Minister Mustafa meets Swedish foreign ministry officials and MPs
During the two-day trip, Minister Mustafa met with Mr Björn Lyrvall, Political Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to discuss the political stalemate in Iraq and the regional impacts of Syria.
He also met Mr Peter Ericson, the Deputy Head of the Department of Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They discussed regional dynamics and historical ties between the Kurdish people and Sweden, which has welcomed many refugees from Kurdistan during previous conflicts and now has an active and politically engaged Kurdish Diaspora community. Currently six MPs in the Swedish parliament are of Kurdish origin. Sweden has an Embassy Section Office in Erbil, headed by Ms Louis Calais.
The aim of the visit, which was upon the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was to exchange views about recent developments in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and to share the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) view on Iraq's political process and the greater region.
Former Swedish ambassadors to Iraq, Mr Carl Magnus Nesser, and Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mr Niclas Trouvé hosted Minister Mustafa at a welcoming dinner.
Mr Robert Rydberg, the Head of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officially welcomed Minister Mustafa to Stockholm at a luncheon. The guests included officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Special Envoy to the Syrian opposition, Mr Jan Thesleff.
Minister Mustafa held meetings with members of the Kurdish community and MPs in the Swedish Parliament, including the Sweden-Kurdistan Network of MPs which is headed by Fredrik Malm MP.
On behalf of the KRG and the people of Kurdistan, Minister Mustafa thanked the Network for spearheading the recent move by the Swedish Parliament to recognise the attacks against the Kurds in Iraq as genocide and for their solidarity.
Mr Malm said, “We are friends of the Kurdish people and we follow the events closely, and our key objective is to support the self-determination of the Kurdish people.”
Minister Mustafa also met with the Swedish Living History Forum to explore how to further promote recognition of Kurdish history and the genocide.
He visited the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm to meet with the Iraqi Embassy’s Minister Plenipotentiary Dr Hikmet D. Jabo and its officials. Commenting on the cooperation between Iraqi embassies and the growing number of KRG representations, Minister Bakir said that it illustrated the new democratic and federal experience in Iraq. He said, "We have turned a new page in Iraq. There is good coordination between my department and the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign affairs.”
Following the meeting at the Iraqi Embassy, Dr Jabo accompanied Minister Bakir to the Iraqi Cultural Center.
Throughout his visit Minister Bakir was accompanied by the KRG Representative in Sweden, Mr Herish Khola, and the Head of the Swedish Embassy Section in Erbil, Ms Louis Calais.
