LONDON - The British Parliament’s influential all-party Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday announced it is to hold an inquiry into the U.K. government’s policy towards the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The decision reflects the growing profile of the autonomous Iraqi region, which has good relations with Britain, and its importance as a focus for trade and investment.
The committee wants to look into those issues, but it also wants to examine the implications for British foreign policy of Kurdistan’s relations with the rest of Iraq and with neighboring countries.
That will include looking at Britain’s role in building relationships with the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the rest of Iraq that would help realize the economic potential of both regions, and in the words of the committee’s brief “to strengthen security and democratic government in Iraq and the wider region.”
The parliamentary committee, which includes members of the ruling Conservative-Liberal coalition and of the opposition Labour Party, has responsibility for reviewing government policy on a range of foreign policy issues.
As part of the inquiry announced on Tuesday, the committee has invited written submissions from interested parties with facts or recommendations for inclusion in a final report to the House of Commons. The deadline for submissions, which can be made online at the www.parliament.uk portal, is March 28.
The foreign policy panel will be examining financial and other assistance being offered in Kurdistan by the Foreign Office and other British agencies to support the further development of parliamentary and governance capacity, democratic institutions, including a free media, civil society and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities.
It will also ask how the British Foreign Office is organizing its presence and resources in Iraq, in the light of the developing relationship between the Kurdistan Region and the rest of the country.
