EU to Open Humanitarian Office in Kurdistan

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The European Union is opening a European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil.

The decision came as a senior European Union (EU) delegation met with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.

The EU delegation announced it would open the ECHO office in Erbil during the next few weeks.

It said the office would focus on cooperating and assisting refugees in Kurdistan, both those from the war next door in Syria and internally displaced people (IDPs) from the rest of Iraq who have resettled in the autonomous Kurdistan Region in the north.

According to the KRG, nearly a half-million refugees have resettled in the Kurdistan Region, which consistently complains it does not receive as much attention and international assistance for its large efforts as do neighboring countries.

The European delegation included Christian Barker, the special representative of the EU for foreign affairs, EU ambassador to Iraq Jana Hybaskova and a number of advisers and officials.

Both sides discussed the upcoming Iraqi elections, and particularly the Kurdistan Region's provincial elections. The visiting delegation reaffirmed the EU's full commitment to supporting the election process.

The delegation said the EU would send a special team to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to help prepare and monitor the elections process.

In addition to the Iraqi legislative elections, the Kurdistan Region will hold its provincial elections on April 30, the first in nine years.

Barzani welcomed the EU initiative and described the decision as significant.

The war in Syria was also among the topics discussed, and the EU delegation thanked the Kurdistan Region in hosting tens of thousands of refugees from the Syrian war, providing them with shelter and humanitarian assistance.