KRG Premier Meets Envoy

The prime minister of Kurdistan Regional Government met the Iranian ambassador to Iraq on Tuesday to discuss promotion of mutual ties. Ambassador Iraj Masjedi visited Erbil to attend the Iran-KRG economic forum (held on May 2 and 3) while being welcomed by KRG premier, Nechirvan Barzani. “Expanding relations, either economic or cultural, was the focal subject in these talks,” IRNA reported, citing a report published by the prime minister’s office.  Other topics covered were, “increasing the presence of Iranian companies”, “negotiating the promotion of business cooperation and investing opportunities”, “removing customs restrictions” in order to boost production through turning to high-priority sectors.  Governors of Iraq’s northern provinces and officials with chambers of commerce are also attending the two-day event.  Tehran-Erbil ties were strained after the unconstitutional Kurdistan’s independence referendum last September. However, the relations are coming back to normal after the region backtracked on its secessionist claims and pledged it would respect the Iraqi constitution. Since May 27 and after a six-month suspension, flights between Tehran and Erbil in the Iraqi Kurdistan region have been resumed.