Armenia aims to boost economic ties with Kurdistan Region: Official ​

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Armenia sees great potential in strengthening economic ties with the Kurdistan Region, an official told Rudaw on Saturday as the trade record between the two reaches about 50 million dollars in the first three months of the year.

Armenia is on the path to strengthening ties between Armenian and Kurdish businessmen, Armenia’s deputy minister of economy Armen Arzumanyan told Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtyar in Yerevan on Saturday.

Speaking at an economic conference, Arzumanyan said such events are to “introduce Armenian potential and to bring Armenian businessmen under the same roof with Kurdistan’s business people.”

"The potential is very big, and we do believe that we can develop this potential."

Armenia and the Region are looking to boost economic cooperation. The Kurdistan Region, which remains the relatively prosperous and stable portion of war-torn Iraq, has attracted many multinational corporations that have invested in energy, construction, and tourism.

Trade between Yerevan and Erbil in 2021 was around 180 million dollars, Arzumanyan noted adding that the trade record in the first three months of the current year has increased compared with the previous one.

The Constitution of the Kurdistan Region recognizes Armenians as an ethnic component, provides the right to mother-tongue education in the Armenian language, and reserves one seat in parliament for Armenians. 

Over 2,000 Armenians live in the Kurdistan Region, Yerwant Nisan, an Armenian community leader, and a former MP in the Kurdistan Regional Parliament said last year.