The State News: MSU Alumnus Wants Michigan Business in Iraq

The State News

Author: Ian Kullgren

An MSU alumnus turned high-level Iraqi official visited campus Saturday, personally extending an invitation to Michigan businesses to profit from Iraq’s postwar reconstruction efforts.

Sami Al-Araji, a 1967 graduate and now the chairman of the Republic of Iraq National Investment Commission, addressed a small audience of Michigan business leaders at Kellogg Center Saturday afternoon, calling for the creation of a Michigan delegation of businesses to help rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure.

The delegation’s first project and major focus would be a $5.5 billion to $6 billion construction project that would create 100,000 housing units in the country, housing around 600,000 people, Al-Araji said.

The opportunity would create jobs on both sides of the aisle, Al-Araji said, benefitting Michigan manufacturing companies while boosting Iraqi businesses.

“We feel that we can benefit from whatever capabilities (are) available and, at the same time, benefit the state of Michigan,” Al-Araji said. “I think the state of Michigan has a lot to offer.”

Al-Araji graduated from MSU with a mechanical engineering degree and then acquired a master’s degree at the University of Connecticut before returning to MSU to get a doctorate in 1973.

Al-Araji said he appreciated the friendly, interactive atmosphere of his engineering classes at MSU.

“I had my formative years here,” he said. “Michigan State University has always been part of my makeup — part of my soul.”

After graduating, Al-Araji worked at a Consumers Energy plant in Michigan from 1974-75 before returning to Iraq — soon after Al-Araji’s arrival, Saddam Hussein became head of state in 1979.

Al-Araji did engineering work for the government, continuing to rise through the ranks to his current minister position after Saddam’s fall in 2003.

James Beck, a retired mechanical engineering professor and Al-Araji’s doctoral thesis adviser, said he remembers Al-Araji as an outgoing youth who was active in foreign student organizations.
Beck said he recalls one especially telling memory: when Al-Araji introduced him to a prominent dean he had befriended.

“That was the kind of guy he was: very confident, very outgoing — a definite leader,” Beck said. “He’s a fantastically loyal person; he doesn’t forget what people have done for him.”

Al-Araji said he returned to harness Michigan’s strong manufacturing background, planning to use both small- and large-scale operations to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure while the oil industry expands to sustain the country.

“We think that very few people will be able to compete with (Michigan businesses),” Al-Araji said.

The effort is being coordinated by the Prima Civitas Foundation, an East Lansing-based community and economic development foundation created by MSU.

Deanna Richeson, managing director of Gov. Rick Snyder’s export office, said the effort is consistent with President Barack Obama’s call to increase job growth by doubling exports in the next five years. She said increasing exports is an important role in revitalizing Michigan’s economy.

The domestic demand for manufactured services is lower than in foreign markets, leading to overseas opportunities for Michigan businesses, she said.

“Michigan companies need to learn how to successfully penetrate those markets,” she said.

Prima Civitas plans to hold a forum on June 13 to begin forming the business delegation and to plan a group visit to Iraq later this year.

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L-R: Tremaine Phillips, Dr. Al-Araji & Steven Webster