Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks while addressing a meeting of the representatives from business companies of Iran and Erbil province which was held in Kurdistan Regional Government capital of Erbil on Tuesday.
“Iraqi Kurdistan is an important neighbor and we consider Kurdish brothers and sisters in Iraq and Syria as ourselves. We all are from the same origin and have gone through the same catastrophes.”
Zarif said that security is a collective issue in today’s world, recounting the Iran’s help to Iraqi Kurds in the fight against ISIL.
The top Iranian top diplomat further added that Iran firmly supports a strong KRG, welcoming the participation of the Iraqi Kurdish parties in the formation of Iraqi government.
Elsewhere, he referred to economic relations between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, saying “today I conveyed the concerns of the Iranian companies from the private sector to [KRG Prime Minister] and asked him to resolve these problems. The debts of Iranian companies are going to be resolved, and the economic relations between Iran and Iraq and the KRG will be seriously pursued.”
Zarif also said that he had suggested the KRG prime minister building joint industrial towns on the shared borders.
“We also discussed customs facilitation,” Iran’s top diplomat added, stating “there are good talks between Erbil and Baghdad, and these talks are going to lead to the development of economic relations.”
He reassured the Iraqi Kurds that Iran trusts the KRG, calling on them to trust Iran’s goodwill back.
The foreign minister went on to express hope that the Iran-KRG relations would further expand.
Heading an economic-political delegation, the Iranian top diplomat arrived in Baghdad on Sunday on a 5-day visit to hold meetings with high-ranking Iraqi as well as Kurdish officials in Erbil and attend trade meetings between the economic agents from the two countries.
KI/IRN83171559
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