Governor of Anbar, Qasim Abid Muhammad Hammadi Al Fahadawi, accepted the award from editor Courtney Fingar on behalf of the province. The ceremony, which took place during a luncheon at the Radisson SAS Bosphorous hotel, was attended by government officials, bankers, corporate executives, investors and business services advisers from Iraq, Turkey, the US, UK, Korea and other countries.

Prior to the governor receiving the award, Paul Hinks, CEO of Symbion Power LLC, a US-based engineering and electrical infrastructure construction company with offices in Baghdad, Basra and Erbil, took the floor and told of his on-the-ground experiences working in Iraq and his belief in the country's long-term investment potential. Under US government contracts, Symbion completed nine electrification projects in Iraq valued at $260m, including the construction of transmission lines across Anbar during the height of the conflict between US forces and insurgents.