Belgian trade delegation to visit Kurdistan

May 28, 2009 - 03:59:34 ARBIL / Aswat al-Iraq: An agreement was reached with Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht to send a trade delegation of investors to the Iraqi Kurdistan region to explore investment opportunities, the region’s president, Massoud Barazani, said on Thursday. “We consider this visit of paramount importance now that Belgium, the seat of the European Union (EU), is enhancing its investment in Iraq,” Barazani said in a joint press conference he held with De Gucht, who had arrived earlier on Thursday in the Salaheddin resort city. For his part, De Gucht said, “We consider Iraq as a federal state; and that is how we paid a visit to the Kurdistan region”. “We work on increasing our diplomatic representation in Iraq but there are no plans at present to open a consulate in the Kurdistan region,” said the Belgian top diplomat. De Gucht had arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday morning (May 27) on a surprise visit to the country. He held a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari upon his arrival. The visiting minister also held meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani. AmR (P)