Al-Qasabi reveals plans for joint Iraqi investment company
Saudi Arabia and Iraq plan to launch a joint investment company, Al Arabiya reported.
Saudi Commerce Minister Majid Al-Qasabi, who also chairs the SaudiIraqi Coordination Council, told the news channel that the company would act as a guarantor for investments and help to channel capital from the Kingdom to Iraq.
It follows plans to launch a $3 billion fund to promote investments in the country agreed in March during a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to Saudi Arabia.
Al-Qasabi also revealed that the Kingdom was studying the opening of other border crossings with Iraq following the reopening of the Arar border post last year for the first time in 30 years. It had been closed after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.
He added that three commercial offices would be opened in Iraq along with branches of the Kingdom’sInvestment Ministry.
The commerce minister said that the Kingdom supported the reconstruction of cities liberated by
Daesh, through the Saudi Investment Fund (SFD) and had allocated 500 educational scholarships for Iraqi youth.
Recently, the SFD signed a financing agreement with the National Bank of Iraq (NBI) to provide $10 million in credit facilities to Iraqi investors wanting to import products and services from Saudi companies.
Under the agreement, SFD will grant NBI, a subsidiary of Capital Bank Group, a revolving financing line to import various goods and services of Saudi origin for the bank’s importing company clients, with a 100 percent financing rate of its value. It will grant a payment period of up to 36 months depending on the type of imports.