Roya Development Group

Roya Development Group is glad to be participating in the U.S.-Iraq High-Level Business Summit, where Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and numerous American businesses are working toward a new phase in the U.S.-Iraq relationship. This moment matters. Security-centered conversations about Iraq have increasingly given way to discussions of trade, investment, and shared economic opportunity. RDG has spent years working alongside Iraqi institutions and international partners to support exactly this kind of transition, and it's encouraging to see economic possibilities get this level of attention and momentum. Looking forward to the conversations ahead and to continuing to support Iraq's economic development. #Iraq #USIraqRelations

Delighted to have joined the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Center for Strategic Studies - University of Jordan conference, 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁, in #Amman earlier this month. My core argument, drawn from forthcoming research I've written with KAS, is that ISIS's residual risk is not territorial. Instead, risks stem from inadequate rehabilitation and resettlement, as well as marginalization. Extremist groups rebuild where governance and security vacuums permit — a particular challenge given the range of changing dynamics in Iraq, Syria, and the broader region — and where they can draw from populations excluded from ordinary civic and economic life: children barred from school for lack of civil documentation, young people shut out of adequate employment, families still contesting housing and identity claims a decade after ISIS's defeat. Containment depends as much on closing these governance gaps as on sustained security pressure. Full paper coming soon - I’ll share it here.

Iraq's anti-corruption movement got the night it had waited decades for. Overnight raids across Baghdad, Salah al-Din, and Erbil produced 47 arrest warrants targeting politicians, parliamentarians, and senior officials — the first of its kind. The scale alone will set new public expectations for what anti-corruption enforcement in #Iraq looks like. The real test is what comes next: will confessions from this raid be used to reach higher in the political hierarchy, or will this become the high-water mark? Read more from RDG:

With disarmament dominating the conversation in Iraq, Winthrop Rodgers and I examine for The New Arab why Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq has moved quickly to support the idea. As the largest single Shia bloc in parliament, AAH has a great deal at stake. The future could work in its favor if it can convince Western governments that its change in behavior is genuine rather than merely cosmetic. Read more from us:

Four years of politically driven expansionary spending, a triennial budget built on an oil price assumption $14 per barrel below breakeven estimates, and 10.5 trillion IQD in dubious debt issued by a caretaker government. PM Zaidi must contend with all of this as seaborne oil exports collapsed from 93 million barrels to 10 million in a single month. The options available are limited: emergency instruments, disciplined use of foreign currency reserves, and disclosure of the closed-loop borrowing arrangements that have obscured the true state of Iraq's fiscal position. Read more from RDG:

RDG wishes you Eid Adha Mubarak. May this Eid bring peace, joy, and prosperity to you and your loved ones. 🐏

The Trump administration's decision to withhold five percent of Iraq's dollar transfers is the first such action by any US administration since 2003. The sum is modest – the signal is not. Iraq's dollar-dependent financial architecture, built by Washington over two decades ago, was never intended to be permanent. However, the still-unsettled commercial debt portfolio keeps the country tethered to the Development Fund for Iraq arrangements. Interdicting hard-currency flows is an additional lever of influence, pressuring Iraq's political class to abandon pretenses of equidistance between the US and Iran — a stance that, for Washington, has become untenable. Read more from RDG:

Looking forward to speaking at next week's Oxford Global Security Programme's Webinar Series on Trafficking Hubs and Global Supply Chain Networks. I'll be focusing on how contested borderlands in Iraq serve as nodes in illicit supply chains — and how local dynamics and geopolitical processes intersect with illicit trade. My remarks will draw on primary fieldwork Roya Development Group conducted along Iraq's border corridors, an analysis of which will be published later this year. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eGrX84Uv Wednesday, April 29 // 9am DC time - 2pm UK time #GlobalSecurity #IllicitTrade #Iraq #Oxford #RDG

On April 11, Nizar Amedi became the fifth president elected in #Iraq since 2003, securing 227 votes. He is the first Iraqi president from #Dohuk province; each of his predecessors hailed from PUK’s stronghold of #Sulimaniyah. His appointment came after a prolonged political impasse and opposition from the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party. Read more from RDG:

Kittleson’s abduction has revealed systemic issues in how #Iraq is covered today. Many large international outlets that once had a strong presence in the country have shut down their bureaus or reassigned their correspondents elsewhere. This shift began after the recapture of Mosul from ISIS in 2018, briefly reversed during the Tishreen protests the following year, and then sped up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Covering the wars in Ukraine and Palestine kept them from returning. Some bureaus still operate and report important stories, but they are only a shadow of the busy newsrooms they once were. International journalists still work in Iraq, but they usually come for short visits and often lack the local knowledge that comes with longer stays on the ground. As a result, Iraqi journalists and a few dedicated foreign freelancers are left to fill the gap with limited resources and minimal protection. In fact, a major topic among journalists lately has been the inadequate pay outlets provide to freelancers, who bear all the risks. The result is that international coverage becomes limited and shallow, relying on statements from politicians and focusing on only a few issues, such as energy. In-depth stories and the voices of local people are overlooked and lost when reporters struggle to make a living from their work and lack basic protections. Unfortunately, Kittleson’s abduction will only lower the already low risk tolerance of editors and make covering this conflict more challenging, while increasing pressure on everyone else trying to get the local story.