KRG stresses ‘economic diversification,’ facilitates foreign investment: PM Masrour Barzani

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday stressed that his cabinet gives special attention to diversifying the region’s economy and facilitating foreign and domestic investments inside the region during his meeting with a top Spanish envoy to Iraq.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday stressed that his cabinet gives special attention to diversifying the region’s economy and facilitating foreign and domestic investments inside the region during his meeting with a top Spanish envoy to Iraq, according to a statement.

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s remarks came during his meeting with Spanish Ambassador to Iraq Juan Jose Escobar Stemman alongside his accompanying delegation in Erbil on Tuesday, in which bilateral ties between Spain and the Kurdistan Region were discussed.  

“The Kurdistan Region’s Ninth cabinet gives special attention to economic diversification, including the agricultural sector,” PM Barzani said, according to a statement from his office.

Moreover, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) provides “necessary facilitation” for “domestic and foreign investors” to work in the Kurdistan Region, Prime Minister Barzani added.

The Spanish ambassador in Iraq, for his part, expressed his country’s “willingness” to “develop trade ties and encourage Spanish investments in [the] Kurdistan Region,” according to the statement.

On Sunday, the top Spanish envoy to Iraq, in a meeting with the capital city Erbil’s governor Firsat Sofi, “proposed” turning Erbil and Malaga into “sister cities.”

Read More: Spain proposes turning Erbil and Malaga into 'sister cities'

The Spanish embassy has held several cultural events in the Kurdistan Region, including the flamenco concert held in Erbil and Sulaimani in November 2018.

The European nation is also a member of the US-led coalition against the so-called Islamic State, providing training and advising Iraqi forces in the fight against the terrorist organization.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany