"Iraq is open for business," says Maurey Bond.

He should know. He's been there since February.

The 31-year-old Lexington native and University of Kentucky graduate is general manager of the Iraqi Airways International Business Center near the Baghdad International Airport.

The center is in an economic zone that also has a convention center, a 100-room hotel, an eight-story office building and other facilities.

Bond says in an e-mail that Iraq is undergoing an "extraordinary transformation." Baghdad, a city of 7 million, is growing economically and rebuilding its infrastructure. The projects are creating work for American companies that might need it in the current soft economy.

Bond wants Kentuckians to know he is there and can help them get their feet on the ground in a country that might seem strange to them. He went to Iraq in February as business development director for the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and moved to his current position in September.

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