On December 2-4, 2013, the US embassy in Iraq and CLDP conducted a three-day workshop to strengthen the capacity of Iraq's Provincial Investment Commissions (PICs) in drafting and negotiating effective investment contracts. The program featured legal officials from 13 PICs, in addition to legal officials from the Ministry of Finance and the National Investment Commission (NIC). The workshop focused on understanding and applying internationally accepted terms in contract drafting with a focus on project finance in infrastructural projects. The workshop also featured a series of case studies that tested the participants' understanding of the material and their ability to apply, in comprehensive investment negotiations, the knowledge and skills acquired during the workshop.

During the course of the workshop, the NIC Chairman, Dr. Sami Al-Araji expressed his support for the program by establishing a special steering committee to oversee the creation of a contract-drafting guidebook. The guidebook is intended to be utilized to standardize and expedite the contract drafting process, as well as ensure legal certainty for foreign investors seeking to invest in Iraq through the PICs and the NIC.