Kurdistan Region needs more investment in every sector: President of US-Kurdistan Business Council

“We came here to discuss US investments and increasing the foreign investment in the Kurdistan Region.”

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2023/05/11 05:22

David Tafuri, President of the US-Kurdistan Business Council (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Kurdistan Krg David Tafuri Investment Digital Transformation PM Masrour Barzani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – David Tafuri, President of the US-Kurdistan Business Council, told Kurdistan 24 that the Kurdistan Region deserves and needs greater investment in almost every sector.

A delegation from the US- Kurdistan Business Council, a non-profit organization based in the United States, with membership of US companies that are invested in the Kurdistan Region, recently met with PM Masrour Barzani.

“We came here to discuss US investments and increasing the foreign investment in the Kurdistan Region,” he said.

“We have a number of member companies—many American companies—including companies in the hospitality and investment sector, in oil and gas, in defense and security, in education, and nonprofit organizations, all of which have been in the Kurdistan Region for several years and have had success with their investments or are interested in looking at ways to increase their presence here.”

He stressed that liberal foreign investment laws for foreign companies to operate easily in the region is very important. This will encourage more investors to come to the Kurdistan region.

“That's really important to our member companies, that they be treated fairly and equally and that they have the right to own land, to apply for investment licenses, and to keep the profits that they make, legally from their investments.”

David Tafuri, President of the US-Kurdistan Business Council, met with PM Masrour Barzani on Tuesday (Photo: KRG)

Digitalization

He also added that the Kurdish government digitization program will be important for transparency and for efficiency. “So one of the things we discussed with the Prime Minister is that there is now an e-visa process, so people who want to visit the Kurdistan Region from abroad can apply online for a visa and that hopefully has streamlined the process.”

He also said digitalization is making important advances for the KRG and enabling them to keep better records, such as tracking the number of companies seeing business licenses, better information about the employees of companies, and greater efficiencies in providing services to government and private workers.

Tafuri added that he has visited the Kurdistan Region at least once a year for the past 12 years. “I see advances every year I come and this year I see new buildings and new projects. So I'm very happy to see these advances, but I would still say that the Kurdistan Region deserves and needs greater investment in almost every sector.”

Diversification

Tafuri stressed that it is very important for the Kurdistan Region to diversify its economy.

“We met with the Minister of Agriculture and she has done a very good job of putting together specific projects, where the Kurdistan Region is looking for investment and summarizing those projects in a way that will be attractive to foreign investors.”

“So we applaud her and the Ministry for the work that they have done to help identify the types of projects that we believe foreign investors will be interested in and I think this will take a huge step forward for the agriculture sector, which I know is an area that the KRG has been prioritizing for development and investment.”

He stated that what they would like to see is “an increase in jobs and employment for residents of the Kurdistan Region, especially jobs in the private sector, so that Kurdish citizens have a choice between the private sector and the government, and that there are good jobs in both areas.”

Tafuri first started working in Iraq in 2006 with the State Department. “In 2006 to 2007 when I was here full time, the security situation, south of the Kurdistan Region, was very precarious,” he explained.

“It continues to be very safe here in northern Iraq and especially in the Kurdistan Region, and credit goes to the Prime Minister, the President, the Deputy Prime Minister, to the Peshmerga, to the Ministry of Interior and the security services for doing a very effective job of maintaining security, even though there are many challenges there are external, and threaten the security of the Kurdistan Region.”