PM Barzani, US Secretary discuss ‘investment opportunities’ in Kurdistan energy sector

“I welcome the Secretary’s ambitions for growing US investment in the energy sector in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.”

Khrush Najari 2020/10/09 19:04

middle east Kurdistan US Erbil Washington Baghdad Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, on Friday spoke over the phone with the US Secretary of Energy, Dan Brouillette, about investing in the energy sector of the autonomous region, a statement from Barzani’s office said.

The call followed the visit of a senior US State Department official, David Copley, to Erbil earlier this week. In his meeting with Copley, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq Affairs, the Kurdish premier affirmed that diversifying sources of revenue and facilitating foreign investment are among the Kurdistan Regional Government’s top priorities.

For his part, Copley expressed the US willingness to develop trade ties with the Kurdistan Region and to encourage American companies to invest more in the area.

The Kurdish Prime Minister’s conversation with the US Secretary of Energy on Friday, thus, fit into a framework in which both parties have affirmed their shared desire and intent to develop closer economic relations.

Barzani last spoke by phone with Secretary Brouillette in May, while the two officials met in February at the Munich Security Conference.

“I was pleased to speak again to Secretary Brouillette earlier today,” Barzani was quoted as saying in the statement released by his office. “I welcome the Secretary’s ambitions for growing US investment in the energy sector in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.”

Our gas is cheap, abundant and clean.

It can become a major growth sector for Kurdistan and Iraq, creating new jobs, driving our economy and reducing the cost of electricity production on the government’s finances. pic.twitter.com/6V4Z1HhHn6
— Masrour Barzani پابەندین# (@masrour_barzani) October 9, 2020

“Our region presents a range of exciting opportunities for foreign investment, including in areas such as natural gas,” Barzani continued. “This will help grow our region’s economy, and Kurdistan can also be a hub for companies looking to invest elsewhere in Iraq, bringing jobs and growth across the country.”

He “welcomed the ongoing US support and assistance to the Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government of Iraq.”

In recent months, the US has seemed to adopt a more positive stance toward the Kurdistan Region, particularly as compared to the low point in October 2017, when Washington turned a blind eye to Baghdad’s attack, orchestrated by Tehran, on Kurdish forces, following the region’s independence referendum the month before.

Since early this year, as the US-led Coalition against ISIS has consolidated its presence in Iraq, Erbil has emerged as a major base for Coalition forces.

In addition, in the “Strategic Dialogue” that the US has launched with the new government in Baghdad, Washington has pressed Baghdad to resolve its differences with Erbil, particularly the budget dispute, in accord with Iraq’s 2005 constitution.

It has even emerged that Washington might consider Erbil a more reliable partner than Baghdad. Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to close the US embassy in Baghdad and shift America’s diplomatic presence in the country to Erbil, if the Iraqi government did not do more to end attacks on US and Coalition targets.

The announcement raised alarm among Iraqi officials and has not been repeated since, at least not publicly. But it did seem to indicate that Washington was no longer prepared to tie its position in Iraq, uncritically, to the Baghdad government and that if Baghdad did not do its part to maintain the relationship, the US had other options.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie