The new year began with a meeting last week by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

The Prime Minister and Crown Prince met in the emirate of Abu Dhabi to discuss regional economic and security issues. They emphasized the importance of strengthening relations between the Kurdistan Region and Abu Dhabi, and the United Arab Emirates and Iraq as a whole. The KRG and UAE have long had good relations and the visit was the latest iteration of that. We look forward to more exchanges between Kurdish and regional and international leaders in the coming year.

In Washington DC, our team has been reaching out to American and Canadian officials to discuss economic, humanitarian and security developments in Kurdistan and Iraq. I had the pleasure of meeting with Zehra Bell of the US National Security Council, Jennifer Gavito and Matthew Steinhelfer of the State Department, Consul General in Erbil Robert Palladino, and John Godfrey, the Acting Special Envoy for the Global Coalition. Recently, ISIS terrorists have stepped up their ambushes on the peshmerga and Iraqi security forces, and earlier this month, ISIS launched an attack and prison riot aimed at freeing ISIS terrorists from a prison in Hasakah, Syria. All of us in the Coalition remain vigilant and are as determined as ever to see the enduring defeat of ISIS.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Gregory Galligan, Canada’s next ambassador to Iraq, and Yves Duval, the top Canadian diplomat in Erbil. The United States and Canada are important partners to the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, and we are always pleased to discussion news ways of widening our relations.

In Erbil, Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, minds are focused on the government formation process after the elections last October to the Iraqi Parliament. Today, a high-level delegation consisting of Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, Mohammed Halbousi, Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, and Khamis Khanjar, Head of the Azm Coalition, arrived in Najaf to meet with Muqtada Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist Movement. They discussed the political situation in Iraq and the next steps in forming a new government. They noted the need to maintain peace and stability in the country and to deliver services and improvements to the public.

The next significant date in the political process is February 7, which has been set as the date for parliament to elect the next Iraqi president.

As we enter the new year, it’s worth noting that 2022 is the 30th anniversary of the first free and fair parliamentary election in the history of Iraq which were held in May 1992 in the Kurdistan Region. After decades of dictatorship, the people in Kurdistan were able to elect their representatives and set in motion steps that led to the formation of the Kurdistan parliament and Kurdistan Regional Government. The elections were possible thanks to the US-led no-fly-zone that protected Kurdistan. We look forward to marking the achievements of the past three decades.

Representative to the United States

Kurdistan Regional Government