Saudi investment deal offers one-sided privileges, Iraqi MP warns

Shafaq News – Baghdad

A proposed investment agreement with Saudi Arabia grants sweeping privileges to the Saudi side while sidelining Iraq’s interests, an Iraqi lawmaker warned on Tuesday.

Saud al-Saadi, head of the Huqouq (Rights) Parliamentary Bloc, told Shafaq News that the draft "Iraq–Saudi Arabia Agreement on the Promotion and Protection of Investment" offers Saudi investors broad exemptions and allows legal disputes to be settled in Arab or international courts.

He also cautioned that the deal could give Saudi entities access to strategic Iraqi assets, including land and water, without sufficient oversight. “These issues fall outside the scope of Iraq’s existing Investment Law and the Foreign Investor Protection framework,” he said.

More than 50 lawmakers signed a petition demanding the draft be removed from Parliament’s agenda. A formal request has also been submitted to the Speaker to return the agreement to the government.

The session was reportedly tense, with political blocs sharply divided—primarily over the Saudi investment proposal.