CAN THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT CONDUCT ALL BUSINESS

[prayin4peace]

Brian Murphy And Sinan Salaheddin, Associated Press Writers, On Tuesday October 5, 2010, 2:11 pm EDT

BAGHDAD (AP) -- With portfolios ranging from airliners to light bulbs, American corporate envoys heard Iraqi pitches for greater investments Tuesday on a trade mission brimming with hopes of future payoffs but confronting current realities such as lockdown-level security and a government in limbo.

Even before the first handshakes, executives from 14 firms -- led by Boeing Co. and General Electric Co. -- got a firsthand look at some of Iraq's challenges in courting big-ticket foreign investment outside its lucrative oil fields.

The initial meetings -- billed by Washington as the first official U.S. trade mission to Iraq in more than 30 years -- were held in the tightly secured Green Zone. The Iraqi officials who met them, meanwhile, represent a government caught in a fight for survival.

The political stalemate since March parliamentary elections has stalled many Iraqi projects -- such as improvements to the electricity grid -- and left potential foreign investors weighing whether it's best to ride out the uncertainty before making a move.

"We need to figure out how to deal with what comes next," said Philip J. Dermer, vice president of Simi Valley, California-based Wamar International Inc., which has supplied turbines and other equipment in Iraq since shortly after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

What's next, however, is still very much an open question.

A full seven months after the election, the Shiite-led coalition of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki now appears close to cobbling together a parliament majority to start forming a new Cabinet. But the Sunni-backed bloc that actually placed first in the balloting -- yet short of the crucial majority grip among lawmakers -- has vowed to oppose al-Maliki every step of the way.

Even if al-Maliki gets control of parliament, the fights over key posts could drag on for weeks or months.

One major worry for U.S. officials is al-Maliki's political pact with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who had once controlled a formidable Shiite militia and now lives in self-exile in Iran.

At a news conference Tuesday, al-Maliki appeared to address Washington directly by saying the key security posts of defense and interior ministers "should be independent and accepted by all parties" -- presumably counting out al-Sadr's group.

The lack of clarity weighs heavily in potential investors. But Iraq is not truly rudderless. Under Iraq's system, al-Maliki still leads a government with all its powers intact rather than a stripped-down caretaker role.Yet without parliament in session, the government cannot move ahead with any business-friendly reforms such as streamlining bureaucracy and clarifying rules for foreign investment.

U.S. military commanders also believe Sunni insurgents are using the government gridlock to launch a wave targeted slayings in an attempt to discredit al-Maliki. In the latest hit, gunmen Tuesday ambushed and killed the head of the crime lab in the northern city of Mosul.

"For sure there are obstacles ... but we have to start," said Aws Abdul-Rahaman, senior engineer for a Baghdad-based building contractor. "If you wait until everything is well organized then it will be a very long time."

He was among the few Iraqi business representatives at the Green Zone conference center, which was mostly filled with Iraqi government officials and diplomats.

Some of the U.S. companies on hand already have made deals with Iraq, including Boeing, which plans to deliver the first plane in a 40-aircraft order in 2013. But no major pacts are expected on the current mission, led by Francisco Sanchez, the U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade.

It has more of a fact-finding feel similar to a State Department-sponsored foray to Baghdad last year by executives from Web giants Twitter, Google and YouTube.

Iraqi officials estimate the country needs at least $400 billion for basic reconstruction. The goal is now even a longer stretch to Iraq's oil-dependent economy after crude prices dropped from record highs in 2008.

There are successes.

The semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north is undergoing something of an economic boom with foreign companies pouring money into real estate ventures or using the area's relative peace for their footholds in Iraq.

The pace of business ventures has been far slower in other parts of the country.

This week, the technology and manufacturing company Honeywell International Inc. said it will open an office in Baghdad to provide equipment for Iraq's oil and gas industry.

In the Gulf, where many wealthy sovereign funds have so far been cool to Iraq, a state-run Abu Dhabi financial firm, Invest AD, said Sunday it plans to open a fund to invest in Iraqi companies.

"We have no intention of waiting until everything is figured out before we get involved," said Damaune Journey, director of international sales at CSECO, a maker of security scanning devices based in Alameda, California.

In the southern city of Basra, the Rhode Island-based Newport Global Technologies Ltd. signed a $1.2 billion deal two years ago to help build a sports city that includes a 10,000-seat stadium.

The company's chairman and CEO, Rounsevelle Schaum, listed the hurdles: securing the site, protecting it and working out the financing.

"We see all the challenges ... because we're taking a huge risk," he said.

Associated Press Writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

[Danneedsrvnow]

Very interesting indeed!

[dinarinmi]

Nothing is interesting but the RV.