UPDATED: KRG to present 80 projects at Kuwait donor conference

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A number of officials from the Kurdistan Region are expected to attend Kuwait’s international donor conference for reconstruction in Iraq where they will present investment projects.

“The Iraqi national committee for investment is going to present 212 investment projects at the Kuwait International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq, including 80 projects for Kurdistan Region cities,” Mukhlis Salim Murad, general manager of the KRG’s investment committee for legal, administrative and economic affairs, told Rudaw.

The conference will take place in Kuwait February 12 – 14 and will be attended by political leaders and potential private sector investors. 

The conference is an opportunity for Iraq to “present the feasibility studies and licenses for 60 key investment projects with total amount exceeds $85 billion,” according to the conference website. 

Baghdad has estimated it needs $100 billion in assistance to rebuild the war-damaged areas.

KRG’s reconstruction minister, planning minister, governors of Erbil, Sulaimani and Duhuk provinces, and other officials will attend the conference.

Kurdish officials hope the conference will also be an opportunity to further talks between Erbil and Baghdad and international partners.

Erbil Governor Nawzad Hadi told Rudaw on Saturday that the conference focuses on three main subjects of "reconstruction, investment, and coexistence."

He argued that the Kurdistan Region, which hosted about 1.8 million refugees and internally displaced people as the result of the ISIS war, should be able to claim its share from the international donor conference.

He said that the Kurdistan Region has a working example of coexistence and tolerance when it became a shelter for various ethno-religious communities fleeing the war.

The Kurdish delegation will operate under the KRG's Ministry of Planning, he explained, adding that their proposed projects have been prepared in consultation with the local governments in all Kurdish provinces.

Yezidi MP Vian Dakhil noted that Iraq is not taking to Kuwait a single proposal for reconstruction of the Shingal district, despite the city being officially declared a war-damaged zone.