ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Former French President Francois Hollande arrived in Erbil early on Monday to take part in Shifa Gardi International award ceremony.

Hollande was received by KRG Interior Minister Karim Sinjari, Erbil Governor Nawzad Hadi, and Rudaw Media Network CEO Ako Mohammed.

Hollande will be the keynote speaker at a ceremony on Monday night in Erbil.

Earlier in the day, he will tour war-torn Mosul. The city, the second-largest in Iraq, is currently rebuilding. In the summer of 2014, ISIS declared its so-called caliphate in Mosul.

Hollande's visit is upon an official invitation from the Rudaw Media Network for a recognition ceremony for Gardi, a Rudaw journalist who died while covering the ISIS conflict in Mosul. 

Rudaw has established the Shifa Gardi International Award in her honor and as a tribute to all journalists who have died in the line of duty.

The French have been a vital member of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and provided the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga with material support, while advising training, and assisting its soldiers.

During his tenure as president as the world fought against ISIS, Hollande visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region twice. His first visit was in September 2014 and the other in February 2017.

France’s relations to the Kurdistan Region date back to the establishment of the no-fly zone in 1991 under the late French President Francois Mitterrand.