An international investment magazine has ranked Erbil in fifth position among top Middle East cities with potential for foreign direct investment. This places Erbil ahead of Muscat and Riyadh.
FDI Magazine, a subsidiary of the Financial Times, in this month’s edition, ran a feature on Middle East cities of the future, ranking cities by economic potential, infrastructure, business friendliness and FDI promotion strategy.
In the listing for cities with the most potential for FDI, the magazine gave Amman top place followed by Dubai, Manama, and Ras Al Khaimah and then Erbil. Rhiyad was ranked 9th and Muscat 6th.
The Kurdistan Region is increasingly seen as the commercial gateway to Iraq and is attracting trade and investment from around the world, particularly from neighbouring countries. The region’s trade with Turkey comes to about $7.5 billion dollars a year, followed by Lebanon, Iran and the Gulf states.