About the IEN – Update February 2021 – Iraqi Economists Network

The IEN is a non-profit, informal organization, with no political affiliation, and is currently in the process of registration as international NGO in Germany.

Since established in 2009, the Iraqi Economists Network (IEN) has been a platform for Iraqi expat and national experts and professionals in economic policy, oil economics, monetary and fiscal policies and sustainable development.

The IEN aims at:

Mobilizing Iraqi experts and professionals in diaspora to promote the transfer of knowledge and expertise through networking and interacting with national counterparts, joint research and capacity development;
Providing consultations and advisory services to the Parliament and the GoI in policy formulation and decision-making in economic reform, sustainable development and democratic governance; and
Promoting awareness of economic and sustainable development challenges and issues among policy makers, particularly MPs, senior GoI executives, political parties, CSOs and the media.

The IEN has 1,088 affiliates and has recently established a Pool of Experts (http://iraqieconomists.net/en/archive/iraqi-experts/), with 17 registered and listed up to now, but more will be listed soon.

The IEN launched its Arabic Website (http://iraqieconomists.net/ar/) in August 2011 while its English Website (http://iraqieconomists.net/en/) is under development. The IEN websites have published, since launched, 1936 posts comprising original articles and research papers in Arabic and 1206 posts in English. Both websites have 38 regular contributing writers and had over 1.3 million visits since September 2019.

Since established, the IEN has been involved in several professional events, including organizing its 1^st Economic Forum in April 2013 in Beirut, organizing six webinars on Iraq’s socioeconomic, public finance and sustainable development issues since October 2020. In collaboration with the GIZ, the IEN organized in October 2019 a Study Tour to the Federal Republic of Germany on Economic Transition and Reform and launching the Joint Initiative to Promote Young Iraqi Economic Researchers in December 2020. Also, since 2019, the IEN established an active WhatsApp Group for dialogue, which has attracted increasing number of qualified Iraqi economists, oil experts and development professionals worldwide as members. Views have been exchanged in live debates on present economic and development issues such as economic reform, monetary policy, fiscal policy, oil policy, trade policy and sustainable development.

Since established, the IEN provided numerous advices and consultations to the Parliament, the GoI and Iraq’s international development partners. Moreover, the IEN contributed to promoting public awareness in economic, fiscal / monetary and development issues via series of articles, interviews and posts.

The IEN in general, and its Pool of Experts members in particular, have extensive working experience and a wide network of contacts with various levels of the GoI, Local Governments, academia, CSOs, the media and Iraq’s international development partners, which make the IEN in excellent position to facilitate and deliver on any economic and development intervention in Iraq.