Chinese diplomat meets Kurdistan Region PM, says Beijing wants to increase investment in Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a meeting on Sunday with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, the Chinese Consul General in Erbil, Ni Ruchi, expressed his desire to develop Chinese investment in the autonomous Kurdistan Region. 

During the meeting in Erbil, both sides discussed bilateral relations between the Kurdistan Region and the People’s Republic of China as the Chinese Consul General underlined “the great interest” with which his country views the Kurdish region, a statement from Barzani’s office read.  

Ruchi also told Barzani that China had urged its companies “to invest in the region in various fields,” it said.

“The Chinese Consul General confirmed that Peking University will open a Kurdish language department and that a Chinese language department will be opened at Salahuddin University,” the statement added.  

For his part, Prime Minister Barzani “thanked the People’s Republic of China for its interest and willingness to strengthen cooperation with the [Kurdistan] Region.”

China opened its Consulate General in Erbil on Dec. 30, 2014, at a time where the so-called Islamic State was on the rise in northern Iraq.

Diplomatic relations between Iraq and China were established on Aug. 25, 1958. The relationship went relatively smoothly for decades but was complicated by the Gulf War in 1991 and then again during events leading up to the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. Relations stabilized in the years that followed and have continued to grow.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany