Minister Falah Mustafa welcomes new Italian Ambassador
Ambassador Marotti, who was on a three-day visit to the Kurdistan Region, explained to Minister Mustafa the importance that Italy attaches to Iraq and to the Kurdistan Region in particular. Ambassador Marotti stated, “We continue to work on upgrading the office here in Erbil and further developing our friendship and partnership with the Kurdistan Region.”
Minister Mustafa congratulated him on his appointment and assured him of the Department’s readiness to support his mission in Iraq. He said, “It is my pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). We are happy with the current level of diplomatic representation and we look forward to further developing these relations.”
The Head of Department of Foreign Relations also called upon Ambassador Marotti to encourage further exchange of visits between officials to help build on the already good economic, political and cultural activities. Ambassador Marotti said, “We will be working to expand the Italian Embassy Office in Erbil into a full-fledged Consulate General to ensure we can provide in-house consular services and promote trade, cultural and economic initiatives.”
Minister Mustafa said that the KRG appreciates the European Union's efforts at bringing the different parties in Iraq closer together. He added, “We want to benefit from the strategic relationship and the partnership and cooperation agreement that the EU has with Iraq.”
Minister Mustafa concluded, “We look forward to working together to further developing our relations. We hope that we can move to the next phase of this partnership where we can see more cooperation and there are many potential areas of cooperation particularly given the strengths of Italy in certain areas.”
Both sides also discussed the current issues between Erbil and Baghdad, the turmoil in the rest of Iraq as well as the ongoing situation in Syria and in particular the plight of the Kurds there.
