Roberto Romulo

His initial assessment in Washington concluded the total spending on the reconstruction of Iraq is likely to be in excess of $100 billion over the next five years. This programme clearly offers rich pickings for The Philippines which already has 1.5 million of its nationals working in the Middle East, and can offer skilled labour to the prime contractors.

At present US government agencies and prime contractors are completing feasibility studies about the scope of the rebuilding process. In Kuwait Secretary Romulo has been speaking with companies working in Iraq and with the US Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, the US agency coordinating much of the reconstruction effort in Iraq.

The ORHA has identified the needs of Iraq in such fields as municipal services, administration of provinces, water and sanitation, healthcare, telecommunications, air traffic control and highway systems. But what will be the next steps for Filipino companies, and will they need assistance from local Gulf companies?

'We will act as a one-stop shop,' he says. 'This is a unique public and private sector initiative to sell Filipino companies and our migrant skilled labour. I will be back in the Gulf by the end of May and hope to go to Baghdad.

'My President will be visiting Washington from 19-21st May on a state visit and will be having lunch with the prime contractors. This is a big effort from our side. We realize that, as a part of the Coalition of the Willing, we will have some preferential treatment, but there are 50 countries in the coalition so it is a competitive business'.

Secretary Romulo was formerly ceo of IBM in The Philippines and spent 25 years with the Big Blue, before turning to politics and becoming EU ambassador and then Foreign Minister from 1992-95. He re-joined the private sector and is presently chairman of Philam Insurance, InterPharma Investments and Romulo and Navarro consultants.

'Outsourcing is another big opportunity for us,' he says. 'Kuwait is the logical jumping off point for business in Iraq but we will also be spending some time looking at facilities available in Dubai. We will certainly look at the feasibility of joint ventures in some areas'.

'For US contractors the advantage of Filipino labour is first that we share the English language and have a US education system. Secondly we have a lot of cultural affinity with the United States.'