Iraq’s Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani is in the United States with the hope of convincing American companies to invest in Iraq. No investment agreements have been announced yet, but his delegation and the Baker Institute for Public Policy, a think tank based at Rice University, signed a memorandum of cooperation on Monday.
Hamid Khalaf, executive director of higher committee for education development in Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s office, told Rudaw on Friday that the deal will help students on a government scholarship who want to pursue their studies at the Baker Institute.
The Iraqi government has an initiative to send 5,000 students abroad to complete four-year Bachelor degrees on fully-funded scholarships.
Khalaf said that signing the deal was a goal of his trip to the US.
“The purpose of my visit is to sign a memorandum of cooperation with the University of Rice, one of the prestigious universities in the world, as well as the Baker Institute for energy policy,” he said.
The deal will help Iraqi students “be armed with the latest technology in the energy sector,” he added.
The Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas has a Center for Energy Studies.
Kurdistan Region’s students are covered by the scholarship program as well and students can use it to study at schools around the world.
“American universities have a good share of that scholarship program,” said Khalaf.
When Sudani visited the US in April, he met with a delegation from the Baker Institute in Houston. “The meeting focused on exploring cooperation mechanisms in conducting studies, training, human development, and staff qualification, as well as collaborating on studies concerning the oil market,” Iraqi state media cited a statement from Sudani’s office as saying at the time.
Diyar Kurda contributed to this article.
