Al Safi Danone Iraq will receive around $18m in investment from World Bank Group member IFC to expand its dairy operations to enhance domestic food security.
This is a part of World Bank Group's strategy to encourage South-South investments, while supporting the diversification of Iraq's economy and improved agricultural production to boost growth.
The investment will be used to increase production of dairy products at its greenfield dairy processing facility in the Kurdistan region to meet increasing demand.
This is expected to create over 250 new jobs in the next two years, while improving food distribution standards and reducing the nation's reliance on imported dairy products.
Al Safi Danone GCC, Iraq and Levant general manager George Abi Najem said: "This investment will help us establish a modern dairy enterprise with the latest processing and packaging equipment and train our employees to international standards.
"Thanks to this technology, the local market will enjoy higher quality dairy products at affordable prices. Al Safi Danone's new factory in northern Iraq is just the first sign of the group's commitment to Iraq, one of the most important markets in the region, despite its challenges."
With a target production capacity of around 59,000 tonnes annually, the Kurdistan plant focuses initially on the production of spoonable and drinkable yogurt products, as well as cheese and UHT milk.
