The Iraqi Business Council Hosts His Excellency The Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism & Antiquities Dr. Hassan Nadhim
As part of its (Ibdaa) Cultural Program, IBC hosted on Monday October 12th 2020 the Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism & Antiquities Dr. Hassan Nadhim via ZOOM Application to discuss the Ministry’s cultural projects and the available investment opportunities.
At the beginning of the session, IBC Chairman Dr. Majid Saedi welcomed the Minister and the participants, lauding the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Antiquities’ project on setting a date for the National Day, stressing that this is happening for the first time in the history of Iraq, and thanked the efforts of the Iraqi Minister in this respect.
Dr. Saedi also gave an overview on a number of achievements realized by the Council on all levels including IBC (Ibdaa) Cultural Program.
Dr. Saedi said that IBC is considered a link between the business community in Iraq and the international business community, referring to IBC role in strengthening the economic relations between Jordan and Iraq including the oil linkage between Basra and Jordan’s city of Aqaba.
He also said that IBC (Ibdaa) Cultural Program aims at honoring Iraqi creative personalities inside and outside Iraq, calling on future partnership between IBC and the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Antiquities.
On his part, the Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism & Antiquities Dr. Hassan Nadhim lauded IBC achievements in the economic and cultural fields, considering this meeting as an opportunity to discuss the Ministry’s cultural projects, listening to ideas and opinions that may be useful in implementing in the Ministry’s future projects.
The Minister lauded the project appertaining to honoring the Iraqi creative personalities within the Council’s (Ibdaa) Cultural Program for its cultural importance and the support it provides to scientists, artists and creative personalities.
He also expressed the Ministry’s readiness to become a partner in this Project, and talked about the reasons for choosing October 3rd to become Iraq’s National Day.
He further emphasized the Ministry’s efforts to choose a non-controversial day to become Iraqi’s National Day to be agreed upon by all Iraqis that is not subject to any religious, ethnic or similar sensitivity.
Therefore, October 3rd was chosen to be Iraq’s National Day, which is the day when Iraq joined the League of Nations, the day the British Mandate on Iraq ended and the day when Iraq became a country enjoying full sovereignty and international recognition.
The Minister further added that the Ministry was successful in separating the Holiday Law from the National Day Law to facilitate passing it, referring to the Ministry’s efforts to choose a non-controversial day to be a date for Iraq’s National Day agreed upon be everyone and is not subject to any calculations.
He pointed out Iraq’s National Anthem Project is still in the stage of discussion and there are two options in this regard; either choosing a text for a well-known Iraqi poet or composing a new text subject to a specific technical criteria.
The Iraqi Minister also answered a point raised by IBC Chairman Dr. Saedi on finding ways to encourage and regulate the tourism sector in Iraq, especially that the tourism revenue to the Iraqi National Production is almost meager, indicating that there are tendencies to work on changing the current situation and revitalizing tourism in Iraq despite the consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic crisis.
For his part, IBC Deputy Chairman and Secretary General Mr. Saad Naji reviewed the cultural activities held within IBC (Ibdaa) Project which characterized IBC before other similar business organizations that aim to support the civil society such as art exhibitions, honoring creative personalities, publicizing and book signing by writers and authors and holding cultural celebrations to introduce the great Mesopotamia Civilization to the Jordanian local society and the new young generations, in addition to holding cultural lectures, fashion shows and IBC sponsoring and printing books.
Mr. Naji touched upon the Participatory Applied National Committee in the Good Democratic Governance launched by the Iraqi Business Council in participation with the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the Arab League during a workshop held by IBC in Amman, which dealt with partnership between the government sector, the private sector and the civil society organizations to formulate and decision-making in Iraq, stressing out that “this comes out of IBC’s belief that the citizen is the main partner in decision-making with the government”.
Mr. Naji also referred to the need for business communities to adopt the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, which emphasizes transparency, combating corruption, preserving environment, combating poverty and child labor, as IBC was one of the first organizations to join this Compact, calling on the Ministry of Culture to support the creative personalities honoring project, that comes under IBC (Ibdaa) Cultural Program, inside and outside Iraq through partnership with the Council.
The session included interventions by the participants on the protection of the intellectual property rights, combating the smuggling of antiquities, strengthening cultural relations with the Arab neighboring countries, especially Jordan, interest in tourism and supporting Iraqi creative personalities outside Iraq.