UK values its ties with Kurdistan Region as ‘key partner’ in Middle East: Truss

This is the second letter that the newly inaugurated British premier has sent to top Kurdish officials recently.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani (left) walking alongside the then-UK foreign secretary Liz Truss in London, Sept. 16, 2021. (Photo: Kurdistan Region Presidency)
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani (left) walking alongside the then-UK foreign secretary Liz Truss in London, Sept. 16, 2021. (Photo: Kurdistan Region Presidency)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The United Kingdom values its relationship with the Kurdistan Region as a “key partner” in the Middle East, British Prime Minister Liz Truss wrote in a letter to President Nechirvan Barzani.

This is the second letter that the newly inaugurated British premier has sent to top Kurdish officials. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s office on Monday announced that the Kurdish official had received a letter from his British counterpart.

Truss “values her country’s strong relationship with the Kurdistan Region as a key partner in the Middle East,” a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency read on Tuesday.

The UK shares “mutual values and common priorities,” including security, counterterrorism, freedom of expression, and education, the premier said, adding London and Erbil will continue to work on these matters, per the statement.

President Nechirvan Barzani in late September attended the state funeral of late Queen Elizabeth II in London, where he conveyed the Region’s condolences on the passing of the longest-reigning British monarch.

Truss thanked Barzani for his participation at the funeral, adding she would be pleased to meet the Kurdish president in London again.

“I am glad our historic tie is stronger than ever,” Truss wrote in her letter to Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

In early September, President Barzani congratulated Truss for becoming the new British prime minister.