Kurdistan
The Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani received Tom Tugendhat, the United Kingdom’s security minister, in Erbil on August 23, 2023. Photo: Office of the President
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Wednesday received Tom Tugendhat, the United Kingdom’s security minister, in Erbil, emphasizing the need for further cooperation between the two sides and announcing that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on combating the spread of drugs will be signed.
The Kurdistan Region’s internal issues, Erbil-Baghdad relations, and cooperation in various fields were addressed during the meeting between Barzani and Tugendhat.
“Both sides stressed the importance of joint cooperation between Britain and Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to decrease illegal migration and organized crime, and they agreed that regional joint assistance is needed and necessary steps must be taken. In that regard, an MoU was discussed which is set to be signed between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the British government” read a statement from President Barzani’s office regarding the meeting.
The two also discussed the Kurdistan Region’s delayed parliamentary elections, with the Kurdish President Barzani emphasizing that the Region is committed to carrying out the polls, as “the legitimacy of the Kurdistan Region comes from elections.”
Tugendhat arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, and discussing boosting bilateral cooperation in the fields of security, military, and combating terrorism.
In a press release, the British Home Office said that Tugendhat “made progress on negotiating a new agreement” with Baghdad and Erbil “to tackle serious organized crime, including organized immigration crime, human trafficking, and narcotics,” and added that Iraq and the UK will sign an agreement to tackle organized crime “in the coming weeks.”
“Iraq is a key partner in our fight against terrorism, as well as serious and organized crime. The Iraqi security forces are on the front lines of our fight against ISIS. Many of the criminal gangs who operate small boat crossings in the English Channel operate out of Iraq, which is why I’m working to with our partners in Baghdad to bring them to justice,” Tugendhat said.
The UK minister told Rudaw on Monday that they are looking forward to cooperate with the Iraqi government in combating the spread of narcotics, especially captagon, which has become more and more prevalent across Iraq.
Captagon is an amphetamine-type stimulant which has been spreading across the Middle East, with Syria as the main supplier and Saudi Arabia as the primary consumer.
Tugendhat said that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been trying to sell “misery” and “death” to Iraqi families through exporting captagon.
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