PHOTO
Image used for illustrative purpose A general view of the Nafit 1, a modern school built with the aid of a grant from Kuwait, is seen in Basra, southeast of Baghdad November 2, 2014. A country that used to have one of the finest education systems in the Middle East is struggling to provide school students with the basic opportunity to learn. In the southern port city of Basra, many school buildings are in a dilapidated state. Large numbers of children are attending schools that lack even basic water or sanitation facilities, have crumbling walls, broken windows and leaking roofs. To help Iraq cope with the schools crisis, neighbouring Kuwait granted more than US2 million dollars (2.4 billion Iraqi dinars) in aid in building 10 schools across Iraq, including four schools in Basra. Picture taken November 2, 2014. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani
Iraq is planning to create joint investment funds with Saudi Arabia, Japan and Italy with the aim of financing development projects in Iraq, an official was quoted on Thursday as saying.
The projects will support a development fund created by Iraq to finance domestic projects with a capital of one trillion Iraqi dinars ($765 million), said Mohammed Al-Najjar, an investment adviser to Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani.
Najjar, quoted by Aliqtisad News network during an investment seminar in Erbil, Kurdistan, said Iraq needs such facilities to fund growing domestic needs.
He said Iraq is planning building 1,000 new schools and enter partnerships with the private sector to meet housing demand estimated at 3.5 million units.
“The Iraqi government is currently discussing with a number of global funds an idea to form joint funds with them….there is now a proposal to set up such joint funds with Japan, Saudi Arabia and Italy,” Najjar said.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)
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