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标题：McDonald's will be in Baghdad 'within a year'
作者：TOM MCBRIDE
期刊名称：London Evening Standard
印刷版ISSN：2041-4404
出版年度：2003
卷号：Oct 14, 2003
出版社：Associated Newspaper Ltd.

McDonald's will be in Baghdad 'within a year'

TOM MCBRIDE

THIS time next year the familiar logo of McDonald's could be popping up on the streets of Baghdad, well-placed commercial and banking sources say.

Among the leading contenders for a franchise of the US hamburger chain is the al-Bunnia family, one of Iraq's wealthiest merchant clans. A source close the al-Bunnias said a deal could be struck in a matter of months.

"McDonald's wants to make a decision but they have yet to visit the country," he said on the sidelines of a a high-level conference on Iraqi reconstruction being held in London.

The Bunnia family held licences with Nestl, Danone and United Biscuits before UN sanctions-were introduced in the 1990s. Recently the family has worked as a subcontractor for US constructor Bechtel.

A senior banking source familiar with McDonald's' plans said it would be about 12 months before restaurants began to open. "The management is interested in opening outlets in Iraq and is studying the possibility. But it thinks any such move would be a year away," the banker said.

"Opening restaurants in Iraq would involve a lot of training.

There will be many logistical challenges to cope with as well," the banker added. Even though McDonald's is an emblem of US cultural expansion and commercial might, the source close to al-Bunnia claimed the American chain's products would go down well with Iraqis.

Brushing aside intensifying anti-American feeling in the country, he said: "McDonald's will be very popular. It is fashionable." It has 34 restaurants in neighbouring Kuwait.

THE US Government should not rush to introduce private enterprise into Iraq, Lord Prior, chairman of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, told a conference on Iraq in London today.

Prior also expressed concerns that Britain might not get a fair share of Iraqi contracts. He will tell British Government officials tomorrow that aid to Iraq should be tied to British contracts.