France, Germany to form joint culture institute in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – France and Germany have agreed to establish at least ten joint cultural institutes by 2020, with one located in the Kurdistan Region, a report said on Friday.

The Kurdistan Region's capital of Erbil, along with Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek, and Palermo in Sicily will be the sites of the first four institutes, The Art Newspaper said in a report, citing a German Foreign Office statement.

The Institut Français or the Goethe Institute will appoint directors at the various sites, the staff of which will all be bilingual.

The move will show that "European cooperation in the field of culture can only succeed if we overcome national divides and interlock our institutions closely," Michelle Müntefering, a state secretary for international cultural policy in the German Foreign Office, said to the paper.

In time, more such institutes are planned to be established in other cities in all parts of the world, including Ukraine, Russia, South Sudan, Mongolia, England.

The Art Newspaper said that the agreement for this move is part of the Franco-German "Aachen Treaty," which covers "military cooperation, development aid, education, and cross-border transport links."

The treaty was signed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on Jan. 22. 

Editing by John J. Catherine