Iraqi Finance Minister: If we make the right decisions, we will be the global energy center for the coming centuries

Shafaq News / The Iraqi Minister of Finance, Ali Allawi, called on Saturday to invest Iraqi capital to maintain the current oil production rates, stressing the need to focus on raising the rates of electric power production, suggesting that the country would turn into a source of energy.

Allawi said at the Energy Forum held at the American University in Baghdad; It is “Iraq must divert capital investments to maintain current oil production rates while shifting focus to electricity production where demand is expected to grow. We have a great opportunity to restore Iraq as a major supplier of electricity.”

Allawi added; “Iraq today needs to make strategic decisions based on where it wants to be. 20 years from now, Qatar made huge investments in gas production in the 1990s. It was one of the greatest strategic decisions that were taken and they are now reaping its fruits.”

The Iraqi Finance Minister stressed that “if we make the right choices, the right partners, and the right strategic direction, I believe that this country can easily be the global center for energy trade for the twenty-first century and beyond.”

On Saturday, the American University in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, hosted the Sixth Energy Forum, with the participation of OPEC Secretary-General Muhammad Barkindo.

The conference was also attended by the Iraqi Minister of Finance, Abdul Amir Allawi, and a group of ministers and officials of the Iraqi government.

Shafaq.com