Trade Bank of Iraq stages first International Banking Conference in Iraq

The forum took place in Baghdad, under the patronage of the Minister of Finance, and was the first international banking congregation in Iraq, where international banks gathered with Iraqi public and private sector banks. Representatives from main government-owned banks such as Rashid and Rafidain, as well as over 30 private sector banks, mingled with delegates from other regional banks, as well as JP Morgan and Citigroup.

TBI staged the event to bring together public and private sector banks with the international banking community for dialogue. They discussed ways to build mutually beneficial relationships where their expertise can be shared, and there was open dialogue between private sector banks, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Iraq.

The strong international attendance of the banking forum is another vote of confidence for Iraq: one of the main things which used to hold back investors and the international banking community from enjoying the favourable economic climate in Iraq was the security situation. Now more than 85% of the country has an acceptable security level which has opened Iraq up for business.

"We consider it as a big achievement that we gathered together the international banking community with Iraq's local banking sector for constructive discussion. The open dialogue witnessed between the private and public sector banks with the Central Bank of Iraq and the Ministry of Finance was very encouraging,"

commented TBI's Chairman, Mr Hussein Al-Uzri.