Wednesday, September 05, 2007
$760 mn. into Iraqi businesses making slow progress
Industry
(AP) -- Efforts to rebuild Iraq's shuttered industrial base, including an infusion of $760 million in U.S. funds over the past year, is making slow progress but has had little success getting Iraqi products to American consumers. Paul Brinkley, deputy under secretary of defense in charge of business transformation, said Tuesday that the U.S. government spent $180 million of that total in July alone on Iraqi goods and services.
But he acknowledged that U.S. companies, which have many questions and concerns about production and stability in Iraq, are still slow to stock Iraqi products. Considering the state of play in Iraq, Brinkley said, people are cautious about placing orders for Iraqi goods. Fawzi Hariri, Iraq's minister of industry and minerals, told Pentagon reporters that the unemployment rate in his country is about 40 percent, but that number is an improvement of 7 to 10 percent over last year.
Underscoring the difficulties, Brinkley said that "measurable progress" has been made in putting Iraqis back to work. Conservatively, he said, that number so far is just 5,000 people in 17 different factories.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Hariri and Brinkley said they have earmarked $40 million of the $50 million that Congress approved earlier this summer for economic development in Iraq. The funding will go to about 30 Iraqi businesses scattered across the country, mostly around Baghdad and up in the largely Kurdish north.
The factories are in more secure areas of the country and include automotive, mechanical, textile, cotton, pharmaceuticals and fertilizer businesses that are either private or state-run.
Most of the money will go toward training, buying raw materials and getting the factories up and running again. Of the 240 factories operating before the war began, about 175 are open now, but many are at just 10 to 30 percent production capacity.
But he acknowledged that U.S. companies, which have many questions and concerns about production and stability in Iraq, are still slow to stock Iraqi products. Considering the state of play in Iraq, Brinkley said, people are cautious about placing orders for Iraqi goods. Fawzi Hariri, Iraq's minister of industry and minerals, told Pentagon reporters that the unemployment rate in his country is about 40 percent, but that number is an improvement of 7 to 10 percent over last year.
Underscoring the difficulties, Brinkley said that "measurable progress" has been made in putting Iraqis back to work. Conservatively, he said, that number so far is just 5,000 people in 17 different factories.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Hariri and Brinkley said they have earmarked $40 million of the $50 million that Congress approved earlier this summer for economic development in Iraq. The funding will go to about 30 Iraqi businesses scattered across the country, mostly around Baghdad and up in the largely Kurdish north.
The factories are in more secure areas of the country and include automotive, mechanical, textile, cotton, pharmaceuticals and fertilizer businesses that are either private or state-run.
Most of the money will go toward training, buying raw materials and getting the factories up and running again. Of the 240 factories operating before the war began, about 175 are open now, but many are at just 10 to 30 percent production capacity.
Labels: Fawzi Hariri, industry, Iraq, Paul Brinkley
Monday, June 04, 2007
Iraqi industries to support U.S. military in Iraq
Industry
(AFP) - After years using outside contractors to tend to the needs of its Iraq bases, the US military is now building zones outside its army posts so Iraqi businesses can actually benefit from their presence. The plan, which has been several months in preparation, is part of a wider effort to stimulate local employment and end years of funnelling lucrative contracts to providers from outside the country.
"Let's get American and third country contractors out of that business and let's get Iraqis into that business," Brigadier Steven Anderson, a driving force behind the programme, told AFP. "Let's get Iraqis employed and get them out of the bomb-making business and into the support-providing business," added the deputy chief of staff for resources and sustainment.
The Iraq-based industrial zone (I-BIZ) programme was conceived last year when military commanders recognised the need to boost employment to put a dent in the violence raging throughout the country. "There is a clear focus both by the Iraqi government and on the part of the US mission of beginning this process to see more jobs created," a US official in Baghdad told reporters in May.
The idea is comparatively simple and mirrors the support industries to be found outside US bases in South Korea and Germany. It will involve building a protected area for Iraqis to provide products, services and maintenance.
The plan is a major departure from the first four years of the US presence in Iraq when nearly every need was provided by large US contractors such as Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. KBR in turn brought in thousands of foreign workers, mainly from south Asia. Unlike citizens from other countries hosting US bases, Iraqis have seen few financial benefits from having more than 140,000 US troops in their country.
A December 2004 suicide attack on a US military dining facility in Mosul killed 14 soldiers and for all intents and purposes ended the employment of locals on bases. Iraqi unemployment was bad before the 2003 US invasion, but following a series of decisions by the Coalition Provisional Authority to disband the army and shut down state-owned industries, it soared to an estimated 48 percent.
One of the most tangible results of this shift is the ongoing mission by Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Brinkely to restart dozens of mothballed state-owned factories. The I-BIZ programme would coordinate with Brinkley's efforts and the reopened factories could have storefronts in the industrial zones, Anderson said. For now, the project is in its infancy, with a two-year-old prototype near the southern city of Diwaniyah. The first true zone will open in August next to the massive Camp Victory base at Baghdad airport. Over the next year, further zones will appear at Tikrit's Camp Speicher, at Camp Taji just north of Baghdad and at Talil Air Base, in the south near Nasiriyah. Construction began six weeks ago on the Camp Victory Iraqi zone which will hold around 35 businesses over 25 acres.
"Let's get American and third country contractors out of that business and let's get Iraqis into that business," Brigadier Steven Anderson, a driving force behind the programme, told AFP. "Let's get Iraqis employed and get them out of the bomb-making business and into the support-providing business," added the deputy chief of staff for resources and sustainment.
The Iraq-based industrial zone (I-BIZ) programme was conceived last year when military commanders recognised the need to boost employment to put a dent in the violence raging throughout the country. "There is a clear focus both by the Iraqi government and on the part of the US mission of beginning this process to see more jobs created," a US official in Baghdad told reporters in May.
The idea is comparatively simple and mirrors the support industries to be found outside US bases in South Korea and Germany. It will involve building a protected area for Iraqis to provide products, services and maintenance.
The plan is a major departure from the first four years of the US presence in Iraq when nearly every need was provided by large US contractors such as Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. KBR in turn brought in thousands of foreign workers, mainly from south Asia. Unlike citizens from other countries hosting US bases, Iraqis have seen few financial benefits from having more than 140,000 US troops in their country.
A December 2004 suicide attack on a US military dining facility in Mosul killed 14 soldiers and for all intents and purposes ended the employment of locals on bases. Iraqi unemployment was bad before the 2003 US invasion, but following a series of decisions by the Coalition Provisional Authority to disband the army and shut down state-owned industries, it soared to an estimated 48 percent.
One of the most tangible results of this shift is the ongoing mission by Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Brinkely to restart dozens of mothballed state-owned factories. The I-BIZ programme would coordinate with Brinkley's efforts and the reopened factories could have storefronts in the industrial zones, Anderson said. For now, the project is in its infancy, with a two-year-old prototype near the southern city of Diwaniyah. The first true zone will open in August next to the massive Camp Victory base at Baghdad airport. Over the next year, further zones will appear at Tikrit's Camp Speicher, at Camp Taji just north of Baghdad and at Talil Air Base, in the south near Nasiriyah. Construction began six weeks ago on the Camp Victory Iraqi zone which will hold around 35 businesses over 25 acres.
Labels: Brigadier Steven Anderson, Camp Victory, contractors, I-BIZ, Iraqi businesses, KBR, Paul Brinkley, U.S. military
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
U.S.commercial delegation arrives in Kurdistan
Kurdistan, Business
(Voices of Iraq) - A top U.S. commercial delegation arrived in Iraq's Kurdistan region on Monday for exploring aspects of cooperation with companies in the region. "The U.S. administration is committed to develop commercial ties with Iraq's Kurdistan region and thus this visit aims to explore means to improve the region's economy through more coordination and cooperation between local companies and their U.S. and European counterparts," Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Business Transformation Paul Brinkley who led the delegation told reporters upon arrival in Arbil airport.
Brinkley noted that the visit will include several cities within Iraq's Kurdistan and Iraqi cities adding he will also "try to be acquainted with the investment projects in Arbil, Duhuk and Sulaimaniya. The U.S. is working for attracting American capitals to Kurdistan and other Iraqi cities to contribute to reconstruct the country," he said. This visit is the second for a high-level U.S. commercial delegation to Iraq's Kurdistan. The first visit was in last March.
Brinkley noted that the visit will include several cities within Iraq's Kurdistan and Iraqi cities adding he will also "try to be acquainted with the investment projects in Arbil, Duhuk and Sulaimaniya. The U.S. is working for attracting American capitals to Kurdistan and other Iraqi cities to contribute to reconstruct the country," he said. This visit is the second for a high-level U.S. commercial delegation to Iraq's Kurdistan. The first visit was in last March.
Labels: business opportunities, commerce, Kurdistan, Paul Brinkley, U.S.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Pentagon does business with Iraqi factories
Business
(AP) - In an Iraq jobs program, the Pentagon has helped reopen three factories shuttered after the 2003 invasion, seeding the ground by buying uniforms and armored vehicles from two of them. Reopening state-owned factories that produced everything from cement to buses for Saddam Hussein's regime is among efforts President Bush hopes will boost the economy and help salvage a violent Iraq. His controversial strategy of increasing troops there to try to calm violence is meant to buy the Iraqi government time to move forward on political reconciliation and reconstruction.
In a program started nearly a year ago, the Defense Department has reopened a large textile factory in Najaf by buying uniforms for Iraqi soldiers and police that the U.S. has been training, and has reopened a vehicle factory south of Baghdad by buying armored vehicles, said Paul Brinkley. He is deputy undersecretary of defense in charge of Pentagon business modernization efforts and has been running the program.
Officials helped find other customers for the third restarted factory, in Ramadi, which makes ceramic products the U.S. has no need for in Iraq. An American company has agreed to buy 120 trucks from the transport company and another is expected to buy clothing from the textile factory that Brinkley said could be on American shelves by fall. Brinkley declined to name the companies, saying they are still negotiating.
Brinkley said the program will reopen private as well as government factories. Military commanders have long seen employment as one of the keys to slowing the violence. Of some 200 large factories that made up Iraq's former industrial base, Brinkley said the Pentagon believes 140 are potentially viable and has identified ways to get 56 of them running again, hopefully this year.
In a program started nearly a year ago, the Defense Department has reopened a large textile factory in Najaf by buying uniforms for Iraqi soldiers and police that the U.S. has been training, and has reopened a vehicle factory south of Baghdad by buying armored vehicles, said Paul Brinkley. He is deputy undersecretary of defense in charge of Pentagon business modernization efforts and has been running the program.
Officials helped find other customers for the third restarted factory, in Ramadi, which makes ceramic products the U.S. has no need for in Iraq. An American company has agreed to buy 120 trucks from the transport company and another is expected to buy clothing from the textile factory that Brinkley said could be on American shelves by fall. Brinkley declined to name the companies, saying they are still negotiating.
Brinkley said the program will reopen private as well as government factories. Military commanders have long seen employment as one of the keys to slowing the violence. Of some 200 large factories that made up Iraq's former industrial base, Brinkley said the Pentagon believes 140 are potentially viable and has identified ways to get 56 of them running again, hopefully this year.
Labels: Iraqi factories, Najaf, Paul Brinkley, Pentagon, Ramadi
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
