Masrour Barzani says its ‘delightful’ that new US administration is ‘seasoned and informed’ about Iraq, Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a meeting with a top US diplomat on Thursday, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced that it is delightful that the newly-inaugurated US administration is “seasoned and informed” about the affairs in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, according to a statement.

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s remarks came during a meeting with the US Ambassador in Iraq, Matthew Tueller, and his accompanying delegation, which included the US Consul General in Erbil, Rob Waller, in which the bilateral relations between the Kurdistan Region and the US, Erbil-Baghdad talks, the upcoming Iraqi elections, and more was discussed, according to a statement from the PM’s office.

“It is delightful that the new US administration is seasoned and informed about the affairs in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” Prime Minister Masrour Barzani told the US delegation, according to the statement, adding that the Kurdistan Region is ready to “work and cooperate to strengthen and improve relations with the US in all fields.”

On Wednesday, Barzani offered his congratulations to Antony Blinken, who was confirmed a day earlier by the US Senate as America’s next Secretary of State. The Kurdish leader previously extended his congratulations to newly-inaugurated US President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris.

According to Wednesday’s statement, both sides also discussed security cooperation to confront “terrorism and its implications” as well as in the political and economic fields.

Biden will be the first US president who, as he assumes office, knows the Kurdish leadership having met with them in Washington, as well as Erbil, which he visited in December 2002, when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and as the US prepared for a war with Iraq that would begin a few months later, in March 2003.

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Editing by Karzan Sulaivany