Al-Sudani oversees the TBI- JICA cooperation memo signing

Shafaq News/ On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani presided over the signing ceremony of a memorandum of cooperation between the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in the presence of the Minister of Planning, Mohammed Tameem, and the Technical Advisor to the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Special Diwan Affairs Committee for Sovereign Guarantees, Mohammed Sahib Al-Daraji.

According to Al-Sudani's media office, the memorandum of cooperation comes within the framework of the "government's initiative to grant sovereign guarantees to the private sector, as well as within the work of the special committee for sovereign guarantees covered by the General Budget Law for the year 2023 and Cabinet Resolution No. (23404) for the year 2023.”

The memorandum includes JICA financing projects for the Iraqi private sector to “establish factories inside Iraq, to localize the national industry in the pharmaceutical, construction, chemical, petrochemical, energy, agricultural, and food industries in the implementation of the government program to support and localize strategic sectors, based on the directives of the Prime Minister in this regard.”

In light of the memorandum, an initial $200 million will be provided to finance essential projects that serve citizens and the Iraqi economy, “contributing to reducing external imports and currency exchange operations abroad.”

In addition, the memorandum aims to “raise the efficiency of Iraqi companies to international standards by opening up to global banks for financing and controlling quality through agreements with major industrial countries.”