Barzani and Macron agree on the importance of protecting regional security and stability

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The President of the Kurdistan Region and French President agreed in a meeting Tuesday on the importance of a joint understanding to protect security and stability in the region, stressing the need for cooperation between the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army to prevent the Islamic State group from exploiting security gaps.

Nechirvan Barzani began a visit to France on Tuesday at the official invitation of his counterpart Emmanuel Macron. The Region’s president was accompanied by the head of the presidency office, Fawzi Hariri, and Falah Mustafa, head of the foreign relations department.

During the meeting, Barzani and Macron discussed the latest developments in Iraq and the broader region with both sides reiterating “the need to strengthen Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s ties with France in order to secure peace and security in Iraq and the wider region and to confront the threats of ISIS,” according to a statement on the Kurdistan Region presidency’s website.

Macron reaffirmed his country’s support for Iraq and the autonomous Kurdistan Region within the international coalition against Islamic State, and the visit by Pope Francis to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, "which President Macron described as an important event that the Pope reflected upon with joy,” with Barzani affirming that the visit “left a positive impact on all communities in the country.”

Barzani extended his gratitude and appreciation for the support and assistance of Macron and France to the people of Kurdistan Region during difficult times, expressing Kurdistan Region’s “readiness to work together with France and the international community in order to resolve the disputes in Iraq and secure peace and stability in the region,” the statement said.

The two also focused on the dangers of terrorism and the resurgence of Islamic State, and the importance of cooperation and coordination between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army in the areas of the constitutional Article 140 to avoid creating a vacuum for the terrorist group to exploit. 

The meeting also dealt with the latest developments of the outbreak of COVID-19 in France, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region, procedures to confront it, the conditions of displaced people and refugees in the camps of the Kurdistan Region.

Barzani and Macron shed light on the conditions of the Yezidis (Ezidis) in Sinjar (Shingal), the Christians in the Nineveh Plain, the upcoming Iraqi elections, and the internal conditions in the Kurdistan Region, the statement said.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly