CLDP, in cooperation with the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, led a workshop in Istanbul from June 26-30 on “Forming Durable Strategic Partnerships between Iraqi SOEs and Foreign Firms.” The program which was conducted by Deputy Chief Counsel Marc Tejtel and International Program Specialist Adam Al-Sarraf, is the second phase of an eight month program designed for Iraq’s state owned enterprises. This program consists of three phases, organized for the same group of participants which include 10 Iraqi SOE representatives and 10 representatives of the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals, the government agency that oversees the companies. CLDP completed the first phase earlier this year with a seminar that took place in Baghdad involving skills development exercises and case studies on how to identify and engage potential partners.

 The second phase, completed last week in Istanbul, Turkey, involved exercises on structuring, negotiating, and drafting contracts that form the bases of these partnerships, to include distribution contracts, licensing contracts and contracts to form joint ventures. The Iraqi participants were able to further develop their skills during meetings with Turkish companies (130 meetings total) organized by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce to facilitate potential partnership deals. Each one of the ten SOEs met at least one Turkish firm with which an international strategic partnership could eventually be formed. Most of the SOEs have met several such forms. In fact, several of the SOEs sought out CLDP and said that they had met the “dream” potential strategic partner.

 During the evaluation session at the end of the Istanbul seminar, the SOEs commented that the workshop had shown them how international strategic partnerships can be a source of technological and/or managerial regeneration for the companies; an idea that was previously considered novel and abstract. The SOEs also emphasized that they have now gained professional self-confidence when dealing with potential foreign partners, as well as optimism as to the capacity of their respective firms to be able to modernize their equipment, improve their processes and increase the quality of their products, through ISPs.

 The third phase of the program will take place in D.C. in October 2011 and will focus on the legal issues related to the formation of ISPs and feature interactive negotiation exercises between Iraqi SOEs and US experts in addition to match making session with US companies.