Executive Summary

Executive Summary

Strategic planning as a program implemented widely by countries and organizations. The practiced experiences in this field in their dealing with the factors and environmental, local and international changes proved the effect of this program.

This is related to the economy developments of the countries in one hand and the global economy development in the other hand. It is also related of what is imposed by the opening of national economy towards the international economy.

In this regard, the Ministry of Planning made the first step of preparing (strategic planning for developing Kurdistan Region for the years 2012 – 2016) so as to be a basic and a general guidance for the efforts that took by (governmental and nongovernmental) parties to invest all the achievements that obtained in the past few years in all the fields.

The goal is to obtain the revitalization and development and for the purpose of settling the basis of continuous development.

In preparing this strategic plan, we relied on many resources in formal and informal documents (local, region and internationally) such as: international agreement document, the objects of developing the third millennium, international indicators those which issued in the UN organizations.

Alongside the local documents such as: Federal Constitution of Republic of Iraq, Constitution Draft of Kurdistan Region, The Plan of National Development (Ministry of Planning of Union Government), National Strategy for Reducing Poverty and many other national data and statistics.

First: Current and Future Challenges in front of the Developments:

Based on the analyzing of economic factors with all its various sectors and social aspects, many current and future challenges have been selected. This strategic plan tries to include the most important challenges as the following:

1. 1.       Rate of shortcomings in the basis of economic sectors in making all the local products shows the relation of the region economy to the outside world, like a natural result for shortage of participating of these sectors especially the sector of producing materials in making all the local products that provides only (%11). While according to the (2008) data’s the distribution activities reached (%65) and the service activities reached (%24). 

2.       The general expenditures are mostly for the operating expenditures on the expense of investment expenditures; this is led to expanding and activating general demand in the local market which is related to the weakness of financial managing. The financial system of the government needs a basic and important reform.

3.      Weakness of region’s economy in making work opportunity led to unemployment phenomenon which is related to the low rate of investment expenditures in the average of general expenditure for a part of population those who can work (age of working).

1. 4.       Increasing growth of population in Kurdistan Region considered as a basic challenge resulted in increasing the growth rate of birth. This needs the increase of operating expenditure for covering the needs of the used groups in the region economy.

5. Weakness of competition capability in the region in producing vegetable (botanical) and animal products which is led to the weakness of food security.
6. Deficiency of investment size (local and foreign) in electricity power resulted in not providing public demand which is increased step by step. Later led to the increasing amount of incoming electricity power outside the region.
7. Lack of interesting about developing the education programs in the universities and higher education grades and being not in parallel with the scientific developments.
8. Lack of school numbers for all the education levels led to the weakness of learning opportunity. It is considered as a basic challenge in front of the education sector and its revitalizations.
9. The demographic changes between the areas such as the immigration of the rural residence to the urban areas considered as an obstacle in front of the health policies. The result of that is related of non-having a clear and reliable policy in inhabitants in the region. The growth rate of the population increases the demand of health services. 
10. The continuously dualism phenomenon in developing the region such as interesting about some particular areas especially the big cities which most economic activities and the infrastructure is intensively provided in one hand, in the other hand there are a lot of areas which is developed less than the places mentioned above, especially the districts, sub-districts and the rural areas.
11. The absence of particular clear view of the private sector role in forming the economic structure and creating the construction centers, with the deficiency of a lot of laws that is related to this subject in activating the private sector in economic activities. This is also limited this sector in increasing its ability and decreased the competition process.
12. Without developing the government abilities in every aspect and in every position and geographical areas, we cannot achieve the objects of the strategic developing plan.

Second: The Basic Strategic Objects of this Plan.

Based on analyzing the social and economic circumstances of the region, this plan holds a lot of strategic objects for developing the economic and social sectors of the region.

The current and future obstacles determined which are expected to face the development process for the next five years. Generally, this plan includes several strategic important goals like:

·         Strengthening the Economic development.

·         Creating competition abilities in the levels of sectors and totals.

·         Providing the economic needs and obtaining the necessary reform in providing work opportunities. 

·         Renewing and developing the financial services.

·         Achieving the food security.

·         Strengthening social protection and reaching the high levels of (health and education)

·         Developing the infrastructure and enabling human capacities.

·         Developing the ability of exporting the industrial products and the main services for the economic sectors.

·         Strengthening and developing the private sector.

These strategic objects distributed in (14) main points. Many indicators in the quantity and quality of these objects derived. The most important indicators are shown in the following points:

1. 1.      Comprehensive Economic Development:

·         Increasing the growth of national income by (%7) as an average for annual development during the time of the plan.

·         Increasing the total growth of local products by (%8) as an average. This should be in parallel with the rate of annual growth in each year of this plan. It should be at least in the agricultural sector (%15), tourism sector (%7) and changeable industrial sector (%5). 

·         Increasing the percent rate (%) of (local and foreign) investment comparing with the economy of the (total of the local annual products) to reach (%20) in the next five years during the plan.

·         Providing basic needs to start exporting (local service, products and re-exporting) to be increased step by step to reach (%2) in the first year of implementing the plan and to reach (%10) at the last year of the plan in (2016).

2.      Financial Sector

·         Increasing the expenditure of investment in the grand total of the expenditures to reach (%50) of the budget of (2016). This can be done by decreasing the non-basic operation expenditures.

·         Joining drafting of the governmental investment budget plan with the development process. This should rely on the economic basis in making decision of the investment budget projects (preparing economic benefit research, cost/ advantage indicators … etc.) this will start at the beginning of (2012).

3.      Population, Manpower and Operating:

·         Decreasing the rate of unemployment from (%14) to (%4) by the end of (2016).

·         Limiting the rate of immigration to city centers and rehabilitating (%5) of those who immigrated from villages to cities.

·         Matching the education and practice system in manpower and scientific levels at the annual rate of (%15) for the requirement of (governmental and private sector) market.

4.       Agricultural Sector and Water Resources:

·         Obtaining an annual extra rate (%10) in using the agricultural lands and providing the agricultural protection at the annual rate of (%80) of the land problems such as desertification and damaging during five years of the plan. Increasing the size of storing water by (%5) for the water of those rivers which goes through Kurdistan Region.

·         Increasing the annual rate of vegetable (botanical) products by (%10), animal products by (%5). Increasing the rate of products of animals like (red meat, white meat, milk and egg) by (%10) of the annual rate.

5.      Industrial Sector:

·         Re-operating the industrial companies of public sector (governmental sector) according to economic benefits and making the other companies to become private companies during five years.

·         Increasing the competition ability of industrial sector companies starting by (%10) of the first year of implementing the plan by improving the production levels, productivity and focusing on the quality of the products.

6.     Power Sector:

·         Obtaining all the region needs in petroleum products and natural gas in five years.

·         Increasing the annual share of each citizen in electricity power to reach 1.2 kilowatt during five years.

·         Providing the electricity power reserves to face increase demand in the future. The average annual growth rate expected to be around (%21) and the annual growth rate expected to be around (%35) to reach 5000 megawatt. 

7.   Education

·         Enabling all children at age 6 years covered by compulsory education to join school and %99 of them should complete the main stage during 5 years.

·         Achieve a rate of %60 of students, those who obtain preparatory certificate during 5 years.

·         Reducing the rate of illiteracy at least for %10 annually up to achieve literacy at the rate %80 during 5 years.

·         Raising the coverage rate for student in higher education to more than %25 during 5 years.

8.      Health Sector

·         Increasing the number of doctors per ten thousand people for %15 or more annually.

·         Increasing the number of family per ten thousand people for %15 or more annually.

·         Reducing the infant’s mortality rate under the age of five years of 40 deaths per 1000 live birth by survey of the third multi indicator (MICS3) to 22 deaths per 1000 live birth during 5 years.

9.   Enabling Women

·         Achieving an equal level of education’s opportunity between the males and females of all education stages before the university stage during 5 years.

·         Increasing women’s contribution to economic activities at the annual rate of %5.

·         Reform of system and method of education during the first two years of the plan which gives the opportunity to change the society’s attitude towards violence against women and to feel responsible towards them. Including human rights program to comprise the concept of equality and providing equal opportunity. That could be done by coordination between the related parties during 5 years.

10. Youths

·         Targeting young people in a special way in reducing the unemployment rate by %10 annually with focusing on the rural areas, for both sexes.

·         Increasing the number of youth centers to reach %25 during five years and in all provinces. 

11. Category of Fragile Communal

·         Processing the effect and burdens that are caused by the weakness of the government policies. Interesting about a slice of vulnerable group of widows and orphans, the disabled and others and work to modify these policies within one year.

·         Issuing a system and an effective legal legislation or current modification of the social assistance within the first two years of the plan.

·         Commitment in implementing the poverty reduction strategy that has been settled, and achieving the possible goals during 5 years.

12. Caring about Families of the Martyrs and Anfals

·         Promoting various diverse packages of services provided to families of martyrs and victims of genocide by %10 annually for medical care and treatment outside the region. Coverage of the medical and health needs within the region in full (%100) within 5 years.

·         Increasing granted plots/ lands and residential units by %20 annually.

·         Increase the covered number of education services and training and qualifying courses by %10 annually.

13. Spatial Development:

·         Allocating at least %50 of the government investment budget annually to develop services and the infrastructure in the main district, county, rural areas. Proportion to population sizes of these human settlements and the degree of its deprivation in the previous periods and its specifications.

·         Preparing or updating the perfection master plans in the provinces to regulate the uses of the land.

·         Choosing 10 villages per year according to scientific bases to be appropriate with the population sizes to provide the services and infrastructure enterprises. 

14. Environmental Sustainability

·         Increasing the distribution of potable water services with the safe distribution networks by %10 annually for disadvantaged areas and neighborhoods (especially in rural areas).

·         Reducing the incidence of water-borne diseases by %15 annually by improving the sources.

·         Reducing pollution of water sources by industrial waste water %15 annually.

·         Increasing in safe disposal of hazardous and radioactive waste (medical and pharmaceutical, in particular) by %15 annually.

·         Reducing air pollution to the limits of international standards within two years, and continue to abide by those standards.

15. Good Management/ Governance:

·         Issuing a set of laws for financial management, transparency and good governance for the region. Modifying the labor law or issuing a new law and canceling the old one.

·         Commitment of application of contract law instruction in force tenders by %100 and with high level of transparency.

·         Issuing special instructions for establishment of general civil service council in the region. Activating its role for developing governmental work and treatment of the constraint and problems of the civil services in a scientific and objective way to harmonize with the reality and nature of government administrative apparatus. Especially the phenomenon of disguised unemployment in government institutions and the swelling numbers of employees.

·         Preparing a national strategy for training during the first year of implementation of this plan, and providing a technical and financial support which proposed by the Ministry of Planning to increase the capacity of its training institute to expand its training services to all government employees.  

16. Expanding the Role and Participation of Private Sector

·         Increasing the proportion of private sector in generation of gross domestic product and in the accumulation of stable reserve capital through the mobilization investment. Especially in the sector of agriculture, industry and tourism. 

·         Promoting decentralization in the management of facilities of development and private sector involvement in the development of plans and program at the provincial and municipal council of the districts and areas. In addition of encouraging it to enter projects in the development of the provinces that represent good investment opportunities.

·         Adopting a national employment policy during the first year of implementation of the plan. The goal of the private sector is to provide jobs and strengthening for continual growth. 

Third: The priorities and development priorities of the plan:

In order to achieve the strategic goals which adopted by a range of priorities and priorities in the distribution of investments, the plan relied on social and economic activities and sectors, as explained in the following points:

1.      Estimate required investment secured by about (39) trillion Iraqi dinars, equivalent to (32) billion dollars over the five-years of the plan. Financed by (17) billion dollars from the federal budget on the basis of the proportion (%17) of the total allocations of the national development plan. This is from the total allocations of the federal budget (100) billion dollars for five years.

The remaining funds goes to the investment of private sector (local and foreign) and what the friendly countries present in donor support for development programs in the region.

In coordination with the federal government which is estimated by about (15) billion dollars for five years of the plan. Later amount has been estimated on the basis that the rate of annual investment (non-government) in the region reached during the past four years (2006-2011) more than (3) billion dollars annually.

Thus, the contribution of public and private sector in the total investment for development in the region represented 53%) and 47%) respectively.  

2.      Investment priorities have been distributed to give high priority to public services (municipal services) tourism and cultural sector.

The electricity sector got advanced primacy as an essential structure anchor to achieve any development and the development of productive and service sectors as well as for the welfare of the population.

Constructing, building and housing sector was given the priority considering it as one of the key sectors in providing and developing of the infrastructure of roads, bridges, buildings, and residential units.

These structures with large contribution in the development of other sectors in the economy and provide prerequisites for the advancement of various community services. 

Creating of human got an appropriate priority because human is the mean and propose of development.

Any physical development cannot be achieved without ensuring competent human resources capable of implementation and management, by focusing on education sector.

The agriculture and water resources sectors got advanced priority as an important source which have promising potential to contribute to the diversification of the economy and ensure food security for the region, as well as the role of this sector in creating contribute work opportunities actively to the reduction of unemployment and poverty level and stability of the productive manpower in the countryside, and not to migrate to urban areas.

Based on all foregoing’s, table (1) shows the distribution of the expected investments of the plan for years (2012-2016).                        

3.      Securing investment alone is not enough to achieve the goals, despite being the cornerstone of any development process.

However it must be supported in the financial fields by development of government financial management and reviewing the method of preparing the general budget in the field of institution development and administration and legal reform.

Also in the field of monitoring system and follow –up of the plan, where the plan focused on these aspects and proposed a number of indicators that are consistent with the investment policy with the strategic, sector, spatial and social goals of the plan.      

4.      The plan also proposed a series of institutional reforms at the sector level and emphasized on creating human and technical capacities. Particularly the importance of developing education in its different levels.

In addition to the employment of modern technology and the emphasis on economic projects which adopted in the plan and the subject of good governance, including the principle of the supremacy of law, accountability, transparency, justice, inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, as well as updating the public sector in accordance with this principles and foundations.    

The path that the plan adopted it in achieving its strategic goals also call to the employment of modern technologies, knowledge sides and experience to take advantage of the most prominent regional and international expansion in the knowledge economy and employee to serve the goals of the strateg