It was only a few weeks ago that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani reviewed a military honour guard during an official welcome ceremony at the Chancellery in Berlin.
Iraq’s Prime Minister had met the German Chancellor to discuss projects to address chronic power shortages. Despite its oil riches, Iraq is beset by crumbling infrastructure, endemic corruption and decades of war.
Baghdad now seeks to diversify its sources of gas and electricity supply. Iraq is no longer a war-ravaged country as it is no more in the throes of violence the US invasion of this country had triggered two decades ago. It has been exporting energy in a big way as it continues to enhance oil production.
It was in March last year, for example, that it exported $11.07 billion of oil, the highest level in 50 years (Iraq earned revenues of US$ 115.5 billion from oil sales in 2022). Like other oil producing countries, Iraq is also reaping the benefits of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Now the situation requires this Arab country to make best use of US dollars in particular by investing in its infrastructure. It must also deal with the rising challenge of corruption in a meaningful way.
It is interesting to note that the US that invaded Iraq in 2003 with a view to controlling the latter’s oil reserves now has a different approach to this country as it believes that “Iraq is now key partner of the United States” in the region and a voice of “moderation and democracy” in the Middle East.
Ehtesham Sarwar (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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