Among the most important things discussed during the last week was the level of welfare of Iraqi citizens, which suffers a clear deterioration and a huge decline comparing to most of the world’s states and Iraq’s neighboring states. Some decide that the welfare is only achieved through activating the private sector, which is the main actor that meets the basic individual needs of the society through providing incomes to all classes of society.

Conclusions:

·         There is a necessity to develop the banking sector in Iraq, as all trade activities in today’s world of finance depend on the banking services.

·         The local investors face huge obstacles that prevent them from working effectively within the correct frameworks of investment. The same goes for the foreign investors.

·         The inactivity and decline of the Iraqi private sector do not mean that it is because of the sector itself, but due to the government negligence.

·         Tourism is a strong pillar of the economy of most countries, and Iraq has the geographic and historical basics that allow it to be a perfectly tourist country.

·         There is an increasing number of Iraqi population, and Iraqi community is categorized under the young communities.

Recommendations:

·         The government must have a serious attitude in seeking the development of banking sector in the country, which can be achieved by benefiting from the experiences of the international states or financial counselling institutions.

·         The basis of development of each country is investment; therefore, efforts must be made to overcome the obstacles facing the Iraqi investors, especially in terms of legal acts, so that they can reach to the level of the foreign investors.

·         The private sector should be cared for and protected from the foreign product through providing a legislative cover that protects the local product in a way that does not affect the Iraqi consumer.

·         It is so necessary to develop and prepare all kinds of tourist attractions in the country, in addition to providing personnel specialized in field of tourism to manage the process of tourist industry in the country.

·         It is the duty of government and the supporting civil society organizations to work on developing long-term strategic plans to define the directions of the Iraqi society in terms of needs, labor market and the income of Iraqi individual.

Names of some participants in the week’s dialogue:

(1)   Dr. Yousef l-Taai

(2)   Dr. Rahim Al-Hasnawi

(3)   Mr. Rafea Abduljabbar

(4)   Mr. Saeed Yasin

(5)   Mr. Thaer Al-Dulaimi

(6)   Sheik Mahdi Al-Hindawi

(7)   Dr. Jamal Al-Assadi

(8)   Dr. Qusai Mahbouba

(9)   Mr. Ali Al-Moayad

(10)  Mr. Husam Al-Ghazali

(11)  Mr. Hashem Al-Mosawi

(12)  Dr. Saif Al-Khayyat