Minister: Kurdistan and UAE need each other to face future challenges

DUBAI, UAE – The United Arab Emirates and Kurdistan Region share common principles and concerns and ties between them will be mutually beneficial to meet future challenges, said a senior official from the Emirates.

“We will need the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistan Region will need us because we have the same principles and concerns,” said Mohammed Gergawi, the UAE’s minister for cabinet affairs.

Speaking to Rudaw on the sidelines of a Government Summit in Dubai, Gergawi said that the UAE and Kurdistan should boost energy cooperation and tourism ties.

 “A key purpose of this summit is to show how we can create a smart government,” said Sama Marzouqi, who represents the UAE at the summit. “Our government is thinking ahead to two decades from now, in 2035, and the conditions we will be facing then,” she added.

A statement from the conference organizers said that the summit aims to discuss “governments of the future as well as the critical changes taking place at the global level in the development of government services.”

High-profile guests from 93 countries, including Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, are at the three-day summit, where thousands of policymakers and lobbyists from around the world are participating to discuss the new challenges ahead of modern governments.

Barzani is leading a large Kurdish delegation of ministers and decision-makers. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has struggled with better governance, including wiping out excessive, time-consuming bureaucracy.

 “The Kurdish delegation has actively participated in the seminars and workshops, which shows that the Kurdistan Region is interested in its own future and wants to know where it is heading,” Gergawi said after a meeting Tuesday between Barzani and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makboum, the UAE vice president and ruler of Dubai.

The UAE and Kurdistan already enjoy good relations, knotted through trade and direct flights by several airlines to Kurdish airports.