David Wells, Technical Director – Iraq Projects, attended the recent Business Forum and Spring Conference organised by the Iraq-British Business Council (IBBC). Held at Central Hall and Mansion House, London, the events marked the 10th anniversary of the founding of IBBC. Although EAME has only recently become full members of IBBC, EAME has been active with IBBC for a number of years and fully supports it efforts to encourage and support British companies in Iraq.
The Spring Conference was entitled ‘Iraq – Financing a Modern Economy’ and there was much discussion concerning the success of UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s Export Credit Agency (ECA), in supporting a number of large, nationally-significant infrastructure projects. EAME is proud to have supported UKEF with the environmental and social risk management of several of these projects.
David commented ‘the conference was very well attended and the numbers of attendees grows year on year. It was good to develop new relationships as well as reaffirming existing associations. There is real optimism concerning the redevelopment of Iraq, however, significant issues remain – political instability, the difficulty of private companies to work, corruption and an overreliance on the oil and gas industry.’
EAME is an environmental and social consultancy operating in Iraq since 2010. EAME provides a range of services including environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) and environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) which allows international funders, developers, companies and Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) to manage their environmental and social risks in a challenging environment.