عربي

IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING

To some people, the impossible is looked upon as an obstacle that can not be solved, but the impossible in the view of the enthusiast is nothing & can be conquered. As an example to be followed in overcoming problems & difficulties in life, we selected an ideal example in confronting the impossible. A situation when IACCI challenged the difficulties by starting a conference of a group of Iraqi businessmen in a meeting held in Los Angles, USA, back in May 2003 . Two months later, this meeting was followed by a conference held in Baghdad & was welcomed warmly by the Iraqi business community.

Following the conference, the Chamber started its real work; to transform the slogan "Impossible is Nothing" into a reality. The Chamber then held a meeting in Baghdad at Al-Elwyia Club in the presence of 420 Iraqi business-men to shed light on foreign companies operating in Iraq.

The number of the Chamber's membership were 800 when it started work , as an independent , non-profit ,organization (NGO) at the Ministry Of Oil HQ in Al-Mansur district The number of Iraqi company membership in the Chamber was 2942 & 300 foreign companies when it moved to the Iraqi Engineers Syndicate building in Mansour as well . Membership numbers soared to 3400 , inside Iraq & to more than 300 Arab & foreign companies. The Chamber, then participated in international trade & economic exhibitions when it took part in the AGEX trade show held in Amman , in Oct. 2003. It was attended by a group of 22 delegates from the Chamber. The Chamber continued participations in international exhibitions demonstrating the Chamber's standing.

IACCI also took part in Dyer Baker (Turkey) that attracted 1300 of its members to the DBX. Three hundred Arab & foreign companies were present & this witnessed the biggest exhibition in the modern history of Iraq.

After it moved to the new quarters at Arasat Al-Hindia on the 1st of June 2004, IACCI escalated it's activities & opened a new office in Jordan with a membership of 300 Iraqi business people. Soon after that new offices were opened in Arbil ,Sulaymania ,Babel & Basra with the idea of expanding the work of the Chamber & challenging the impossible. This was to secure a foot hold in countries & other regions thus serving a greater number of Iraqi business people throughout Iraq & outside of the country.

Of IACCI’s largest activities was the organizing of the DBX International Trade Show in Kurdistan in 2005, under the banner "Rehabilitation of IRAQ". It was seen as unprecedented by officials & the press. This exhibition helped to connect the Iraqi economy with world economies, with the aim of overcoming the problems facing Iraq. The Conference was attended by about 260 companies.

As there is no situation as impossible with IACCI, & in order to gain the confidence of the Iraqi business people, the Chamber became the organizer number one of trade fairs in Iraq.

Despite all difficulties that the Chamber had gone through, it had promised members & the Iraqi government both central & Kurdistan region to work devotedly for IRAQ & develop the economy & to be open to the outside world.

The Chamber was able to conduct the second International Kurdistan Trade Fair from 11-14 November 2006 without any difficulties & all plans & expectations of the chamber's members & Mr.Ommar CEO of IACCI have turned into reality.

The number of visitors at that exhibition was ready to receive great number of visitors, especially the city of Sulliamanya, an attractive city, ready to receive investment projects, especially after the issue of investment laws in Kurdistan-Iraq.

Companies totaling 450 took part from both within Iraq & from Germany, Italy , USA, Turkey, Canada, Tunisia & Iran. In addition commercial attaches attended representing the USA, China & Belgium. It may be worth mentioning that, after planning to construct the exhibition at Tasluaja (Sulaymanyia) , Mr. Omar held a press conference revealing the final results of the fair when he stated that the number of transactions that had been signed was worth 100 millions USD & the number of visitors were more than 125000.

The second Kurdistan trade fair for the year 2006 was seen as more successful by many TV commentators than the first, held in Arbil 2005.

As for IACCI, it is marching, unwaveringly with the slogan Impossible is Nothing to achieve the most important goal; the Iraqi economy & the future of Iraq.