Presidency of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

President Nechirvan Barzani receives new head of Japan’s Consular Office in Erbil

2020-07-23T11:27:17.000000Z
International relations
Erbil, Kurdistan Region, July 23, 2020

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani received the new head of the Consular Office of Japan in Erbil, Ms. Nagayama Yoshiko and her accompanying delegation on Thursday.

At their meeting, President Nechirvan Barzani welcomed Ms. Yoshiko to the Kurdistan Region, congratulated her on her new mission and wished her success in her new duties. The President also expressed the Kurdistan Region’s willingness to further advance relations with Japan at all levels and reiterated the Kurdistan Region’s readiness to welcome Japanese investments.

The President thanked and appreciated the government of Japan for the contributions of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which has long been operating in the Kurdistan Region. The President also expressed gratitude to the government of Japan for offering humanitarian assistance to the refugees and the displaced people and for providing loans to the government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

On her part, Ms. Yoshiko thanked the President for the reception, and expressed her full support towards further strengthening ties between Japan and the Kurdistan Region. Ms. Yoshiko also vowed to encourage Japan’s NGOs and private sector companies to look to the Kurdistan Region and reiterated Japan’s support for stability in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

The two sides also shed light on the latest developments in the wider region, the importance of the Kurdistan Region for the stability of Iraq, confronting terrorism, COVID-19 pandemic and its implications.