Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has
urged investors to show caution when considering opportunities in
Iraq in remarks published in a German newspaper Friday.
Steinmeier was speaking to the Munich-based Muenchner Merkur 10
days after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Berlin to urge
German companies to invest in Iraq, assuring them that the security
situation had improved dramatically.
'We hope that the situation improves to the extent that it permits
extending our business ties,' Steinmeier said.
'But not at any price,' he added, noting that attacks in Iraq had
claimed 700 lives in June alone.
Steinmeier also recalled that Germans had been taken hostage in
Iraq over the past year.
'The risk of abduction is still high and I well recall the months
when we worried about German hostages in Iraq and still worry. These
are factors that should not be ignored or glossed over,' he said.
While there were lucrative business opportunities in Iraq,
companies should be cautious about sending their employees there,
Steinmeier cautioned.
After talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel on July 22, al-Maliki
claimed there had been 'great success' in improving security in Iraq.
He urged German business to invest in Iraq.
Merkel was more cautious, saying only that the security situation
was improving 'step by step.'
German Economy Minister Michael Glos paid a surprise visit to
Baghdad on July 12, becoming the first German minister to do so since
the 2003 invasion.
He also highlighted the opportunities in the country for German
business.
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