How Strange Iraqi Market Is

It can be said that Cao Van Thuy, general director of Ha Noi Sundries Export-Import Company is one of Vietnamese clearly knows about Iraq, a remote and mysterious country in Middle East area because he has had more than 20 tours around the country. In front of threshold of New Year 2008, especially after recent visit of Abdul Falah Hassan Al-Sudani, Iraq Minister of Trade to Vietnam, Mr Thuy shared his deep memories on the foreign country with Forum of Edition for incoming New Year. 

 

My first visit to Iraq country was in June of 2000. At that time, I thought this was a stunted desert country. However, the feeling was changed when I came to Iraq's Baghdad capital from Gioocdani's Aman capital with a 1,000-kilometre distance. Tigre River lies next to verdant and fertility land regions. It was always very sunny. Iraqi people, similar to Vietnamese, have experienced an eight-year war with Iran and a gulf war with Latin American. They did not know we are Japanese or Chinese, but when we said to be Vietnamese, they became more friendly and open.           

I realized that Iraqi has a "waiting" habit at all time in everywhere, such as going shopping or at airports. Even, they took some hours in waiting to solve a work in some minutes only. This habit was also seen in their daily lives. For example in eating habit, in Iraq it took us two hours to wait a roasted fish dish which we liked very much. This is a difficult work for impatient people. Iraqi indirectly roasted 3-kg carps which had taken from Tigre river by putting them on a position of 50 centimetres from the fire. Then they soak them with spices and directly roasted again. It was wonderful to eat roasted fishes in Iraq.           

I do not know who was the first Vietnamese penetrated into the Iraqi market, but there is Arab’s taxi brand to transport Vietnamese in Gioocdani. We only need to call a phone before the plane makes landfall there will be people to come to pick us up to Baghdad and Harun Al Rasit hotel (name of head of a religion in “one thousand and one nights” where most of Vietnamese are living. On the route from Aman to Baghdad with over 1,000 kilometres, we enjoyed Vietnamese songs on cassette in the taxi whose driver is a native person. That was surprised and interesting.

 

The contracts to supply goods into Iraq market often have high value. We have to fiercely compete to sign contracts with Iraqi partners because there were so many goods providers while business methods of Iraqi people are different from our other markets. One time, I discussed to sign a big contract with them. They firstly gave me a contract draft and I asked them for borrowing it to research. I noted ten spots in the contract draft which need to be adjusted in accordance with international rules as well as to balance profits between the two sides. I told them the spots in the next day, they agreed with the two first rules, but right after talking about the fourth rule they refused and decided to not cooperate with us.

 

I would like to tell another example on the oddness of Iraqi market. Another time, we delivered two goods packages including a pencil whittle package and a ventilator one worth US$ 1 million each, but after being delivered to our partners, immediately the packages were given back with the reason of unsafe quality. The imported side said that the pencil whittle batch was checked by the Iraqi assess agency of goods quality. We required a triangular meeting to solve the problem. At the meeting we realised that the imported company and the agency critically argued, even they asked us to go out for their continuous discussion. Then, the imported company said that our pencil whittles were very good but the agency’s staff took a pencil with bad wood to check, so they concluded the low quality of the pencil. On the same day, the ventilator batch was also returned with the reason that ventilators did not work when being checked. We required them for taking back the ventilators to check again, Iraqi marked checked ones to beware of being exchanged. The ventilators worked well when they were checked in Vietnamese Embassy. In the next day, we together with our partners discovered that their sockets were wrong.

 

In general, Iraqi is very friendly and honest to Vietnamese. I remembered a memory that foreigners coming to Iraq have to announce the amount of money they bring into this country, according to regulations of Iraqi government. That time, we took around US$ 60,000 to pay for freight. Last times, when we went to Baghdad with during total length of 500 metres, drivers often have breaks for food snack and drinking water, but this time the taxi driver had no breaks until going to the Vietnamese Embassy. We showed our queries to him and he said that “you take so such money, so I am worry. Now I feel secure”. He made us surprised and happy.

 

Also, I would like to mention to sentiment among Vietnamese in this distant foreign country. I have never felt such warming affection of staff of Vietnamese Embassy and businessmen in other countries like in Iraq. I think that ones behave each other more honest and righteous when they live together in difficult situation with war and poverty. Each time when Vietnamese come to Iraq at any time, night or early morning, staff in the embassy waits to welcome and talk with us. They also do not sleep to say good bye to us when we returned Viet Nam at 3. 4: am. Vietnamese counselors and businessmen in Iraq helped us to complete works from simple thing to big plan.