Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani received Mr. Oskar Wüstinger, the Ambassador of Austria to Jordan and Iraq, in Erbil on Wednesday.

The meeting focused on old and friendly relations between the Kurdistan Region and Austria, mutual willingness to strengthen and expand ties in all areas, particularly in trade, job and investment opportunities for Austrian businesses in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

Ambassador Wüstinger expressed his delight with reconstruction and developments in the Kurdistan Region, and commended the role of the Peshmarga in defeating ISIS.

Discussions also shed light on the Austrian commercial delegation currently visiting the Kurdistan Region, accompanied by Ambassador Wüstinger, and their meeting on Tuesday with a number of entrepreneurs and businessmen in the Kurdistan Region. The delegation has expressed hope that Austrian businesses return to the Kurdistan Region following their meetings with business leaders, and surveying the investment and job opportunities in the Kurdistan Region.

President Nechirvan Barzani commended Austria’s friendship and support to the Kurdistan Region people and referred to Austrian aid, particularly in the 1970s when Austria was one of the first countries granting asylum to refugees from Kurdistan. The President also referred to the Austrian Airline’s direct flights between Erbil and Vienna as an important bridge connecting Kurdistan Region to the outside world.

Discussions also covered the activities of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s representation in Vienna, COVID-19 in Kurdistan and Austria and ways to confront its wider spread, the war on terrorism and the threats of ISIS, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s relations with the neighboring countries, and other topics of mutual interest.