The Iraqi investment commission is gunning for new laws that will allow foreign companies to own land in the country, it has emerged.

Speaking to Reuters, the chairman of the National Investment Commission Sami al-Araji said that the organisation hopes to have the new laws ratified by September, allowing companies to buy up land to build headquarters and housing for workers.

"The investor has a right to own Iraqi land. The lands open to investment will be administered by the investment commission, without going through the ministries," he said.

He added that while there was much interest in investing in Iraq, which has the third largest oil reserves in the world, the financial crisis has hit investment levels hard.

Iraqi development strategies have also been impinged by the low price of oil as the country has had to make consecutive downward revisions to its budget to compensate for falling oil revenues.

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