SULAIMANI (ESTA) — European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met with senior Kurdish officials in Erbil on Tuesday.
Borrell arrived in the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday afternoon and was welcomed by Kurdish officials at Erbil airport.
He held talks with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani during his visit.
The EU official arrived in Baghdad on Monday and met with senior officials including Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and President Barham Salih.
He discussed relations between Iraq and the European Union, climate change, and early elections scheduled for October 10.
A European source told Euro Efe that Borrell had asked Iraq to “permanently suspend flights” to Belarus and that Iraq had agreed to “cooperate closely on immigration issues”.
In August, Iraq suspended flights to Iraq after the EU accused Minsk of encouraging unauthorized arrivals of mainly Iraqi migrants in retaliation against EU sanctions.
Lithuania has seen an unprecedented spike of illegal migration in recent months, with over 4,000 people – mostly Iraqis – stopped after crossing from Belarus.
