Imagine being asked to invest in the US 200 years ago!

Imagine being asked to invest in the US 200 years ago!

And never mind two hundred years ... I wish someone had told me to put money into Google, Apple or Twitter barely ten years ago.
 
Anyway that's just the kind of thinking that's been going on at a swanky Washington DC hotel, close to Union Station, where thousands of business people have been gathering for a two day conference on investing in Iraq.
 
The event was attended on Tuesday, 20th October, by Iraq's prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as a long list of leading Iraqi ministers and business leaders.
 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said tickets for the first Iraq business and investment conference sold out fast, which, she said, proved the country has more potential than most people outside the room realise.

"I urge U.S. businesses to really see all of the progress that has been made ..."

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said it dawned on him shortly after taking office that security and economic development go hand in hand.

"It is impossible to talk about security, stability or stability and security without economic prosperity."

Thousands of miles away on the streets of Baghdad, Al Jazeera got mixed reviews from the people the conference is supposed to help.
 
One man told us, "I don't think it will bring any benefits for Iraqis, it's all about the US setting up their businesses in our country." A woman said, "I think if there is a real investment by foreign companies we will see the difference in our country," while another man added, "There are no real investments here.  There are officials or companies who are making their own profits.  We the Iraqi people are not getting anything out of it."
 
Prime Minister Maliki told the conference that banking, electricity production, home building, oil and gas exploration and agriculture are all priorities. But still Iraq's violent image prevails.  In a recent survey, 70% of potential U.S. investors said it tops their list of concerns.
 
Oil Minister Dr Hussein Shahristani heads a department seen as key to transforming Iraq.
 
I asked him, how he justifies attracting this kind of investment, where the profits will find their way back to the United States - how does that help ordinary Iraqis?
 
He said, "Well, any successful business or project will have to generate money and that money will have to be shared by the investor who has created the opportunity and by the beneficiaries."
 
Businessman Tim Moore has no worries about investing in Iraq.  For seven years his New Hampshire based firm has been helping to build Iraq's internet infrastructure.
 
His enthusiasm for doing business is infectious.

"You have to get engaged, you have to get experience and you have to be on the ground."

No investor, however, likes going first.
 
But executives with cash to spend have to weigh up the risks of doing business in Iraq - violence or even losing the investment altogether if the government changes - against the huge returns they stand to make in what is after all virgin territory for business.
 
Just as it was here two centuries ago!
 
Makes you think doesn't it?
 
John Terrett, Washington