Tammy Ames, head of Office of the Embassy of Canada to Iraq in Erbil on February 19, 2024. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Canada has “fantastic” ties with the Kurdistan Region and wants to strengthen its economic collaboration with the Region, said the head of the Canadian mission in Erbil on Monday.
“Today we are celebrating ten years of Canada being present in the Kurdistan Region. It is a fantastic milestone for us, ten years. We hope ten years and many after that. So it is a special day for us to celebrate this with all of our friends and key contacts here,” Tammy Ames, the head of Office of the Embassy of Canada to Iraq in Erbil, told Rudaw’s Ranja Jamal.
“Canada has a fantastic relationship with the Kurdistan Region. We have people to people ties. We are very much on the same page with a lot of political issues. Economically we think we can do better. We think there are a lot of opportunities for companies to collaborate more and find partners in the Kurdistan Region. And that is something our ambassador is really focused on for our next year,” she added.
Canada is a member of the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), which was formed in 2014 after the radical group gained control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land.
“Militarily we are certainly less active now than we were during the height of the fight against Daesh but we still have our military here,” Ames noted, expressing appreciation for the “very good feeling towards the Canadian military” present in the Region. “We hope to see more collaboration between Canada and the Kurdistan Region,” she added.
In September, Tom Kmeic, a Canadian MP of the Conservative Party and Co-Founder of the Parliamentary Friends of the Kurds group in the Canadian parliament, visited the Kurdistan Region with a delegation of Canadian MPs and commended the Region as a beacon of safety and stability, explaining that his party aims to expand the Canadian representation in Erbil to a consulate if it emerges victorious in the next Canadian elections.
“We chose Kurdistan because it is important to us. We have Kurdish diaspora members in our community who really care about this region,” Kmeic told Rudaw at the time.
In December of 2021, the Canadian embassy in Iraq provided assistance to 7,500 victims of floods in Erbil and Kirkuk by granting “a contribution” to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help the victims.
“Today we are celebrating ten years of Canada being present in the Kurdistan Region. It is a fantastic milestone for us, ten years. We hope ten years and many after that. So it is a special day for us to celebrate this with all of our friends and key contacts here,” Tammy Ames, the head of Office of the Embassy of Canada to Iraq in Erbil, told Rudaw’s Ranja Jamal.
“Canada has a fantastic relationship with the Kurdistan Region. We have people to people ties. We are very much on the same page with a lot of political issues. Economically we think we can do better. We think there are a lot of opportunities for companies to collaborate more and find partners in the Kurdistan Region. And that is something our ambassador is really focused on for our next year,” she added.
Canada is a member of the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), which was formed in 2014 after the radical group gained control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land.
“Militarily we are certainly less active now than we were during the height of the fight against Daesh but we still have our military here,” Ames noted, expressing appreciation for the “very good feeling towards the Canadian military” present in the Region. “We hope to see more collaboration between Canada and the Kurdistan Region,” she added.
In September, Tom Kmeic, a Canadian MP of the Conservative Party and Co-Founder of the Parliamentary Friends of the Kurds group in the Canadian parliament, visited the Kurdistan Region with a delegation of Canadian MPs and commended the Region as a beacon of safety and stability, explaining that his party aims to expand the Canadian representation in Erbil to a consulate if it emerges victorious in the next Canadian elections.
“We chose Kurdistan because it is important to us. We have Kurdish diaspora members in our community who really care about this region,” Kmeic told Rudaw at the time.
In December of 2021, the Canadian embassy in Iraq provided assistance to 7,500 victims of floods in Erbil and Kirkuk by granting “a contribution” to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help the victims.
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