AUGUST 2008: AROUND THE STATE
PHOTO BY TIM BULLARD
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OREGON MEET IRAQI KURDISTAN
IN 2005, OREGON SEN. JASON ATKINSON created the nation’s
first state-to-state business exchange program with Iraqi
Kurdistan — the semi-autonomous state in the northern
part of Iraq. The 37-year-old Central Point Republican —
he was elected to the House in 1998 and the Senate in 2000
— first became interested in the region when he majored
in Middle Eastern history and political science in college.
Trade missions he took to Egypt and Jordan after being elected
made him realize that relationships between states and
countries could be about more than diplomacy or altruism
— they could also be about economic ties.
To create those, he says, Oregonians and the Kurds need to get
to know each other. This spring Atkinson took a handful of
politicians and members of Oregon’s business community
for a visit. Iraqi Kurdistan suffered decades of brutality and
genocide at the hands of Saddam Hussein and its economy is just
beginning to rebound. Atkinson runs his own strategic
consultancy firm and describes the latest trip as a
“snapshot in time of an emerging economic market”
for the people who went. He’s particularly focused on the
rebirth of two industries that Oregon knows well: agriculture
and forestry.
What was
your first impression when you visited? I’m a lot
taller than a lot of folks over there.
What were
you able to accomplish on the most recent trip? I think
I was able to show everyone the infrastructure needs in terms
of ag and forest and medicine — just the fundamentals of
what’s needed for small business.
What
parallels have you found between the two states?
There’s a saying there: There’s no friend like the
mountains. When you get up by the border it looks just like the
Cascades. But you know, Saddam napalmed the forests so people
couldn’t hide from the genocide. If you’re looking
at the mountains, you think, “That’s where trees
go,” and then you think, “That’s something
Oregon can help with: reforestation.”
What’s impressed
you about the business community over there? When they
privatized the banking system. That’s such a huge leap
forward. And the fact that there’s private property.
Those are part of the backbone that makes our [economic] system
work. And the Kurds are really building upon those
fundamentals. Business is starting to grow. They privatized
higher education, which means women are going to school.
How do
you define the success of a program like this? Success
is in the relationships. It’s not formal; it’s not
state-to-state; it’s not business-to-business. It’s
“How’s your wife? How’s your house and the
kids?” The first time I was there I was doing meetings.
The last time the prime minister was asking about my son. Those
are the relationships that will outlast elections. If I bring a
group of Kurds to Oregon, there’s a good chance the
people I bring will someday be running their country. The
people I bring to Kurdistan from Oregon may end up in
Washington, D.C., someday. These are good relationships to
have. It’s really a long-term
approach.
ABRAHAM HYATT
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