ISTANBUL - Thanks to new investment law in Iraq, all foreign investors will be exempted from all taxes and customs for 10 or 15 years on the condition that they have Iraqi shareholders, said Iraqi Deputy Planning Minister Faik Abdul Rasool who delivered a speech at Turkish-Iraqi Business Council meeting in Istanbul.
Rasool said that newly established National Investment Commission was directly connected with Prime Ministry to create a rapid and effective decision-making process, thus, all procedures can be completed within 4-5 days.
He noted that they provide some privileges to foreign investors in all sectors except oil, banking and insurance sectors.
Rasool said that Iraq needs high amount of investments in the aspect of infrastructure, adding that they need 18 billion USD of investments for infrastructure for the next 5 years. He said that 1.5 million houses must be built in Iraq.
Rasool said that no production bases remained in Iraq, adding that the country is open to foreign investors.
On the other hand, Turkish-Iraqi Business Council deputy chairman Mehmet Habbab said that the trade volume which was 7 billion USD in 2004 between Turkey and Iraq dropped to 2.8 billion USD in 2006.