Here. Thank you for Crescent Petroleum and for the Global Energy center. Maji has been a person ive been stealing ideas from for a long period of time. He happens to be one of the best thinkers and actors and an analysts of the region. Its always a pleasure to have him here. So thank you so much for being here. Todays event was organized by the councils Global Energy center. Our Iraq Initiative is led by has been our who moderator today. Its been a game changer having abas working with us. Hes one of those rare individual who is understands the workings of the countries hes covering iraq so intimately but also the workings of washington which in many respects is sometimes more difficult to follow. This mornings discussion is iraqs facing the daunting challenge with crisis underway and citizens demanding reform as well as the news just yesterday that Prime Minister adal adomadi will resign. Despite the current unrest and uncertainty of the future iraq has made significant progress in years by carrying out elections about a peaceful transfer of power in the region where this is not the norm. We have to keep reminding ourses of how unique that is. The United States and iraq have a long and complex history. We all know that. Iraqs relations with iran have strained aspects of u. S. Iraq relations. But its more important for us to work togethers as partners. As we saw for example during the mission last week that resulted in the death of the isis leader albaghdadi. The u. S. Operation was one key ingredient for the success of that operation. We dont espn a lot of time on individual bilateral operations in the Atlantic Council across our 13 programs and certains that act on issues in all regions of the world. What we do is we focus on the bilateral relations that we think have outsized importance and theres no doubt that thats the case in iraq and therefore our Iraq Initiative. Today our expert panel will help us understand these dynamics and more. Before i turn the floor over to moderate with our panelists, i would like to briefly introduce them. Former l rahim is a ambassador to the United States as well as a member of our Iraq Initiative committee. Shes the cofounder and president of the iraq institute. Joey hood were always happy when someone can break loose of their government offices to come here. We know how demanding your jobs are. Hes the Principle Deputy assistant secretary of state of these affairs. He spent much of his career working in the middle east and in particular on the arabian peninsula. Hes served as deputy chief mission in iraq and kuwait as well as principle officer in deran, saudi arabia. Maji shafar is the c. E. O. Of the Crescent Group of companies. Serves on the trusty on the arab form for development and the iraq energy institute. He also sits on the board of fellows of Harvard Medical School and the International Advisory board of the princess Start International and of course, the International Advisory board. The just to show the reach of the work that we do together and crescent, today in singapore we held the third workshop for a project called the role of oil and Gas Companies in the Energy Transition. It was held during the Singapore International energy 2019 as part of their think tank round table sessions. The workshop gathered a number of individuals from a variety of Southeast AsianResearch Institutions and low cal representatives of International Oil and Gas Companies and yielded key insightsisms i wont go into them here but there are issues that majid has pushed us us to look more closely at which is how oil and Gas Companies can take a leading role and a very positive role in an Energy Transition driven by broadening and enriching the energy mix through the companys that produce and market them to face challenges such as Climate Change and and other issues. Really thinking into the future. So with that, ill turn the floor over to abas and our panelist. Before do i that let mesa lute masterfully ho has led our middle east programs. Stephanie ali who has been instrumental in working with abas on the set of work around iraq. O over to you, abas. Abbas good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here. I direct the Iraq Initiative. Thank you, fred for these wonderful introductory remarks. And we are honored to have an allstar panel today. And you know,s the it takes that kind of an allstar panel to talk about iraq and the complexities of this country. So without any introductions, we will have a discussion a little bit from this stage and then open the floor for the audience for questions, im sure, everyone has many questions. Indulge thesewill questions and will answer and we will we will do our best to decide or demystify what goes on in iraq. I we really have to recognize everybody in the room. All of you are our friends and people who help us a lot with your presence, with your ideas. But i would be remiss if i do not recognize my good friend and the Advisory Committee member for the Iraqi Initiative dr. Astrabadi. He flew from indiana to join us for this event. Thank you, sir. And again, the ambassadors and the friends all of you are welcome here. And thank you for being here. So let me go with the rule of ladies first. Rahim. To ambassador ambassador, youve seen these events unfold and you are one of the people who have been in this town and elsewhere very informative and contributive to the debate. How do you see the trajectory of these these protests, their context, regional and international, and where do you think they are going in terms of their influence on the political scene in iraq, the government future, possible changes, or are we going to have another wave of protests that will go home and then we will relive this once again . Hopefully not. But im interested to know where you see the future. Yes, lots of question. First of all, lets establish that we are at a crucial and possibly turning point in iraqs political development. Theres no question. I think from october 1st, the protests have created a new narrative, a new scenario and projected a new vision for iraq that we havent had. I wont say since 2003, we havent had for decades. The protests started, of course, as a demand of services, of jobs, and so on. But what was interesting is that as they progressed and as violence began to be practiced against the protestors, the demands changed. And then they became a demand for, you know, Holding People to account for corruption, a demand for resignation and so on. And then, the final thing was a demand for a wholesale change in the political system. So we really are now at the int where theres a direct ideological confrontation between protestors and between the Political Class that has vested interest, the protestors want complete change in all the principles, the system of governance that weve had, the electoral law, the constitution, elections and and and a whole mass of institutions and documents that were, in fact, at the basis of the state after 2003. They want an overhaul of all of this. Die et, an overhaul is metrically opposed to the die metrically opposed to the Political Partys that have become sbreveraged in iraq. Ideological not only physically ut ideologically we have had attempts. And weve had attempts against e Prime Minister and the majeria, there have been attempts to say, ok, we will reform. We will do the things that the protestors are asking for. But so far theres no indication from the establishment that they really intend to go through this wholesale change in the political system. And therefore if we dont have a breakthrough in this confrontation, i dont see where the impasse and i think if the institutions of government and if the Political Class dont respond, were going to have a continuation of the protests, and my concern is that theyre going become more violent partly because there are signs now that some of the protestors are so fed up that theyre willing to go into armed conflict. But even more serious and more eminent in my view is that there may be a confrontation among political armed political groups themselves. Weve already seen some settling of scores particularly nonks shiah militias. And this has not been declared publicly. But it has been understood on the street and in political circles that there are these. Forts or or actions and i think thats the most dangerous thing that can emerge that you have rival militias going against each other under the cover of the protests that really trying to gain the upper hand in a situation of chaos. Thank you. We will go back to some of these impacts in our conversations, and i would like to turn to joey. Last time we sat together in the embassy in baghdad, we had that beautiful, you know, outside seating and, you know, baghdad was looking more peaceful. That was in may 2019. And then i went back to baghdad n september and october. Actually i witnessed the first week of the protest. And i visited the ambassador. And we were talking about how things were looking better. There were two forums in baghdad in september. Both of them were talking about the economy and energy, and like what used to be normally conferences were about security and all of the other things, the green zone was open and you could drive through. And it wasnt like youre driving through the tunnels with the t wall. And all of a sudden, something one thing led to another and the volume cainor and things changed. And i was thinking would by able to get out of the airplane before they take it over . My thing is from the American Point of view, iraq has provided time and again so many assistance, packages to iraq on security and on other aspects. There is some strategic framework agreement. And the the u. S. Was instrumental with the defeat of isis even though the iraqis did all of the heavy lifting and fighting. But it was very important for u. S. And International Communities engagement. The secretary made a statement of support for iraq in general. But my question is where is the United States government now stands in terms of the the protests. The government measures, and also in light of the fact that, you know, the United States must be very careful when the sensitivities of the region are important, probably some people argue that the u. S. Should not publicly give any support for protests or any of that search would not be viewed in different lens. But on the other hand, the u. S. Has is on long tradition of support of of Democratic Change and a reasonable pace hich iraq has been going on an what do you see the u. S. Government or where is the u. S. Government position right now on both of these issues. First of all, thank you for having us here, abbas. Its an honor be with you. And to be amongst so many mentors and friends and once again to say hello to the iraqi viewer who are watching. We are all watching very carefully and closely with whats happening in the country. Were very concerned about it. I think you heard us say that we call for nonviolence for both sides. The right of the protestors to demonstrate respectfully should be respected. And that the demonstrators should also not be violent, not be carrying arms. Because iraq is lucky to be one of those few places in the middle east where people can express their views loudly in the streets. And as long as they do it peacefully, this is an extremely good way for the government to really know wham its people are thinking and what theyre passionate about. And to adjust course. And we recognize that we have to talk ful about how we about these things because there are people who are ready to recognize us and involve us in all sorts of conspiracy theories. But the reality is that we remain ready to help iraq bailed stable and strong and sovereign government just like weve been doing. We think this is what protestors want. And this is what we want as well. And were ready to work with the government in putting together the any sort of reasonable response to the protestors demands, which we started to hear some of from his excellency the president yesterday. We would be interested to know what kind of timeline hes thinking about. We would be interested to know how we can be of assistance through the International Organizations or directly or bilaterally. Were ready to help. Thank you. Majid, you represent a sector thats the most important sector in iraq because its not all them at least the, you know, numbers go from 85 to 95 percentage of the iraqis where the revenue is coming from. The Petroleum Industry and this cannot really stand without the support and participation of International Corporations that work in iraq. And that contribute to the iraqi economy. There are also other businesses and energy like the ones who will deal with electricity and other projects that iraq is trying to accomplish and also, the industries. Now, stability is very important for the work of these organizations and for your companies and corporations. You are just one of those and you take a importantn important part of the iraqi industry there. There is also the ability not only for the International Corporations, even things like the sports events, you know, the Iraqi National team was supposed to play in bazra and then now i think its moved to another city or probably out of the country. So this is really, stability is very important. How do you think the international business, whether they are investors or corporations who work in iraq on the field, view this and what are their sensitivities, their apprehension, maybe, or their fear also around the risks that can be coming out of this practice stability and also to the continuation of the government . Thank you. So, thank you for the easiest question so far. I am never going to do easy questions. To talk about, you know, iraq taking whats below the ground and getting it up rather than unfortunately those who are above the ground being put into it and i hope and pray that iraq achieves more of the former and less of the latter. So the Energy Potential for iraq is huge. The proven reserves are 140 billion of oil and that number i believe is well below the reality. The exploration is being done, its still very much in its infancy, the industry there, despite the fact that were in the 21st century and despite all the challenges iraq is now achieving five Million Barrels a day, half a Million Barrels a day from the kurdistan region. Really, other than the United States, its been the big growth of Global Oil Production and certainly the Fastest Growing in opec, and thats despite lack of legislation, the war on isis, the internal political wrangling over revenue sharing, the political infrastructure, all of those challenges achieved such incredible growth of main of production. And it can sort out the necessary things, what is really possible. I think we as a company, were certainly very committed to iraq, never stopped producing in the kurdistan region. We were awarded three more blocks with the federal government, including the difficult area which has been liberated from isis, but we feel able to work there. And its really about Service Delivery and thats one of the big asks of the demonstrators, also. I think that jobs is key and the fact that growth has been insufficient not only for iraq, but around the world youre seeing this, because of insufficient growth and major since 2003 particularly in electricity, and clean water in the south was a big issue, especially in basra. And it is a shame that despite such amazing resources that hasnt been achieved yet. A lot of work is underway to try and, you know, achieve better delivery of these basic services, but the political system also needs to get together and take some Strategic Decisions and some political decisions. I think that one of the things thats been holding back the progress in the oil and gas sector is there isnt still this agreement in the constitution, which is revenue sharing basically for us as a population. There was an attempt years ago to package all the legislation in together. It was unfortunately failed, probably was too big an ask. Probably makes more sense, first, how are you going to share the pie and then after that, everybody has an interest in growing the pie. Right. And thats more on the investment laws. So theres a lot of work that still needs to be done, but no doubt iraq has Great Potential in this sector. Let me follow up on this and one of the issues that you have to deal with as International Corporations and the oil sector and in the petroleum sector, is this lack of legislation that can make things easier for iraqis and also for their international partners. And you are sort of steady and closely following the iraqi legislative system. Wh