Masrour Barzani: Kurdistan can be an investment gateway for Iraq.
Masrour Barzani: Kurdistan can be an investment gateway for Iraq.
2025-06-10 05:35
Shafaq News/ Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said that the region can be an open gateway for investment to the rest of Iraq.
CNN reported in a video report, translated by Shafaq News Agency, that Erbil may not be as famous as Baghdad or historic Babylon, but it is certainly making a name for itself. It is “far removed from the country’s political turmoil” and is currently positioning itself as a “safe bet” with better investment laws and new infrastructure projects.
Asked whether the region saw itself as a separate entity within Iraq, Masrour Bazarani was quoted as saying, “We definitely have better conditions. We have better security. We have better infrastructure.” He added that the region may have started earlier than the rest of Iraq and that it was primarily focused on ensuring that corruption was addressed.
The report quoted the region’s prime minister as saying, “We are keen to ensure that things are going in the right way, and that is why I believe that Kurdistan is in a better position and can be a gateway to the rest of Iraq. Anyone who wants to come and invest in Kurdistan will have the opportunity to look to the rest of Iraq.”
After noting that the Kurdistan Region generated $12.9 billion in revenue last year, primarily from oil, the report noted that 2022 was expected to see greater reliance on oil, but a ban on international oil exports was imposed in March 2023, causing the regional government to lose more than $20 billion.
He continued by saying that the region recently announced energy deals with American companies worth $110 billion, but that Baghdad challenged the deals in court, raising doubts about the future.
In response to a question from CNN about the foundations of transformation the region is trying to achieve through digitization, governance, and economic resilience, Barzani said in the interview, “Our plan is to diversify our economy, to make sure we have different sources of income and that we are not solely dependent on oil. We have tried to look at how we can invest in agriculture and manufacturing in Kurdistan and how we can promote tourism.”
To achieve this, the US report stated, 121 projects were implemented in downtown Erbil over the past year, a beautification process in which $56 million was invested.
When Barzani was asked about foreign investment in the region and the parties involved, he said, “Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of foreign investment coming in, which is why we changed the investment law to make it more attractive to attract more investment.”
The report stated that this strategy appears to be successful, with the US government funding the restoration and renovation of Kurdistan’s pride: the Erbil Citadel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world.
The report quoted the director of antiquities affairs at the region’s Ministry of Tourism, Mohammed Lashkari, as saying, “The citadel is the first, or oldest, city in which life has continued to this day.”
The report concluded by noting that with teahouses, hotels, and restaurants planned for the site, it is not surprising to see the Kurds recovering from conflict, as they have done before, following the US-led invasion in 2003 and the eight-year war in Iraq.
shafaq.com
