Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kostas Fragogiannis meets with Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Begard Talabani (Athens, 27.01.2022)

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy and Openness, Kostas Fragogiannis, welcomed today, Thursday, January 27, 2022, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Begard Talabani. Ms Talabani is on a three-day working visit to Greece, accompanied by Deputy Head of the Department of Foreign Relations of KRI, Daban Shadala.

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary General for International Economic Affairs and Openness, Ioannis Smyrlis.

The discussions centered on the prospects of strengthening Greece’s bilateral cooperation with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, through the increase of trade in goods and services, with Deputy Minister Fragogiannis expressing both the Greek government’s and the Greek companies’ willingness and readiness to actively contribute to the development and reconstruction of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The officials of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq stressed the need for foreign direct investment in critical sectors, including industry, conveying the local government’s commitment to establishing an adequate legal framework and creating opportunities for foreign companies.

For his part, Mr. Fragogiannis expressed Greece’s readiness to provide development assistance to Iraqi Kurdistan, both bilaterally and within international organizations, while he committed to organizing a targeted business mission to Erbil in the near future as soon as conditions allow it.

In the course of her visit to Greece, Ms. Talabani also met with the leadership of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food as well as the Ministry of Environment and Energy.