Sri Lanka Honorary Consulate opens in Kurdistan Region
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Republic of Sri Lanka on Tuesday opened its Honorary Consulate in the Kurdistan Regions, becoming the 38th foreign representative office in the region.
The Head of the Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) in the Kurdistan Region, Falah Mustafa Bakir, received Ahmed Jalaluddin Mustafa, the Consul of Sri Lanka in Erbil.
Bakir expressed the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) readiness to develop relations between both countries on various fronts, according to the DFR press office.
Mustafa highlighted the desire of the Sri Lankan government to foster its relations with the Kurdistan Region, namely in the fields of education, agriculture, business, and tourism.
Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in the world for which Iraqi citizens can receive a visa on arrival, making it one of the top tourist destinations for people in the Kurdistan Region.
The office was opened despite recent measures taken against the Kurdistan Region by the Federal Government of Iraq, which includes an international flight ban and the overtaking of international border crossings.
The DFR was established in 2007. Since then, the number of the foreign consulates and representatives in the Kurdistan Region has exponentially increased.
There are 38 foreign consulates and representative offices in the Kurdistan Region, a semi-autonomous federal region in Iraq. Seven of the consulates are honorary.
Editing by Nadia Riva