Iraqi- British Business Event – Gulfsands Registers its Interest for 5-Plus / 6th Licensing Round

I was honoured to participate in the recent Iraq Britain Business Council (“IBBC”) Conference at Mansion House, London, with the theme ‘Iraq 2023, Open to World’.

We heard that with the Iraqi Government has approved a new record $153bn budget and, sustained by a strong oil price, Iraq’s economy is set for further growth.

The Energy Panel discussion was, of course, of particular interest.   Gulfsands has now registered its interest in participating the recently announced “Fifth-plus” and Sixth licensing rounds in Iraq and looks forward to analysing the exciting opportunities on offer.

It was a privilege to talk with Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Oil, Mr. Laith Al Shaher, and hear from the Lord Mayor of London, Lord Ahmad (UK Minister of State for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and the United Nations) and Mr. Mushhood Haider of the UK Department of International Trade, among others.  It was also a pleasure to meet with Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, President of the IBBC and Christophe Michels, Managing Director of the IBBC.

Having visited the wonderful city of Mosul myself, I was particularly impressed by the digitisation work of the Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage at Nottingham Trent University on Preserving the Disappearing Cultural Heritage of Post-War Mosul.

It was thrilling to see so many key business and industry leaders with an interest in Iraq, to meet those in government working to deepen ties between the UK and Iraq, and to connect with like-minded individuals from the international business community.

Congratulations to the IBBC team for an outstanding event.