Ambani’s Reliance Industries, part of the consortium led by ONGC Videsh, almost won an oil asset in Iraq. It had been seeking permission to begin work, but now will have to bid for it, in keeping with the new law.

Engineer Al-Sabah Shammery, chairman of the SAPCO group, one of Iraq’s largest businesses, believes Ambani is one of the few who seem to have grasped the message from the visiting Iraqis: “Iraq will be a global workshop for the next ten years at least. India must participate in Iraq’s rebuilding efforts today, not tomorrow . . . because once Iraq is open, many bigger companies will enter and then our Indian friends could be sitting around, waiting in the queue.”

India’s relations with Iraq date back ages, and Iraqis want India to be “a friend indeed” for its “friend in need”, as Shammery put it.

“It’s the right time to move to Iraq in order to secure a foothold in the emerging Iraqi market. We are now a free market with no restrictions on money transfers. The Iraqi dinar has been strengthening every day in the past three years. Standards of living have gone up with salaries,” he says.

International banks have been moving in: HSBC recently bought a 70 per cent stake in an Iraqi bank.

Disputes can be settled by approaching international courts, and potential investors can even seek funding from World Bank and other international institutions.

What’s more, a new law has been passed to protect international investors’ interests (Law No. 13), that makes it much easier to invest in Iraq rather than any Gulf state where local partners must have at least 51 per cent equity. Under the law, investment plans have to be approved at all levels within a month. Shammery’s group plans to open an office in India by the end of summer. Accompanying the oil minister on his visits to Indian oil refineries and shipyards, Shammery is upbeat about working together in joint ventures with Indian businesses in the field of cement, petrochemicals, hotels, oil and gas upstream and downstream projects.

“India can bring in technology and management expertise, while Iraqis can provide quality manpower and local know-how,” says Shammery. Of course, the main draw would be Iraq’s oil assets. Slated to be the world’s biggest oil supplier from 2015, Iraq also has the lowest cost of production at 50 cents a barrel of oil. “Your Prime Minister wants the country to grow at a double digit rate, but no growth is possible without securing long-term energy supplies. Iraq has the resources India needs,” Shammery points out.

He dispels security concerns, saying the south of Iraq and Kurdistan are relatively peaceful. Even in Basra 70 refineries have been built recently without special support, he says.