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German FM arrives in Iraqi Kurdistan
18.2.2009
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February 18, 2009
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
arrived in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan on
Wednesday accompanied by his Iraqi counterpart
Hoshyar Zebari.
The minister was received at the Erbil airport by
Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and Head
of the Presidential Divan Fouad Hussein.
He will hold meetings with senior Kurdish officials
before opening the German consulate in the city.
“Steinmeier led a governmental delegation to open
the consulate in Erbil after holding a series of
successful talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad,” a
source from the German embassy in Baghdad told Aswat
al-Iraq.
German foreign minister
meets Kurdistan president, PM in Erbil
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on
Wednesday held a meeting in Erbil with President of
Iraq’s Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani and Prime
Minister Nechirvan Barzani.
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German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (R)
with Kurdistan PM Nechirvan Barzani at Erbil
international airport, Kurdistan region. |
“Steinmeir held a meeting upon his arrival in Erbil
with Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and Prime
Minister Negervan Barzani,” Aswat al-Iraq news
agency correspondent said.
“The meeting was attended by Iraqi Foreign Minister
Hoshyar Zebari,” he added.
The German minister will inaugurate a German school
and a consulate in Erbil during his visit.
Like
France, Germany was an opponent of the US-led
liberation of 2003. Steinmeier was chief of staff to
then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder when the war broke
out.
German companies have invested in large projects in
the Kurdish region, according to lawmaker Osama Al-Najifi,
who was a minister of industry in Ibrahim al-Jaafari's
government in 2006.
It was the first such visit by a German foreign
minister since 1987,www.ekurd.netthree
years before UN sanctions were slapped on Iraq.
Steinmeier is due to meet President Jalal Talabani
and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during his trip
in Baghdad, which comes exactly a week after a
surprise mission by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
aswataliraq info | DPA
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