Austrian chief diplomat to visit Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg is set to visit the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday afternoon, following his trip to Baghdad, where he inaugurated his country’s embassy.

Schallenberg is expected to meet with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani during his stay in the Kurdish region, where they are expected to discuss bilateral relations.

The minister on early Tuesday inaugurated the European country’s embassy in Baghdad following decades of closure.  

This is the first official visit by the Austrian chief diplomat to Erbil, where the country had maintained a commercial office.

However, although Vienna does not have a diplomatic presence, the country enjoys a close relationship with the Kurdistan Region. In Dec. 2006, the country’s Austria Airlines was the first European airline to operate direct flights between Erbil and Vienna.

PM Barzani in February 2022 received at least two Austrian top diplomats, including head of the Middle East and North Africa section at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the country’s ambassador to Iraq and Jordan at the time. In the meetings, the Kurdish leader and Austrian diplomats underlined the issue of illegal migration to Europe.

The Austrian diplomats, in turn, expressed their willingness to develop trade and investment ties with the Kurdistan Region, per a release at the time.