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Iraq hopes for a better future. It has the potential for it, and plenty of raw materials and bright minds. Eighteen of them were invited by the initiative „Irak Horizonte 2015“ to get to know the secret of “Made in Germany” at German companies.

Ahmed Fadel has just gone through three impressive months. He learned the German language, travelled to Germany and worked at a German company. “I am here to help myself and my country. For that, you need the right incentive, and that is what Irak-Horizonte: Heute säen, morgen ernten offers,” says Fadel. He is one of 18 young Iraqi academics who were invited by the initiative to get to know the German language and German industry.

After a three-week intensive language course at the Goethe-Institut Amman the participants travelled to Germany in mid-June. For one month, they were able to intensify their German skills at the Goethe-Institut Schwäbisch Hall and to find out something about Germany’s culture and history during numerous outings before beginning multi-week internships at commercial enterprises all over Germany. In late July, they were guests in Berlin.


At a large discussion round at the Haus der Deutschen Wirtschaft, the participants shared their experiences and visions for the future with the organizers and involved companies. The young Iraqis seemed particularly impressed by three things in Germany: the punctuality with which life and work are organized in the Federal Republic, the respect that the people have for one another and how fast Germany was able to rise to one of the world’s leading industrial nations so quickly after the Second World War. That gives them hope. “For me, the rapid reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War is a model for the reconstruction of my country,” according to 19-year-old Ausama al-Safi. He comes from Baghdad and is currently studying mechatronics in Amman, Jordan. He considers Iraq’s reconstruction the most important mission for the participants in Irak Horizonte. “After our return, we have a tough job ahead of us. I will do my best to continue learning the German language and make an effort to maintain and intensify my contacts with Germany.” For direct contacts are important in Iraq.

Irak Horizonte 2015, initiated by the Goethe-Institut, the Foreign Office, the Federation of German Industry and the German Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, therefore aims to create personal relationships between German and Iraqi commercial enterprises and academics. Both sides can profit from these bilateral relations: Iraq with its large oil reserves and great need for investments in many sectors of industry offers great potential. Yet, to make use of this, more is needed than short-term investments. “There is no other way into the future than that based on respect and partnership. In Iraq, the days of the sword and over-enthusiasm are over. Now we enter the times of education and objective outlooks,” says Ahmed Fadel. He will remain in Germany for one more month before he and his 17 colleagues return to Iraq to sow what can be reaped tomorrow.