Iraq 2009-10

I first flew to Baghdad in 2009, following in my grandfather’s footsteps. Our journey’s were separated by nearly 100 years, two world wars, an Iran-Iraq war and the two most recent Gulf wars.

He had been there as a doctor in the Mesopotamian campaign which liberated Baghdad from the Ottoman Empire.

Travelling as a member of an Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) Trade Mission led by Baroness Emma Nicholson, my visits have taken me to the capital Baghdad, Basra in the south and Erbil in the north.

The IBBC is an organisation which facilitates business, trade investment, human resources, training and transfer of technology and know-how into the Republic of Iraq. It seeks to bring together Iraqi, British and international companies and public sector bodies by giving them a joint platform and identifying their mutual interests and common goals. It is aimed to be a powerful network of the most important Iraqi, British and international business organisations which enjoys high level support from both Governments and the EU:

• Baghdad 2009
• Erbil - 2010
• Basra - 2010