12th & 13th December 2024
Al Zama Group who is a member of the IBBC (Iraq Britain Business Council) and the chairman of the Maritime Committee within the IBBC was a Gold Sponsor to the IBBC Autumn conference which was held on 12th & 13th Dec 2024 at TAJ Hotel, Dubai. The conference was held over two days, Day (1) “Education Day” and Day (2) “Business Day”. Many government officials and business leaders have attended this distinguished conference from Iraq, United Kingdom and UAE.
Al Zaman Group has invited Government officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation including Mr. Ahmed Al Asadi – Director General of the State Company of Maritime Transportation, Mr. Abbas Imran – Director General of Planning and Follow up in the Ministry of Transportation, and Mr. Abduladheem Kareem – President of the Iraqi Supreme Maritime Authority. Al Zaman Group was represented at the conference by Mr. Ahmed Shaban – CEO President and Mr. Abdullah Shaban – Executive Manager /Shipbuilding Engineer. Al Zaman Group has shared its vision and plan in Iraq through; First, the Establishment of a Maritime Academy that provide accredited courses for seamen to obtain necessary world recognized certificates of competence, and the next stage would be to provide degree courses in Naval Architecture to prepare a new generation of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. The second plan is the establishment of a shipyard in Basra, for the manufacturing of ships as well as maintenance for existing vessels. This will be done in cooperation with IACS approved classification societies to be able to build, maintain and register the ships within the International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards.
The event was attended by VIPs like Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, President of IBBC. H.E. Mohammed Al Darraji, Senior Technical advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister and the President of Sovereign Guarantee Initiative, H.E. Abdullah Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy UAE.
H.E Professor Hamid Khalaf Ahmed, PM Advisor & Executive Director, The Higher
Committee for Education Development in Iraq & PM office.
On 12th Dec 2024, Day (1) ‘Education Day’ was led by Prof. Mohammed Al Uzri, Health and Education Advisor, IBBC and the Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne has welcomed the attendees. Three sessions were held on Day (1); Higher Education, Private Schooling and Vocational Training in which there was panel discussions for each session by industry professionals. Since Al Zaman Group has the plan to establish the Maritime Academy, it was a great opportunity to have known this expertise and meet them in person. A discussion was held with a representative from the City and Guilds in London Mr. Tony Degazon for the potential of providing skill working courses such as welding including quality assurance and quality control in Iraq for the shipbuilding industry.
On 13th Dec 2024, Day (2) ‘Business Day’ was led by Mr Vikas Handa, GCC Representative, IBBC and the Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne has welcomed the attendees. Four sessions were held on Day (2); Iraq & the Region, Infrastructure & Maritime, Finance, and Energy. Session (1) was led by and Mr Jon Wilks CMG, IBBC and former British Ambassador in Iraq.
Al Zaman Group CEO Mr. Ahmed Shaban was among the panellist in Session (2) Infrastructure and Maritime since Al Zaman Group is the chairman of the Maritime Committee within the IBBC in which the Iraqi Minister of Transportation Mr. Razaq Muhaibes has announced about this committee during his last visit to the Cumberland Lodge event in the Windsor, United Kingdom.
The session was led by Mr Colin Findlay, IBBC and the panellist were Mr Tugrul Titanoglu, CJ-ICM; Mr Ahmed Shaban, Chairman of the IBBC
Maritime Committee; Dr Abduladheem Kareem, Iraq Supreme Maritime
Authority; Mr Amar Shubar Management Partners; Mr Ahmed Al-Asady, State Company for Maritime Transport. Mr. Abbas Imran, Director General of Planning and Follow up in the Iraqi Ministry of Transport.
During the session, Mr. Ahmed Shaban has discussed the Importance of the establishment of the Maritime Academy and the transfer of knowledge and technology in cooperation with UK institutes within the IBBC Maritime Committee. Also, information was given by panellists about the Strategic projects that are being implemented in Iraq under H.E Mr. Mohammed Shiaa Al Sudani Supervision. These projects including Al Faw Grand Port and Development Road which will connect East to West via Iraq through railways roads, which are the projects of the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation. Al Zaman Group is keen to support the Ministry in the Maritime and Railways sectors by the establishment of new era industry in the shipbuilding and railways in Iraq. The vision of Al Zaman Group is to cooperate with the Iraqi government for the construction of a shipyard in the south of Iraq to meet the current and future demand of the maritime traffic. Iraqi waters are very busy with ships, since there are over 3000 vessels entering to the Iraqi ports annually, in addition to the huge Oil Tankers that enters the Iraqi Oil Terminals. These ships require a hub (shipyard) that provides maintenance services under the supervision of an approved IACS Classification Society. Moreover, Al Zaman Group has undergoing project for the General Company for Ports of Iraq for the construction of 8000 TLC Floating Dock, which is a strategic project for Iraq.
During Session (4) ‘Energy’ discussions were made about the Energy market in Iraq, since Iraq is an Oil Exportation country. The panellist who was representatives of world leading companies in Energy from both Private and Government sectors. Al Zaman Group is running the operations of the marine traffic in the Iraqi Oil Terminals through the management and operation of special purpose vessels and accommodation for the oil terminals staff.
Finally, a Plaque of Appreciation was presented by Mr. Ahmed Shaban CEO of Al Zaman Group to the Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne for her tremendous efforts and support to Iraq and IBBC members. Overall, the conference was very successful, and many fruitful talks were made with professional leaders in Business and Education.
