The streets of the regional capital of Arbil are throbbing, not with the shock waves of car bombs but the roaring of bulldozers, as builders throw up a new generation of high-rise hotels and opulent shopping malls.

"Kurdistan is going to be an alternative to Dubai," boasted Hoshyar Nuri Abbas, an official with the Turkish-Canadian oil company, TTopco, a joint venture between Genel Enerji of Turkey and Addax Petroleum of Canada.

While Iraq's fragile central government has struggled to staunch the daily bloodshed in the war-torn Arab central and south, Kurdistan's once-feuding political parties have agreed to fire off brochures instead of bullets.

Arbil airport welcomes jets from Vienna, Dubai and Istanbul and the region's airline plans to offer flights to London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin.

"It's not an easy task (to attract investors) because we are part of a country that everyone says is a war zone," said Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of international relations in the Kurdistan administration.

Bakir works in an office adorned with pictures of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Massud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government, leaders he credits with bringing stability to the area.