Chaldean American Chamber Revives Plan for Iraq Satellite Location

Photo by Michael Sarafa

The Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and affiliate Chaldean Community Foundation plan to take economic development and supportive services back to Iraq to help minority groups victimized by ISIS rebuild.

The joint Chaldean American organization is reviving a plan to set up a satellite location in Iraq that was tabled in early 2020 after Iranian attacks on U.S. bases in the Middle East. It has applied for approval from the national and regional governments in the country to open a site in the northern part of the country as soon as January.

“Without an existence for us in Iraq, we’ll lose our language, our history, our culture, our identity. So we must preserve what we have left,” said Martin Manna, president of the chamber and foundation.

The Chaldean chamber and foundation “are seeing if we can create a secure environment in their ancestral land so that those who have left may consider returning and to support those who have chosen to stay,” he said.

The chamber and foundation have created a microfund to provide support to businesses in that region. They have set a goal to raise $1 million.

– Crain’s Detroit Business