British Consul General in Erbil: UK Should be ‘Partner of Choice’ for Kurdistan

Britain never turned away from the region, and never will, says British Consul General in Erbil, Hugh Evans. He talks to Rudaw about the strong British commitment to Iraq, his admiration for the fast development of the Kurdish Region and the British policy to also invite Iraqis to Britain. “It is a two way process.”

Rudaw: What is the significance of the fact that Erbil has a British Consulate General; what does it tell us about the relations between the UK and Iraqi Kurdistan?

Hugh Evans: Historically, we have close relations with Iraq, and the Kurds. The UK was part of the 2003 invasion and has been involved with Iraq ever since. Our office in Erbil was upgraded to a Consulate General in 2011. We hope to move to more permanent premises from the hotel where we are based now. A piece of land was donated to us in one of the designated diplomatic enclaves. We hope the construction can start there in the coming year and will be finished in 2015.

 

We want to build on our good relations with Kurdistan, which are cemented by the large Kurdish community in Britain. Many Kurdish politicians are British. We have growing business links: In 2009, we only had three British firms working here, there are now 112. As we expect the numbers to grow in the next four years, we have increased the size of our commercial team. I hope it will increase further, with more and more trade missions coming in, and more companies that visit individually.

Britain and British businesses are very serious about being here. I tell British businesses that when they come here, it must be for the long term.

Prime Minister Cameron’s business envoy Lord Marland recently visited Kurdistan. As he went back very enthusiastic, he really raised the profile. He made clear he saw the relationship with Kurdistan as very long term, for the next 20 or 30 years.

We don’t see any contradiction between our presence in Kurdistan and our strong commitment to Iraq as a whole. We support the territorial integrity and unity of Iraq. We do not want to choose between Baghdad and Erbil, even though I know Baghdad is playing that zero-sum game. It is a win-win situation if we have good relations with both, and if Baghdad and Erbil develop strong relations themselves.

We encourage businesses to look at the Iraqi market as a whole. We will never say ‘come here rather than there.’ Many businesses come to Kurdistan because they are interested in the benefits of the wider Iraqi market. Iraq will be a leading economic player in the Middle East, and an important partner for Britain. Our relationship with the KRG is part of that strategy.

Rudaw: What benefit do the ordinary people get from the UK Consulate General in Erbil?

 

Hugh Evans: We hope the Kurds see our being here as a symbol of the British commitment to the region, its development and its prosperity. We have strong educational links. Iraqis have traditionally gone to Britain to study, and now large numbers of Kurdish students come to the UK. Next to that, British universities want to form knowledge partnerships and a British private school might be set up here. The Chevening scholarship is available for three Kurdish students a year -- not many, but they are full scholarships, so relatively generous.

We support an annual British film festival, partly to nurture Kurdish talent. We fund projects on women empowerment and media freedom. Important is our support to strengthen the Kurdistan parliament. With the UN we coordinate the different foreign projects to support the parliament. We offered media training, helped with budget oversight and will support new MP’s by explaining to them how a parliament works.

Rudaw: Recently, Great Britain became one of the few countries offering Kurds the possibility to file for a visa in Erbil, instead of having to travel to a British embassy abroad. What is the background of this?

Hugh Evans: It is a core part of our strategy to broaden and deepen the relations, as we want the UK to be a partner of choice for Kurdistan. Britain is open for business, and we want to encourage Kurds to look at the UK. It is a two-way process.

We have a global policy to outsource the transaction processing part: Filing the visa-application, paying the fee, checking if all the documentation is there and sending it on. The decision is still made by our civil servants. As Iraq starts to normalize, we could normalize our services too, and in January we opened a Visa Application Centre in Baghdad. Iraqis can lodge the application in Iraq, but the decision is taken in Amman. Kurds could go to Baghdad too, but they asked us to open a similar centre here, which we did last September.

The feedback has been very positive, several hundreds per month use the service and we expect this to increase. People can book an appointment on the Internet. The fee is higher than before, because of the service fee of around 400 dollars for the company conducting the transaction process. That is not cheap, but the alternative of flying to Amman and staying in a hotel amounts to $2,000 and more.

 

Visitor numbers from Iraq to Britain are growing and the majority of those who applied got their visa. We share the concerns of other European countries that people abuse the visa regime, but our system should safeguard it, as we would never want to stop tourists and students from coming. And with prosperity rising, we have Kurdish companies coming to work in Britain. We recently had the first investment conference for Kurdish firms in Britain.

Rudaw: Looking at the shared past, for instance at Malik Mahmoud who in the twenties of the last century was a king under British rule until he continued his struggle for Kurdish independence, what responsibility does the UK feel for Iraqi Kurdistan in the present day?

Hugh Evans: Britain never turned away from this region and I don’t expect we ever will. Overall, when Kurds talk about our historical relationship, it is positive. We have close relations and want to make them even closer.

Kurdistan went through extremely difficult times. I am astonished at the progress that was made from an extremely low base, after a brutal dictatorship. Many of the people that are in power now were refugees. The ambition is really inspiring.

Kurds say they want a partnership with Arabs, I hear Arabs saying the same. To us, they have a shared destiny in the country. But in a modern democracy, people must decide and minorities must have the right to express their views.

Iraq has the potential to develop into a strong democracy. I was impressed by the way the recent elections were conducted. Even in a country that is suffering from terrorism, democracy is such a powerful idea that it can still strengthen and evolve.

 

Rudaw: What does the UK do to mediate between Kurds and Arabs in Iraq, and do the good relations with the Kurds play any role there?

Hugh Evans: We do not get involved in internal affairs of Iraq, unless we are invited. Of course we have been concerned about the tensions between Baghdad and Erbil. In our engagement with both sides we strongly support the dialogue and we were happy with the exchange of senior visits in recent months. We support efforts by anyone that can help bridge the differences.

Businesses should use Kurdistan as a gateway for the rest of Iraq. We realize there are political problems in the energy industry (with Baghdad threatening oil companies working in the south that they cannot work in Kurdistan too), and we want the two sides to make a long-term energy settlement. BP is working in Kirkuk; it is a private company, they make their own decisions based on their commercial interests and we respect that.

Rudaw: What do you think will be the effect on business if Kurdistan declares independence in the future, as the Kurdish president Barzani has hinted on in his speeches?

Hugh Evans: Nobody in the Kurdish leadership has said to me that they plan Kurdistan to be an independent country. At the end of the day it is a matter for the Iraqis to decide. We support the territorial integrity and democratic development of Iraq as a whole, but it is not something for us to decide.