Al-Sudani declares signing small and medium-sized business financing agreement with Japan

INA-  Baghdad


Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani announced on Thursday the signing of an agreement with Japan to finance small and medium-sized business, noting that this will contribute to revitalizing and establishing the national industry.

The Prime Minister's Media Office said in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that Prime Minister Mohammed S. Al-Sudani launched the Etihad Mills project in Al-Madhatiya, Babil, a private sector initiative, this Thursday morning. The project is set to produce yellow flour locally with an annual production capacity of one million tons.

Additionally, Prime Minister Al-Sudani inaugurated the expansion of the sugar production facility at Etihad Company. The expansion includes new production lines, increasing the plant's production capacity from 4,200 tons to 6,000 tons per day.
The statement added that Etihad Food Industries Co. Ltd. in Babil is one of the largest industrial companies in Iraq, housing six factories, including sugar production, vegetable oil production, vegetable feed production, soybean meal extraction, premix production, and yellow corn cracking and drying.

It also said that the Prime Minister also opened a vegetable oil extraction plant, a vegetable feed production plant, and a premix plant within the same company. In his remarks, Prime Minister Al-Sudani highlighted this development as a success story in the private sector, affirming the government's unwavering support to create more jobs—currently around 4,000 within the company's activities—and to increase production for future export potential.
The Prime Minister encouraged private sector companies and entrepreneurs to seize available investment opportunities and benefit from state-provided sovereign guarantees under the three-year budget law. He also announced a $300 million agreement with Japan to fund small and medium projects, aimed at revitalizing and establishing the national industrial sector.