ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Britain is a partner of choice for Iraqi Kurdistan. That was the message by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Falah Mustafa Bakir, to the British trade mission visiting the region last week.
The mission included representatives of 50 British companies in construction, oil and gas, healthcare and service, next to 13 universities. The organizing Iraqi British Business Council (IBBC) called it “hugely successful.”
The success started in a diplomatic sense at the conference IBBC had organized with the Erbil Chamber of Commerce, where Falah Mustafa held the opening speech. He pointed to the long-standing relationship between the Kurds and the British, especially after Saddam Hussein put down the Kurdish uprising in 1991, and the British helped to establish a no-fly zone over Kurdistan.
“When people did not have any hope, the British played a major role,” he said. He called the mission “a sign of trust in the region.”
He mentioned the good political, cultural and business relations, and the fact that some of the British individuals involved from the beginning after 1991 now work in high positions in the Kurdistan administration. “We want Britain’s continued support to help building our nation, as we in KRG want to give the best services to our people. Britain is a partner of choice.”
When asked, the Ministry of Foreign Relations explained the title as being used for those countries the Kurdistan Regional government prefers to cooperate with, for its “favorite partners.”
“That is what we worked for,” was the reaction of British Consul General Hugh Evans during the conference. He declared to be “delighted” and mentioned an earlier conversation with the Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, who had said that the opportunities for British businesses “are only limited by the sky.”
Already British businesses are in the very top region of those active in Iraqi Kurdistan, only bypassed in number and business volumes by Turkish firms and investors. On the other hand, Kurdish businesses are starting to set foot in Britain as well. Mentioning this “two way street,” Falah Mustafa Bakir asked the consul general to lobby for a direct flight between Erbil and London so businessmen and investors will be able to take the fastest connection.
The members of the mission met in Erbil not only with representatives of government offices and companies working in Kurdistan. A delegation had come from Mosul to seek investment to build a new airport, a refinery and a power plant in the relative quiet left side of the Tigris that is mainly controlled by the Kurds.
Deputy Chairman of the Iraq Businessmen Union in Nineveh, Ali. M. Ali pointed out the need for foreign companies to make the plans and start the work. “The government in Baghdad is supplying Mosul with the money needed and we need the help.”
Because of the unsafe situation in Mosul, hardly any foreign firms are active there. Ali invited firms to come and talk, either in Erbil or in the safe, Christian areas under Kurdish safety control. He turned to the visiting British companies partly because of the involvement of the British with Mosul in the early years of the last century.
Although this initiative does not have a known outcome yet, all other facets of the visit were positive, said IBBC, for which this was the first mission organized to both Baghdad and the Kurdish Region. Spokesman Richard Crowe mentioned the positive influence of meeting both the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani on the accomplishments of the mission.
IBBC expects the contacts and promises made during the five-day mission to result in hundreds of dollars of business for British companies. At the same time the visit of the 13 British universities could lead to a further increase in the number of Kurdish students studying in the UK, which stands now at around 2,000 a year.
Some of the British universities have discussed partnerships with Kurdish universities. If these bonds are secured, that could even lead eventually to British students coming to study in Iraqi Kurdistan, the IBBC predicted.
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