Cursor International executes projects and collaboration activities across several industries.
By John Lee.
As part of its efforts to switch to clean and renewable energy, Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has said it is working with Siemens to produce hydrogen.
The German company will provide advanced technologies and equipment for the project, and set up workshops to support the initiative.
The first of these workshops was held on Monday.
(Source: Ministry of Oil)
The post Siemens working with Iraq on Hydrogen Production first appeared on Iraq Business News.
IBBC’s 5th Annual Iraq Conference in Dubai – Opportunity in Adversity
The Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) was much praised at its conference on Thursday for pioneering in COVID-19 times by bringing together senior officials from Iraq, the UAE and the UK, prominent international and Iraqi businessmen, bankers and professional advisers as speakers and over 100 delegates.
With the Address Hotel as host venue implementing the strictest hygiene regime and using video links, delegates enjoyed a day of vigorous analysis and debate about the issues currently creating the adverse conditions dominating the Iraqi political and business landscape and what measures were needed to improve matters, but nevertheless inspirational presentations highlighted success stories across a number of sectors in panel sessions covering energy, finance, infrastructure/logistics and tech.
Highlights of the day were presentations made by Mrs Zena Yousif Iraq consul general in Dubai, the first woman to ever hold that position, and the fact that all the leaders of the energy companies presenting were Iraqi nationals for the first time ever, namely Mr Zaid Elyaseri, Vice President Iraq from BP, Mr Ali Al Janabi, Chairman, from Shell, Mr Musab Alkateeb, Managing Director, from Siemens Energy, and all were addressing common global issues currently affecting that sector – low oil and gas prices, environmental and green issues.
Mr Aziz Khudairi, Chairman of the Khudairi Group with multiple businesses in Iraq urged the Iraqi Government to embrace the private sector to grow prosperity in Iraq and to provide employment for the millions of young Iraqis, to protect Iraqi businesses from unfair dumping by foreign competitors, but in return emphasised the need for the Iraqi workforce to rediscover a work ethic so that Iraqi companies would become efficient and profitable.
Baroness Nicholson made her Welcome Address by video link from London and at the end of the day announced the new annual award to be made to an Iraqi SME for its contribution to business in Iraq, in memory of the recently deceased Engineer Rasmi al Jabri, IBBC deputy chairman.
Amongst the many excellent speakers were:
Conference Sponsors were Basra Gateway Terminal, Siemens Energy and Serco.
Vikas Handa of Gulftek, Conference chairman said:
“Today’s IBBC conference in Dubai is the testimony of human resilience on the face of adversity. We had unexpected turnout & great participation from the ministers, industry leaders and businesses from Iraq, UAE & UK.
“We covered a lot of ground to chart the way forward, network & learn from each other. I along with IBBC MD Christophe Michels would like to thank our key members for their unwavering support to make it happen.“
In parallel
The Tech Forum took place online, with participants from Iraq, UK, Dubai and France, to review and discuss the digitisation of Iraq, based on the World Bank’s Report in April.
Chaired by Ashley Goodall of IBBC, we reviewed how the Government of Iraq ( GOI ) and digital development in general has been evolving since April, as Alexandre Laure, the World bank Sector specialist, who wrote the report – shared with us areas of development : namely, 6 key areas : Digital inclusion, banking and finance, Investment, Infrastructure, SMEs and start-ups, skill development and linking to external digital organisations. Two areas of progress include the establishment of a Tech fund for start-ups and SME investment, and the payment of Government salaries directly to bank accounts digitally. Additionally, there are areas of deregulation for start -ups and new businesses, although the registration cost of $37500 was deemed exclusionary for most start-ups.
Jawad Abbasi of GSMA MENA said that 4G infrastructure is critical in extending internet across Iraq, and this has been put on hold for the moment. This would increase the ability of users to trade, exchange and create new products on-line, as well as boost the digital economy. Yazen Altimimi CEO of Zain Cash echoed this issue as Zain are often blamed for poor internet experience, when it’s an infrastructure issue. Zain’s consumer uptake is rapid and there is a healthy growth and interest in the digital economy as a business and consumer medium. If 4G can be delivered the economy will see a rapid upswing. In short there is pent up demand and an appetite from consumers to transact on- line, so it makes sense to deliver 4G to ensure the whole economy expands.
Laura Oliver, director of Iraq Tech Ventures, amplified the issue for start -ups and SME.s who want to trade on line, and the raised the issue of the high cost of registration that prohibits start-ups registering formally, and therefore rely on the cash economy, so they are unable to get formal credit and investment. These two issues, of 4G and registration should be straight forward to address and would make a big different to the overall digital development of the Iraqi economy, and encourage investment from external digital companies like Facebook, Amazon and Google.
In a second panel: Online Consumer behaviour, Caroline McGarr of ThinkBank – a leading research agency in Irbil, presented key finding among Iraqi consumers between 18-45, and again found a big demand for consumer goods, banking on line for an unbanked 83% of the population. In sectors such as Fashion, health and social media there is enormous pent up demand as over 50% of these people spend over 5 hours a day on-line. Again, the issue of reliable internet, useful apps and products to purchase and reliability of banking, echo the first panel’s concerns.
The overall message from both panels is that there is huge unmet demand among youthful Iraqi’s for more services, better internet, better banking (trust) and online interaction with Government and products that will be better served by better internet and the proliferation of new goods and services from SMEs and start-ups, who themselves are constrained by registration fees and investment.
A full video of the sessions, including the presentation charts can be viewed here
For more information please contact london@webuildiraq.org
(Source: IBBC)
The post Successful IBBC Conference in Dubai first appeared on Iraq Business News.
Siemens, Lions and their partners inaugurate the rehabilitated health clinic in Baiji, Iraq
As the world continues to grapple with a global pandemic, Siemens and Siemens Healthineers, the Iraqi Ministry of Health, the Office of the Governor and the Directorate of Health in Salah ad-Din Province, and the German NGO Stiftung der Deutschen Lions (Lions Foundation Germany) inaugurated the reopening of a health clinic in Baiji, Iraq.
Iraq’s Ministry of Health has repaired Al-Tawheed Center, which was damaged by Islamic State militants, and the clinic is fully renovated and equipped to provide much-needed medical care to residents of the province, approximately 200km north of Baghdad.
Siemens donated equipment including a digital x-ray, a dental treatment center, state-of-the-art laboratory equipment including a hematology blood analyzer, a power transformer and other devices to Lions Foundation Germany, which carried out the rehabilitation in cooperation with Lions Club Amman Philadelphia of Jordan. The center started accepting patients earlier this year and has the capacity to treat about 15,000 people a year.
Musab Alkateeb, CEO, Siemens in Iraq:
“Siemens has a long relationship with the city of Baiji and its people, and this clinic is a testament to our focus on delivering, together with our Iraqi and international partners, significant improvements to the country’s critical infrastructure, from reliable electric power to high-quality healthcare.”
After the arrival and installation of the donated equipment at PHC Baiji last year, Siemens provided training to clinic staff to use the state-of-the-art medical equipment and supporting systems. Lions will monitor usage over the next three years.
Dr. Wolf-Rüdiger Reinicke, Past Council Chair of Lions Germany, said:
“This health clinic demonstrates our commitment to the Iraqi people, and we are proud of our partnership with the Lions from Amman Philadelphia, Iraq’s Ministry of Health and Siemens that helped return this important facility to the community. We were encouraged that the smart clinic was completed on schedule, and we are devoted to our role in helping it run smoothly and providing the best services possible to all residents in the area.”
Siemens has been working in Baiji for almost 20 years, since the company delivered power generation turbines that helped run the country’s biggest refinery, a concrete plant and thousands of homes in the province.
That power plant was also damaged, and in September, Siemens and Orascom Construction signed an agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity to rebuild Baiji 1 and Baiji 2 plants in northern Iraq.
The facilities will have a combined generation capacity of 1.6 gigawatts when completed and are a major step in Siemens roadmap for rebuilding Iraq’s power sector that has already added more than 700 megawatts to Iraq’s grid.
(Source: Siemens)
The Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) is delighted to be holding a Tech forum within the main Conference at Address Hotel in Dubai on December 8th.
Principal among the speakers are Mr Yassin Bhija of GE Healthcare and Mr Uwe Bork of Siemens Healthcare who are driving the healthtech panel – exploring the hot topic of ‘How best to Develop primary and general healthcare in Iraq.’
Iraq has structural and tactical issues in providing universal healthcare at all levels of delivery and in all locations and classes. The two leading healthcare companies will discuss how tech solutions in general can address the issue and how their particular capabilities contribute to the general provision of healthcare.
Following on the Education Tech panel, will be discussing ‘The importance of Digital literacy in Iraq’, led by Google’s Mr Martin Roeke, Dr Victoria Lindsay of the British Council and Mr Timothy Fisher CEO of Stirling Education.
The Forum is sponsored by Innovest Middle East, an investment company that invests in startups during their scaling up stage in key markets in the Middle East region. With representations in Lebanon, Dubai, KSA, and Iraq, Innovest Middle East has played a key role in driving the startup ecosystem through direct investments as well as through supporting incubation and acceleration platforms collaboration with governmental and international bodies. In Iraq, Innovest Middle East launched IRAQPRENEURS in 2018, in collaboration with the World Bank, Central Bank of Iraq and leading private organizations, which grew to become one of the leading nationwide entrepreneurship empowerment platform in Iraq.
Mr Bassam Falah, CEO of Innovest will be addressing the delegates on the progress in support of the Iraqi start up ecology.
More speakers are expected to confirm.
For more information and to register, please contact london@webuildiraq.org.
(Source: IBBC)
The Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) is delighted to be holding a Tech forum within the main Conference at Address Hotel in Dubai on December 8th.
Principal among the speakers are Mr Yassin Bhija of GE Healthcare and Mr Uwe Bork of Siemens Healthcare who are driving the healthtech panel – exploring the hot topic of ‘How best to Develop primary and general healthcare in Iraq.’
Iraq has structural and tactical issues in providing universal healthcare at all levels of delivery and in all locations and classes. The two leading healthcare companies will discuss how tech solutions in general can address the issue and how their particular capabilities contribute to the general provision of healthcare.
Following on the Education Tech panel, will be discussing ‘The importance of Digital literacy in Iraq’, led by Google’s Mr Martin Roeke, Dr Victoria Lindsay of the British Council and Mr Timothy Fisher CEO of Stirling Education.
The Forum is sponsored by Innovest Middle East, an investment company that invests in startups during their scaling up stage in key markets in the Middle East region. With representations in Lebanon, Dubai, KSA, and Iraq, Innovest Middle East has played a key role in driving the startup ecosystem through direct investments as well as through supporting incubation and acceleration platforms collaboration with governmental and international bodies. In Iraq, Innovest Middle East launched IRAQPRENEURS in 2018, in collaboration with the World Bank, Central Bank of Iraq and leading private organizations, which grew to become one of the leading nationwide entrepreneurship empowerment platform in Iraq.
Mr Bassam Falah, CEO of Innovest will be addressing the delegates on the progress in support of the Iraqi start up ecology.
More speakers are expected to confirm.
For more information and to register, please contact london@webuildiraq.org.
(Source: IBBC)
From Peace to prosperity:
The Conference to find out what’s happening for Iraq business.
The Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) Autumn Conference in Dubai on December 8th is set against a backdrop of relative peace and security in Iraq, and the prospect of oil revenues surging through the economy is driving a wider range of business opportunities and a prospective 8% increase in GDP.
Peace is enabling the economy to diversify through the revenues that pay for a range of infrastructure projects. So this Autumn we are focusing on a range of sectors set to benefit from a stable Iraq: namely, Water, Transport and Logistics, Energy and Tech.
The recent protests have also spurred on Government reforms and incentives to drive employment, entrepreneurship and service diversity, and increase the volume of opportunity that lies ahead and the prospects for not just business-to-business but also a burgeoning consumer market.
The Iraqi Electricity Minister will likely be speaking about his reforms to open up the market to SME’s, training and new players. Other ministers including those from Construction and Transport are attending.
The recent announcement of a 10year tax-free period for SMEs in Iraq will also stimulate the Tech entrepreneur market and drive the uptake of engineering skills.
At this conference, we will discuss big-picture economics with Professor Frank Gunter (Lehigh University), Ahmed Tabaqchali (AFC Iraq Fund), and Simon Penny (UK Trade & Investment), who will address the economic backdrop in the Middle East, and the context for Iraq in particular.
The World Bank and Wood Plc will cover the water sector, while Rolls Royce, Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT), and Menzies will look at transport and logistics, and Iraq’s Electricity Minister, GE, Siemens and Enka will focus on energy.
Alongside the conference our Tech Forum brings experts on HealthTech and Educational Tech, including speakers from GE, Siemens Healthcare, KPMG, EY, Google and the British Council, among others.
While key opportunities will be outlined, the real opportunity for business is to meet the people directly involved in contracts and supply-chain opportunities. This is the place to do business, to network and to find out what’s happening in the Middle East’s most potentially dynamic market that is Iraq.
For further information and to find the latest updates on speakers – more are expected – please contact london@webuildiraq.org or visit the website to register for tickets.
https://iraqbritainbusiness.org/event/autumn-conference-at-the-address-hotel-dubai
The year it’s all on the up…
From Peace to prosperity:
The Conference to find out what’s happening for Iraq business.
The Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) Autumn Conference in Dubai on December 8th is set against a backdrop of relative peace and security in Iraq, and the prospect of oil revenues surging through the economy is driving a wider range of business opportunities and a prospective 8% increase in GDP.
Peace is enabling the economy to diversify through the revenues that pay for a range of infrastructure projects. So this Autumn we are focusing on a range of sectors set to benefit from a stable Iraq: namely, Water, Transport and Logistics, Energy and Tech.
The recent protests have also spurred on Government reforms and incentives to drive employment, entrepreneurship and service diversity, and increase the volume of opportunity that lies ahead and the prospects for not just business-to-business but also a burgeoning consumer market.
The Iraqi Electricity Minister will likely be speaking about his reforms to open up the market to SME’s, training and new players. Other ministers including those from Construction and Transport are attending.
The recent announcement of a 10year tax-free period for SMEs in Iraq will also stimulate the Tech entrepreneur market and drive the uptake of engineering skills.
At this conference, we will discuss big-picture economics with Professor Frank Gunter (Lehigh University), Ahmed Tabaqchali (AFC Iraq Fund), and Simon Penny (UK Trade & Investment), who will address the economic backdrop in the Middle East, and the context for Iraq in particular.
The World Bank and Wood Plc will cover the water sector, while Rolls Royce, Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT), and Menzies will look at transport and logistics, and Iraq’s Electricity Minister, GE, Siemens and Enka will focus on energy.
Alongside the conference our Tech Forum brings experts on HealthTech and Educational Tech, including speakers from GE, Siemens Healthcare, KPMG, EY, Google and the British Council, among others.
While key opportunities will be outlined, the real opportunity for business is to meet the people directly involved in contracts and supply-chain opportunities. This is the place to do business, to network and to find out what’s happening in the Middle East’s most potentially dynamic market that is Iraq.
For further information and to find the latest updates on speakers – more are expected – please contact london@webuildiraq.org or visit the website to register for tickets.
https://iraqbritainbusiness.org/event/autumn-conference-at-the-address-hotel-dubai
The year it’s all on the up…
Siemens, the Iraqi Ministry of Health and the Directorate of Health in Salah ad-Din Province have announced the completion of building repairs and the impending installation of Siemens medical equipment at the Al-Tawheed Center.
The clinic, located in Baiji, has been fully renovated by the Ministry of Health and will be equipped with Siemens technology to provide much-needed medical care to residents of the province, approximately 200km north of Baghdad.
Siemens will donate all medical and power equipment required for the Al-Tawheed Center to the German non-governmental organization Stiftung der Deutschen Lions, enabling them to complete center’s rehabilitation.
When complete, the center will have the capacity to treat up to 10,000 patients a year. The Siemens equipment includes a digital x-ray, a dental treatment center, state-of-the-art laboratory equipment including a hematology blood analyzer, a power transformer and other technical equipment required to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
Musab Alkateeb, CEO of Siemens Iraq, said:
“This health clinic is an important part of our commitment to the Iraqi people, and we are pleased to be working with the Ministry of Health and local leaders to return this important facility to the community.
“Siemens has a long relationship with the city of Baiji and its people, and we understand the importance of enabling access to high-quality, reliable healthcare as we work together to build the New Iraq.”
(Source: Siemens)
Siemens, the Iraqi Ministry of Health and the Directorate of Health in Salah ad-Din Province have announced the completion of building repairs and the impending installation of Siemens medical equipment at the Al-Tawheed Center.
The clinic, located in Baiji, has been fully renovated by the Ministry of Health and will be equipped with Siemens technology to provide much-needed medical care to residents of the province, approximately 200km north of Baghdad.
Siemens will donate all medical and power equipment required for the Al-Tawheed Center to the German non-governmental organization Stiftung der Deutschen Lions, enabling them to complete center’s rehabilitation.
When complete, the center will have the capacity to treat up to 10,000 patients a year. The Siemens equipment includes a digital x-ray, a dental treatment center, state-of-the-art laboratory equipment including a hematology blood analyzer, a power transformer and other technical equipment required to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
Musab Alkateeb, CEO of Siemens Iraq, said:
“This health clinic is an important part of our commitment to the Iraqi people, and we are pleased to be working with the Ministry of Health and local leaders to return this important facility to the community.
“Siemens has a long relationship with the city of Baiji and its people, and we understand the importance of enabling access to high-quality, reliable healthcare as we work together to build the New Iraq.”
(Source: Siemens)
Rebuilding Iraq is central to the agenda of the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) autumn conference at The Address, Dubai Marina on 12th November.
The opportunity for businesses in the region to engage in Iraq is reflected by the attendance of a number of high profile Iraqi Ministers: from Electricity, Transport, Oil, Construction and Housing, to the Governor of Basrah and International financiers, including the IMF and World Bank.
Vikas Handa, the IBBC UAE representative agrees:
“Iraq is the second largest oil producer in OPEC and has one of the biggest programmes for new power generation projects in the region; Iraq presents massive opportunities for housing, Infrastructure and FMCG businesses. The event is designed to discover the opportunities and projects live and intended in Iraq, for business people to meet the decision makers, to obtain insights and to network”.
UAE is increasingly seen as the regional hub for corporate operations in Iraq and the place where business decisions are determined.
We can confirm this as a range of leading international companies are attending, including GE, Siemens, BP, Wood, Serco, Shell, Petronas, Gulftainer, Zain, KCA Deutag, the International Islamic Bank and more. There will also be plenty of networking and engagement on the sidelines beyond the main stage.
The IBBC Dubai conference is also the location for the Governor of Basrah to outline his vision for the future, and it is expected ministers will outline the latest thinking on the evolving situation in Iraq and the opportunities this brings.
To register, please follow the link: http://www.webuildiraq.org/ibbc-conference/autumn-conference/
(Source: IBBC)