Italian FM in Erbil to discuss cooperation, fight against ISIS with Kurdistan Region president

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani welcomed Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio to his Erbil office on Thursday to discuss the development and expansion of cooperation of their two governments.

Di Maio was accompanied by a joint diplomatic and military delegation that included Italy's ambassador to Iraq and its consul general in Erbil, according to a statement from the regional president's office.

It explained that the Italian minister informed Barzani that, later in his trip, he would visit his nation's forces now in Iraq as part of the US-led Coalition to Defeat ISIS and pledged continued Italian support for the administrations in Baghdad and Erbil.

He also praised the role of the Peshmerga in the fight against ISIS and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for hosting large numbers of families displaced as a result of the conflict since 2014.

Di Maio also extended an invitation for the Kurdish official to visit Rome.

For his part, Barzani extended congratulations to the Italian diplomats, government, and people on the occasion of Christmas and the New Year, expressing the Kurdistan Region's thanks and appreciation for Italian support, training, and reform of Peshmerga forces.

In early November, Erbil Consul Michele Camerota pledged to Barzani that he would continue to develop and expand his country's relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Read More: Italy expresses interest in expanding cooperation with Kurdistan Region

Two months earlier in September, Italy provided Iraq and the Kurdistan Region with more than 100,000 coronavirus vaccines through the international distribution consortium known as COVAX.

Read More: Italy donates over 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Iraq: UNICEF

“Thanks to the Government of Italy for its donation of 100,800 vaccine doses to Iraq through the COVAX facility,” UNICEF representative Sheema SenGupta said at the time.