKR [Iraqi Kurdistan Region]. And we had twelve companies that came in and there a number of them that are actually doing business or about to do business here in the IKR. And we are also expanding it to the issues of climate change. So the whole part is deepening, broadening and strengthening the relationship but extending beyond the usual issues that include security, and oil and gas.
Right. You mentioned the trade mission. Actually that was my next question. We saw a delegation recently visiting the Kurdistan Region. What was the main aim and when will we see some concrete results coming out from that particular visit?
I’d say that the main aim was to highlight that American companies are interested in pursuing trade and investment opportunities, not only here in the IKR but throughout Iraq, that they took time away from their business to come in and to engage and to identify where there are opportunities. We have got a company for example that is growing raspberries here, blueberries here in Kurdistan. We had a company, a restaurant, called Green Zone that came here and looking to get spices and other areas to add to the menu back in Washington DC. I am looking forward to visiting that restaurant when I am back in Washington. We have also had companies that are looking for ways to have greater transparency for their products coming across the border, because they are doing business here and they are providing jobs and employment.
So the most important piece of this trade and investment mission is sending a signal to here in KRG but also to the business community in the United States that there are opportunities here. There is a move by the KRG, for example the Board of Investment has just launched the Invest Kurdistan while the trade mission was here. That was great timing on the part, which we thought about that, but it was a great time and place to be there. And this shows the serious purpose of companies and so this is the first step, but we look forward to [the] ongoing process of companies visiting.
Right. I know this may be a little too early to kind of evaluate the visit but how was it received in the Kurdistan Region and how do you kind of communicate this - there is an environment for investment in Kurdistan for companies back in the US?
The group that came through here, with the US-Iraqi Business Council through the Chamber of Commerce. So there has been a long-term relationship here, not only in Baghdad but also here in the KRG, IKR I should say. And one of the things that we have done in the last ten months is we have established the American Chamber of Commerce network. Working with the American Chamber of Commerce Kurdistan here, we have now established a network that includes the Chambers of Commerce of Duhok, Halabaja, Sulaimani and Erbil. And during the course of this trade mission, they actually met with the trade mission. So we are not just looking just Erbil-centric, we are looking across the entire Region for opportunities. But this particular group came in focused on agribusiness and the fact is that the north used to be the bread basket for all of Iraq, it shows the potential and the opportunities. United States has such a strong agricultural sector that there is opportunity to see where there could be partnerships, both in terms of new technology as well as in products from the United States, come here, but also agribusiness-related products being exported to the United States.
One term that I kept hearing when the delegation was here was ‘farm to fork.’ What areas do you think have the opportunity for or have the environment for American companies to invest in? Why was it called ‘farm to fork?’
It is important to look at the full chain of events, if you will, from growing products to animal husbandry, veterinarian services, then also we had companies that visited a milk factory which produces yoghurt, cheese as areas for opportunity. There are also, in terms of visiting the agricultural products where we have Pepsi company that is here and they have over a thousand employees in Sulaimani and over 20,000 tons of potatoes they are producing to enjoy the potato chips. But they are now also going to expand into corn for their Doritos.
All these equal jobs, equal opportunities for advancement. We have one company, a smaller company, that has an irrigation technology that would be very beneficial here. It captures the moisture in the air. And it is rather low-cost, compared to some of the more high tech aspects of that. But that would be very helpful to many of the farmers who are engaged in sustainable farming.
We also had a center for international programmes. They provide advice to governments on how to improve their investment climate. So all of these, bringing these networks together, building these relationships, building upon established relationships, all those present opportunities to build for the future. So, in terms of hedi hedi [Kurdish word for gradually], this is one step toward a long-term engagement we hope, where there will be additional investments, but also having trade missions from IKR, from Iraq going to the United States looking for partnerships, looking for trade and investment opportunities.
Kurdistan Region has been kind of looking for American investment for a while now and that environment for agribusiness has been there for a while. Why now are we seeing this kind of, on the American side, this kind of ‘let’s take some companies, let’s see what they can do and invest in the region.” What changed?
This particular case, we have to congratulate Prime Minister Masrour [Barzani] for focusing on diversifying the economy, specifically in the area of agribusiness or agriculture. He had a discussion with the US Chamber of Commerce over a year ago on this idea. So that kind of prompted the notion of having a trade mission prior to my coming here to serve as consul general. Followed by that is that there have been initiatives introduced by the KRG, the prime minister’s office. And that particularly is enabling or inviting to the private sector. And we have technology in the United States that’s focusing, because we have such a strong agribusiness sector.
So we just saw that there was just a great, a great way to bring together a partnership, an inviting environment, a recognition by the KRG of the need to diversify the economy beyond oil and gas. And so, with that, we had interest, we had efforts to improve the investment climate and so it was a perfect match up. We had an excellent visit.
Awesome. What can the Kurdistan Region do in terms of facilitating the environment even more for these American companies to come and invest here in the Kurdistan Region?
One of the observations the companies made is about the need for transparency and how to go about doing business. And so congratulations again to the prime minister and to the KRG for the recent launching of Invest Kurdistan webpage so you can do, kind of one stop shopping to get what are the requirements and what are the procedures if you’re pursuing investments or are already engaged in investments.
The second piece to that is that there is a guarantee that when you make your investments, that you’re going to get a return on your investment, if you’re providing services and products, that you’re going to receive payment for those. Those are very important.
But another aspect to it may not be viewed as directly is importance on the issues of respect for human rights, as well as for freedom of the press. Stakeholders and companies look at, looking around the world, looking at where there’s a place to do their investment and when there’s stability, when there’s transparency, when there are issues addressing anti-corruption, when there’s guarantees that when you put in your investment, you’ll get paid for the services provided, those are enabling environments to get stakeholders to agree to put millions, sometimes billions of dollars in investments. And so that’s very important.
And equally important is that those companies that already have invested here, billions of dollars in the oil sector, we see payment for the services being provided.
That’s really interesting. From what you are saying, the companies or businesses are, contrary to what many think, not just about money. They are also concerned about human rights, freedom of press and other areas where they see the environment fit for investment. But speaking of the companies getting paid, there have been American companies in Kurdistan but these have been some challenges. I would say I have not seen a prominent enough role from the US to resolve those issues. Why is the US not trying to increase the pressure just a little bit more to get the governments to resolve the issues and have companies invest? All of us can benefit from that.
The art of diplomacy, effective diplomacy, is not necessarily being out, being seen, and being viewed. All I will say is that we have raised the issues with the government, mindful of the budget challenges. And we are gratified that the government is committed to meeting its financial obligations, in recognition of the budgetary challenges and constraints. But at the same time, as a result that these conversations are taking place, particularly between KRG and these private companies, that we’re doing our part to raise these issues, to impress upon that it’s not only important in terms of just paying for services provided, but that companies speak among themselves. And that as we look to diversify beyond agribusiness to other companies that are interested in coming here, one of the things they’ll be asking those companies that are established is that, what’s the return on your investment, are you getting paid. And there’s a recognition of that, not only in terms of the investment climate here in the IKR, but also in Iraq writ large. If you don’t pay - companies are not getting paid, they’re not going to continue to invest and so forth. So there’s a recognition of that and going forward, particularly now that there’s agreement on a budget, we anticipate that those issues will be negotiated privately with those companies. But rest assured that the US government, US embassy, US consulate, we are using quiet diplomacy. We are working on these issues.
You know, I am still thinking about the part where you were saying that human rights is also an issue for companies, or they want to see a better human rights environment. Why would a company, that is more interested in just doing business, care about the situation of human rights?
Well, that is what makes American companies quite different than say some other countries in the world, is that there is a bottom line but recognize that quality of life, pursuit of happiness, a stable environment are also conducive for having a profitable environment. And so, there are those companies or countries that just focus on the bottom line, regardless of the human rights, but I’m proud to say that the United States of America, we recognize and value the importance of - when we say life, pursuit of happiness - that that extends not only to United States of America, but also internationally.
When we were saying human rights, there are very different definitions unfortunately in different parts of the world. What is human rights? What kind of human rights progress do companies want to see in the Kurdistan Region?
Well, let me just use an example of where, the effectiveness of having companies. In apartheid South Africa, multinationals, American companies played a major role. They ensured, for example, that the system of segregation, racism was not extended into their companies. That was based upon merit. That, in terms of places where you have large investments, that there’s a social responsibility component, that the money that is being generated from that particular location or country is reinvested for schools, for educating, to ensuring that. That’s where you’re seeing enlightened companies, they recognize the need, that it’s not, beyond just the bottom line. That’s very important. But also giving back to those communities, giving back. Ensuring there’s an educated workforce that they can recruit from. Ensuring that the environment is protected, particularly in the time of climate change, and so forth. So you’re seeing that enlightenment. And I’m very proud that American companies, there are other companies in the West as well, but American companies in particular raise these issues because their board members, their stakeholders raise these issues. That it’s not just about the bottom line. We also have to be good neighbours, good partners, because that provides for long term investment, long term relationships wherever they are looking to do investments.
I want to go back to the delegation but just before I do that let me ask the second part of my previous question which was when I was in Washington I would frequent the State Department for briefings and every time I asked the question the response was ‘We desire a strong Kurdistan Region within a unified Iraq.’ Is that desire still there or do we see some sort of American fatigue of the issues that have been happening in Iraq?
Not at all. In fact there was a statement just this week from our spokesperson at the State Department, Patel, saying the same thing. That has not changed. In fact, the relationship remains strong. The number of, as I highlighted, the senior visits - we have at least two congressional delegations visiting in the coming weeks, a senior representative from USAID, we had a senior Pentagon official here a couple of weeks ago, we had our assistant secretary along with our ambassador meeting with the senior leadership here. I would say that, for a consulate, the level of senior-level Washington visits, it’s very robust. And now to add to that, we have now trade and investments as part of our hosting of visits. I see that as a strong, ongoing relationship.
Going back to the delegation. What other sectors are there for American companies to look into? What can American companies do in terms of investing in renewable energy?
Well, some of that we’ve already been doing. There’s solar power companies that have business relationships here. Example - Burger King is fully operated by solar power. They also have a recharging machine for electrical vehicles - the only one, I understand, in Iraq.
We’re looking on the issues of flaring, dealing with the issues of flaring, which is the loss of millions of dollars as well as polluting the climate; renewable energies; water conservation management. We are hosting 25 Iraqis, seven of them will be from Kurdistan, in August, [they] will be going to the United States to learn about water conservation and management. Off the top of my head, I believe it was Colorado being one of the three places that they’re going. But this is going to be the beginning steps of that relationship. Our ambassador, Ambassador Romanowski is giving high priority on the issues of attracting green companies that come to Iraq to give technology transfers, give best practices in the area of renewable energies, but also water conservation and climate change.
And we recently met with the senior members of the KRG who have highlighted that a strategy paper will be coming out, highlighting what are the top climate change concerns for the government, and see how, and there was other members of the consulate community there, so we can take it back to our government and see where we can be helpful.
The delegation that was here, I know there were months of preparation for them to visit the Kurdistan Region. Is the visit just a business trip where they are looking into, you know, American companies investing in Kurdistan and taking Kurdish and Iraqi businessmen to the US. Or was there a kind of, in a way, a political message in the trip?
I wouldn’t necessarily say there was a political message. We, the US government, we cannot dictate to private American companies where to invest. What we can do is to facilitate when there is interest. So I would say that it wasn’t a political message, it was a business message. The competition for American investment is highly competitive because it’s not just say the Middle East, it’s around the world. And so, to get 12 companies to take time from their business to come out and spend three days, to explore and to learn about what is being done by the government to be an inviting place to invest - that’s very important. It’s also, when they go back, they’ll be speaking to other companies. And as I’ve highlighted, we’re looking to diversify beyond agribusiness, but that’s a very important start. It’s an important start because that is a priority in terms of diversifying the economy for the government. And so we look forward to being partners. But there will be other issues, particularly issues on green technology, climate change issues where we’re also very strong.
I think I have time for one more question. I was accompanying a Kurdish delegation from Duhok to Florida, in Gainesville particularly. We visited some universities there and the universities were conducting tons of research on agribusiness, on agriculture in general. Some of the things that I learnt there and the professors were interested, they were like ‘Well, Iraqi Kurdistan has a very different climate in terms of, you know, the climate is very different from the climate of Florida. So maybe we could do some of the research that we're doing here in Iraqi Kurdistan where the climate is different. We can learn better about the crops and so forth.’ But the reason I was saying all that is, what opportunities are there for Kurdish businesses to perhaps one day they could export to the United States or what are some of the things that, maybe not in the near future but in the long term, Kurdish companies can work on and eye that market?
Well, one of the members of the trade delegation was from the US Department of Agriculture. His team is based in Cairo. And what’s important about that business is to highlight what are our requirements for exportation, particularly food products to the United States. And so that’s a first start, there, learning that we have very high standards, obviously, and then meeting the criteria, and building the relationships for the potential of exporting particular products. So we have the interest of the restaurant called Green Zone and it’s interested in importing products from Kurdistan for his restaurant. But there are going to have to be certain quality control products and handling and exportation, all those kind of very important details that will have to be understood.
On issues of universities, I’ve met recently with the presidents of Salahaddin University, Polytech [Erbil Polytechnic University], also the minister of higher education. And what we have been advised is there is a desire to broaden their focus from being teaching to also research. So we are exploring opportunities to introduce these universities to American universities, particularly focusing in the area of Tennessee because of the recent sister city relationship now between Erbil and Nashville. But that’s a starting point. Gainesville has relationships in Duhok. I know that in Sulaimani there’s a desire for a sister city relationship to expand as well. So that’s something that we’ll be focusing on in the coming months and years.
Thank you so much Mr. Hicks for your time.
Thank you very much.
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