FORMER Prime Minister Tony Blair has hailed the progress that had been made in Iraq ten years on from the controversial invasion in which his government was a part of.
• Blair calls for British firms to invest in Basra
• Private sector investment only way from country to full recover from Saddam regime, says Blair
• Ex-PM says Iraqi workers now paid 4 times more in real terms than they were under previous regime
The ex-Labour leader urged British companies to step up their investment in Iraq and take advantage of the “enormous opportunity” presented by the country’s reconstruction efforts.
Blair, whose highly controversial decision to topple Saddam Hussein came to dominate his tenure in Number 10, said Iraq was set to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world over the next decade.
He acknowledged that the difficulties facing Iraq were “manifest”, including terrorism, corruption, lack of infrastructure and political paralysis.
However Mr Blair, who now works as a peace envoy in the Middle East as well as providing lucrative consultancy services to international companies, insisted there had also been progress. “It is important not to exaggerate it; equally important not to ignore it.
“The economy of 2012 in Iraq is several times the size of ten years ago. Growth this year will be 9% and Iraq is set to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world over the next decade.
“A Government worker is paid now, on average around four times what he was ten years ago in real terms. Oil revenue now stands at 100 billion dollars per annum and is set to treble by 2020. Last month Iraq surpassed Iran as exporter of oil. Iraq’s Central Bank now has the biggest reserves in its history.”
The country had “ambitious plans” for healthcare and the northern part of Iraq - where security is stronger and politics more functional - was enjoying an “unprecedented boom”.
Investment
Foreign investment was essential to rebuilding the country while Iraq’s own private sector was still recovering from the state ownership and centralism of the Baathist era, but a “basic problem in terms of perception” was holding back UK firms, he said.
“British business is already invested in Iraq, but there is so much more it can do,” he said in a speech to a conference of the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBQ) in Westminster.
Mr Blair said Basra, where the majority of UK forces were based in the years after the 2003 invasion, was especially suitable for British involvement.
“The truth is that Basra has got this enormous programme of investment that is now going forward and one of the reasons for the conference today is to get the message out to British business that this is an enormous opportunity, that we have got very strong links with Basra and we should be there,” he said.
Mr Blair, who still faces strong criticism of his involvement in Iraq and the years of bloodshed which followed the invasion, said today that Saddam’s “campaigns against his own people” were “often overlooked” and pointed out that industries like agriculture and tourism declined “dramatically” under his regime.
“Now at least there is the possibility to rebuild,” he said.