Chatham House Iraq Initiative Conference 2024

Date of publication: November 21, 2024

Filip Sommer, Director of the Prague Centre for Middle East Relations (PCMR), participated in the Iraq Initiative Conference 2024 organized by Chatham House, which took place in London on 19-20 November 2024. The conference dealt primarily with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) main issues and challenges, domestically and within the Middle East region.

The conference addressed topics such as the restructuring of the political order in Iraq 20 years after regime change, the transnational conflict and its implications for Iraq’s security, the situation in the political arena ahead of the upcoming national elections in 2025, the state of the political economy of environmental politics in Iraq, and the current state of the Iraqi economy.

Filip Sommer then established several new contacts here, both with organizations dedicated to Iraq based in London but also in Baghdad, Erbil, and the wider Middle East region. These include the London School of Economics (LSE), Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), Amwaj.media, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office UK, and Green Charter. Last but not least, links between the PCMR and Chatham House itself were created.