PM Masrour Barzani, Iraqi minister discuss linking Kurdistan Region to Iraqi provinces by railway

Kurdistan 24 2022/03/03 18:59

PM Masrour Barzani (right) during his meeting with Iraqi Minister of Transportation Nasser Hussein al-Shibli, March 3, 2022. (Photo: KRG)

Kurdistan Railway Project Railway Infrastructure Masrour Barzani Nasser Hussein al-Shibli

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani discussed connecting the autonomous region with Iraqi provinces and regional countries by railway with Iraq's transport minister on Thursday, according to a statement.

Barzani received Nasser Hussein al-Shibli, Iraq's transportation minister, and his accompanying delegation in Erbil on Thursday.

During their discussion, they highlighted cooperation on this project according to a statement from the prime minister's office.

The project's first phase would link Kurdish and Iraqi provinces by railway. Then, a "modern railway" would connect Iraq and the Kurdistan Region with the rest of the Middle East and beyond.

The officials also discussed increasing the number of domestic flights, which could foster trade and develop tourism and industries, the statement added.

Barzani and al-Shibli reiterated that the implementation of the projects has to be in the interest of all Iraq's components.

The railway project is currently in its "designing" phase, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Transport and Communications Ano Jawhar told Kurdistan 24 on Thursday.

The map of a railway system designed to connect the Kurdistan Region's provinces to federal Iraqi provinces, March 3, 2022. (Photo: KRG)

In early February, the Kurdistan Region signed a memorandum of understanding with the German railway giant company Deutsche Bahn.

The Kurdish provinces of Iraq were connected to the country's center and south by rail until the 1980s. A new railway system would be the first such project under the autonomous government.