Iraq trade mission lashes Government for failures

The organiser of a commercial trade mission to Iraq has lashed out at the Government for failing to promote British business interests in the country.

Orient Exhibitions, a specialist exhibition contractor for the Middle East, is taking up to 60 representatives of UK businesses to Iraq for the trade mission on 1 December. Four core sectors will be represented during the three-day stay in Baghdad: oil, medical, power and water treatment.

So far, Orient has sold 55 tickets at a cost of around £1,500 each.

Once out there, the British businesses will meet representatives of a range of bodies, which are expected to include the Iraqi trade ministry, chambers of commerce and United Nations organisations.

Yet Saad Hadi, a director at Orient, said: "The Government is doing absolutely nothing to promote business in Iraq and the time has come for someone else to promote the UK in these difficult markets.

"The US looks after its own people," he said, "but we don't."

Mr Hadi also criticised Trade Partners UK, the Government body set up to promote overseas trade.

"It is of no benefit to British industry," he said. "It gets millions of pounds of taxpayers' money for the sole purpose of promoting industry, and the results show that it is not doing any good."

However, a spokesman for Trade Partners said the group was keen to lead a trade mission to Iraq and that the Government wanted British companies to play a "substantial role" in the reconstruction of Iraq's infrastructure. But trips to the region had been delayed on safety grounds.

Mr Hadi, however, played down such concerns. Orient's mission would stay at one hotel in Baghdad and would keep a low profile, he said.

"Business is a risk. Every day we take a risk. We believe that the Iraqi market is worth taking that risk for," he said. "We know the country extremely well. We're going to be vigilant and we're not going to be stupid."

The Government's Iraq Industry Working Group is to meet on 24 September. A decision on when a trade mission can be organised is likely to be taken at the meeting.

It is understood, too, that Trade Partners UK hopes to pip Orient to the post by sending out a mission before December.