Hello everyone !
Happy Memorial Day and many THANKS VERY MUCH to our soldiers and civilians supporting our efforts, our interests and way of life, in all regions past and present!
I have been in Iraq working for a large Iraqi construction firm living life there "outside-the-wire" with good-hearted and good-intended Iraqi nationals. They are so energetic and supportive of the opportunity to rebuild the country and manage it for themselves. And, as appreciative of US efforts to free them of Saddam regime as they are, there is a lot of resentment for the impoverished and dysfunctional social fabric left behind still in an sensitive state.
I've experienced the sentiments of the writer of this article being involved in everyday business. It is so difficult for those people there, arduous, laborious, dreadfully slow and expensive to do anything. It is a shame we weren't able to leave a lasting positive legacy after so much sacrifice everybody has made in the past years during our involvement in Iraq. Let's hope things get better, sooner than later, enshala, enshala!
This is a good article.. below intro and link to the full article is here...
IF YOU ARE planning to open a business in Iraq, I would advise you to bring a book. Something substantial, perhaps Tolstoy or Proust, or the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary. You’ll want a sizable knapsack, too, so you can comfortably carry not just all 20 volumes, but the enormous stacks of cash that the process will require.
Here is what the World Bank estimates you must do to open a new firm in Iraq. First, you will need to spend a couple of days deciding on a company name, determining whether it is already registered, and obtaining a “name reservation letter” from the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce at a cost of 350,000 Iraqi dinars ($300). Then, for about 900,000 dinars ($770), you must hire a lawyer to spend a day drafting articles of association for your company. You will need a couple more days to deposit 5,000 dinars ($4.30) in a commercial bank and obtain a confirming receipt, and up to two weeks and another 350,000 dinars ($300) to file for registration at the Commercial Registry. Advertising your incorporation notice in the local paper will set you back 80,000 dinars ($70), and you will lose another three days. Following that, you will expend two days and 20,000 dinars ($17) to make a company seal, but take heart—only one more day is needed to obtain your registration certificate from the Commercial Registry, which includes it absolutely free in the price of your registration filing.
Link to the full article is here...
Have a great day!
