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Demand for all kind of goods in Northern Kurdistan region is becoming a boom
There is a clear increase of trade of industrial and consumer products that are now beginning to flood into Iraq, and especially the Northern Kurdistan region.
Spokesman for the Iraqi Busines Council, Anwar Rashid said that demand for all kinds of goods is becoming a "boom". We are being contacted by so many business people, including Iraqi expats and international companies wanting to know about agencies and what kind of agencies are available, he said in an interview for BI-ME.
"Right now most people want to go to Northern Iraq," said Rashid, "and the Council has been instrumental in helping all kinds of traders and educational institutions to set up a very good base in the North."
He commented that major global companies like Siemens, Universal, LG as well as smaller companies from India, China or Korea, were moving in to supply all kinds of materials and heavy equipment necessary for the rebuilding of Iraq. The world is open to Iraq now, to the North and the South. Goods are getting in, mainly through the port of Basra and then trucked North, or across the Turkish border into the North. But the current situation means that there are periodic shortages of trucks and delayed cargo, said Rashid.
"From the Turkish border to Sulaimaniya, you would see a line of trucks into thousands, strecthing for 15 kilometres," said Rashid. Although, as a GATT signatory country, and soon to be WTO member, Iraq does not practice the exclusive agency system, important representation deals are being assigned now for all types of goods such as industrial and construction equipment, cars, arms, munitions, IT and security equipment, said Rashid.
He added that Baghdad was the only Province where construction activity is still not possible, due to the violence, and there is not much lifting equipment or cranes going into Baghdad. "The private sector is not yet as active as it should be," said Rashid. "But it is increasing. The plan is to build townships and there is a need for thousands of residential quarters."