“The air pollution issue used to be our very big headache in China. So we know that will impact the people's daily life. So we care very much about this issue. We wish to talk to the KRG government to see what we can do to help to reduce the air pollution,” Chinese Consul General Liu Jun told Rudaw on Sunday.
Liu said that one way China could contribute to reducing carbon emission is through introducing more electric vehicles which would benefit the Kurdistan Region’s future quality of air.
“Right now there are at least two Chinese companies have got a contract with local partners on building the solar power generators. That's good news - one in Sulaimani and the other in Erbil. That's the cooperation which we want to further promote for the clean energy development,” said the consul.
Erbil has one of the highest levels of air pollution in Iraq. There are several causes, most notably, plumes of smoke from electricity generators and the numerous cars using low-quality fuel.
Erbil governor Omed Khoshnaw in early April ordered 138 illegal refineries in the province to shut down, and granted legal refineries 10 days to abide by environmental regulations, in an attempt to improve the Kurdish capital’s decaying air quality.
The consul also mentioned that Beijing has been offering more visa services for the people of the Kurdistan Region since the start of 2024, adding that they are working on further expanding efforts to encourage tourism to China.
“Right now there are some restrictions, but right now we are expanding efforts to try to promote. So in the future, we wish to see that more and more tourists here from this Region - from in Iraq - go to China for tourism. That's something that we are working on,” he noted.
Bilateral trade between Iraq and China reached over $27.5 billion in the first half of the year.
Trade volume between Iraq and China was over $50 billion in 2023, Iraqi Ambassador to Beijing Shoresh Khalid said in May, predicting that the volume will exceed $55 billion this year.
Dilnya Rahman contributed to this story
