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AMMAN — An array of products ranging from heavy machinery, security gear to banking and aviation are on display at the 3rd International Rebuild Iraq 2006 Exhibition which opened here on Monday.
Deputising for Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit, Industry and Trade Minister Sharif Zu'bi opened the exhibition which runs until Thursday.
The exhibition, spread over 60,000 square metres, is so far the largest to have ever taken place in Jordan in terms of the number of exhibitors and the 5,000 Iraqi and 15,000 global visitors expected to attend.
Taking part in the event are 1,020 companies from 48 countries of which 38 had national pavilions.
Exhibitors include companies from Austria, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Cyprus, Greece, Luxembourg, Romania, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland and Poland, among other Arab, Asian and US companies.
Zu'bi toured the exhibition and exchanged remarks with participants and organisers. He commended the high level of organisation and participation, saying the fair contributes to Jordan's efforts to help rebuild Iraq and to serve as the world's gateway into the Iraqi market.
The opening ceremony was attended by a multitude of Iraqi ministers and officials, along with business leaders.
Jordanian companies and services providers had an extensive presence in the expo. One of the local businessmen maintained that although "Iraq is not yet ready for business," as far as his company is concerned, the opportunity offered by the exhibition cannot be missed.
"In fact, my target is not Iraq, but rather the Iraqi businessmen in the Gulf, who are potential investors in our business," said Mohammad Ghoti, owner and manager of the National Aluminium Factories Company, whose firm is taking part in this three-year-old event for the first time.
"When the security situation in Iraq settles, we will employ our partnerships with these businessmen to have a foothold there," he told The Jordan Times as Iraqi businessmen approached his company's pavilion inquiring about its products.
Royal Jordanian (RJ) was also there, promoting an extensive flight schedule that involves three flights daily, including two to Baghdad. Basra and Irbil are other destinations in Iraq.
RJ officials at the expo said the national carrier, which is the only airline operating regular flights to Iraq, will soon start flights to Suleimaniyah in the north.
Security-related items are part of the scene. At least one Jordanian company was exhibiting helmets, bullet-proof vests and military uniforms, under the banner "proudly made in Jordan." An Indian company was selling similar items.
Rebuild Iraq 2006 is organised by IFP Near East, a member of IFP Group and the Saudi Arabia-based Riyadh Exhibitions Co. Ltd., in collaboration with the American Chamber of Commerce in Jordan.
Running alongside the exhibition will be the 3rd International Conference "Doing Business in Iraq" which will take place at the Amman Inter.Continental Hotel on May 9 and 10 and will be attended by top Iraqi officials along with international and Jordanian experts.
Two major new projects to set up new cement factories and new IT systems in Iraq will be announced at the conference, organised by the American Chamber of Commerce to update delegates on the business environment in Iraq.
Foreign businessmen at the exhbition were quoted by Suleiman Al Khalidi, Reuters correspondent in Amman, as saying that the insurgency in Iraq was damaging efforts to spend billions of dollars on planned projects across the country.
"Security is top priority.... with any country and safety comes first and unfortunately Iraq does not have that... you cannot walk the street because kidnapping has become a business," Siraj Khan, Iraq country manager for UK Trade and Investment, a government agency sponsoring 30 British firms at the fair.
Citing a 40 per cent growth in the value of UK business deals in Iraq last year, Khan said prospects would improve once a national government was formed that brought political stability.
"It's slow progress, no one expects things to happen overnight. Nobody knows what's going to happen, nobody likes doing business in a country where there is instability," he remarked.
But forging long-term ties with Iraqi partners that can weather current conditions was what most Western firms were seeking, Khan indicated.
"We are trying to promote more with the Iraqis now... the Americans are there but eventually the contracts will run out and we want to deal with Iraqi businesses," Khan said.
The violence between Sunni and Shiite communities that many fear is driving Iraq to the brink of civil war has radically transformed business dealings in the last six months, businessmen said.
It has greatly hindered the flow of goods and people between Sunni and Shiite neighbourhoods both within Baghdad and outside and has wreaked havoc with trade, businessmen said.
"Goods movement has become much more difficult from an area that is, for example, predominately Sunni area to another Shiite one... trucks have to unload cargo onto other trucks to safely cross," said Mahdi Kanbar Agha, an Iraqi businessman who runs Antemina International, an import/export business, with offices in Baghdad and in the Middle East.
Many Arab and Western businessmen who used to make frequent visits to Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003 have now stopped going. They now confer in Amman or other safe locations with their local partners.
"I am afraid of going there... and my Iraqi partners are not getting out of their homes. They are conducting their business from their homes by telephone," said Ramzi Batmani, export manager of Jordan Engineering and Tools Company which, through its Iraqi subsidiary, has construction contracts with US prime contractors in Iraq.
Many firms say worsening sectarian violence has brought US-fostered activity to a halt and has even made some businessmen nostalgic about the fortunes they made during the period of UN sanctions after the 1991 Gulf War.
But despite all the problems, many Western companies are not willing to give up on a country with enormous natural resources that offers lucrative deals in the longer term.
"I think it's the potential which is encouraging firms to maintain their relationship with Iraqi counterparts," said Zaid Ajina of UK- based Technical Solutions to Industry Ltd.
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