Ties with Turkey important, strategic: Iraq’s KRG

<p>By Ali Mohamed</p> <p>ERBIL, Iraq (AA) – The prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) on Monday hailed ties with Turkey as &quot;important and strategic.” </p> <p>Meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Erbil, Nechirvan Barzani expressed his regional government’s readiness to help facilitate Turkish investments in the region, according to a KRG statement. </p> <p>He expressed the region’s people and government’s thanks to Turkey for supporting the region during its hardships, according to the statement.</p> <p>In their meeting, Barzani and Cavusoglu discussed boosting ties and trade between the KRG and Turkey as well as opening more border crossings and coordination in fighting terrorism, said the statement. </p> <p>The meeting also dealt with the situation in the larger Middle East region.</p> <p>The meeting was held in the presence of a number of KRG officials as well as Turkish Ambassador in Iraq Fatih Yildiz, Turkish Consul in the KRG Hakan Karacay, and Cavusoglu’s delegation.</p> <p>Cavusoglu arrived on Sunday in Baghdad and held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi as well as other senior Iraqi officials.</p>