“I am proud to say that my government has approved the decision to open our consulate general in Erbil and I hope that this year I will be honored to open our diplomatic consulate, diplomatic mission in Erbil this year, and it will help us to develop our economic, cultural and humanitarian relations with the Kurdish region also,” Ivan Dovhanych told Rudaw’s Nalin Hassan.
Dovhanych said that the consulate general’s opening will make it “much easier” for the Kurdistan Region’s citizens to apply for a Ukrainian visa as residents will no longer be required to travel to Baghdad to apply.
On bilateral trade with Iraq, Dovhanych lamented that it decreased following Russia’s invasion.
“in 2021, before the full-scale invasion of Russia, our bilateral trade was around 700 million dollars,” he said, adding that the year after, “when full-scale invasion began, it decreased three times, around 200 million, something like that, or even more.”
However, trade between the two countries has slowly been increasing again.
“Now, I can proudly tell you that our business community, communities of both countries trying to continue their cooperation and now we estimate the trade value between our countries. I mean, in 2024 more than 300 million. So slowly but confidently really increasing our trade between Ukraine and Iraq,” he explained.
Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering a war that has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and displaced millions. The US and its allies have supported Ukraine with military aid and imposed sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, Moscow has strengthened its ties with countries such as China and Iran.
Despite various diplomatic efforts, including negotiations mediated by neutral countries, both sides continue to battle, particularly in eastern Ukraine.
