SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdul Aziz al-Thani has invited Kurdistan Region’s President Nechirvan Barzani to pay a visit to Qatar, according to the Region’s presidency.
Barzani met with Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani who visited the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday.
Both sides discussed relations between Iraq, the Kurdistan Region and Qatar as well as investment for Qatari businesses in the Region and Iraq, according to the president’s office.
“The peace and stability and the investment laws in the Kurdistan Region support the private sector and Qatari investments in the Region and Iraq,” Barzani said.
He also welcomed a decision to open a Qatari consulate in Erbil, seeing it as a “further step” to strengthen ties between the Region and Qatar.
“The President accepted a formal invitation by His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdul Aziz al-Thani, the Prime Minister of Qatar to visit Doha,” the Region’s presidency said.
It was the second visit of the Qatari minister to the Kurdistan Region. In January 2020, Sheikh Mohammed visited Erbil with a team of investors to discuss options to improve trade and business relations between Qatar and the Kurdistan Region.
Sheikh Mohammed also visited Baghdad on Wednesday. He met with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
He handed the Iraqi president an official invitation letter from Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to pay a visit to Doha, according to the Iraqi presidency.
In his meeting with Kadhimi, Sheikh Mohammed expressed Qatar’s readiness to support Iraq in various fields, the Iraqi prime minister’s office said in a tweet.
He added that the state of Qatar “is looking forward to receiving Kadhimi in Doha as soon as possible,” the premier’s office tweeted.
