Erbil – The Foreign Minister of Kurdistan, Falah Mustafa Bakir, said to ANBA that Brazilian companies need to know the potential of the Iraqi region. "Distance is not a problem to the closer ties with Brazil. The first step is to bring embassies, consulates and commercial offices to Kurdistan," said Bakir, who met with ANBA at the Foreign Ministry, in Erbil.
In 2003, after the war, the situation in the Iraqi region started improving and attracting several international companies, mainly from neighbouring countries, like Turkey, Iran and Lebanon, among other countries from the Middle East. "We must encourage private companies to come here for partnerships," said the minister.
According to him, the Brazilian sectors with the greatest potential in the region are food, agricultural technology, industry and tourism. "We want to establish relations with chambers of commerce and universities," said Bakir.
The minister pointed out the facility in the foreign investment law and the tax breaks for international companies. To have greater access to information, Kurdistan has created an Investment Council. According to Bakir, the region does not want to depend just on petrodollars, gas and water. "We want to diversify our economy," he finished off, mentioning agricultural activities as an example.
On being questioned by ANBA about the difficulty of the Kurdish language for generation of closer ties with other markets, Bakir said that this question is already being discussed in Kurdistan. He mentioned Sabis University, from Lebanon, present in Erbil, as the first international institution in the region. He also spoke about new Turkish and French universities and schools. "Language is very important. Here we encourage people to grow and learn new languages, we do not care about barriers," he said.
*Translated by Mark Ament
