Monday, March 05, 2007
U.S. looks to restarting Iraqi businesses
Industry
(Al Jazeera) The Pentagon's deputy under secretary for business is touring Iraq with about 45 US business figures looking at ways to restart businesses crippled by the US-led invasion of 2003. Paul Brinkley is evaluating industries to find ways to get Iraqis back to work and reduce sectarian violence, thus assisting the US forces in the country.
Brinkley said on Saturday, while in Baghdad, that many dormant state-owned factories would start firing up again "within months". Already, a plant producing vehicles has reopened in Iskandiriya, 40km south of Baghdad, providing job opportunities for locals. "Others will soon follow," he said.
Brinkley told journalists that economic growth could help quell the city's sectarian violence. "There is a recognition that security and economic prosperity go hand in hand, and that unemployment in Iraq is contributing to the frustrations of people and creating sympathy for insurgents." Since US-led forces entered Iraq in 2003 to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein, most factories have been lying idle or operating at very low rates of production, he said.
(Al Jazeera) The Pentagon's deputy under secretary for business is touring Iraq with about 45 US business figures looking at ways to restart businesses crippled by the US-led invasion of 2003. Paul Brinkley is evaluating industries to find ways to get Iraqis back to work and reduce sectarian violence, thus assisting the US forces in the country.
Brinkley said on Saturday, while in Baghdad, that many dormant state-owned factories would start firing up again "within months". Already, a plant producing vehicles has reopened in Iskandiriya, 40km south of Baghdad, providing job opportunities for locals. "Others will soon follow," he said.
Brinkley told journalists that economic growth could help quell the city's sectarian violence. "There is a recognition that security and economic prosperity go hand in hand, and that unemployment in Iraq is contributing to the frustrations of people and creating sympathy for insurgents." Since US-led forces entered Iraq in 2003 to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein, most factories have been lying idle or operating at very low rates of production, he said.
At the same time, he said, his department is involved in efforts to connect international entrepreneurs with Iraqi business leaders so that private concerns and factories can be jolted back to life. He and his group had travelled around Baghdad and the provinces or districts of Anbar, Iskandiriya, Arbil and Diyala, meeting business leaders, farmers and others from across the social and economic spectrum.
Labels: business, economic growth, Paul Brinkley
