ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Canada has established a business council to serve as a “catalyst” for strengthening economic cooperation with both Baghdad and Erbil, serving as “a catalyst” to enhance bilateral collaborations, the Canadian ambassador to Iraq said on Monday. “We see the creation of this council as incredibly important. Canada, Kurdistan, and Iraq in that matter have a long and excellent relationship. We think this will serve to further strengthen that relationship, so we are really happy about it,” Canadian Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Boehm told Rudaw on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Canada-Kurdistan-Iraq Business Council. “I don’t think we fully realize the commercial potential between our countries,” he said, emphasizing that the council will serve ’’as a catalyst” for enhanced cooperation between the Kurdistan Region and Canada. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been stepping up efforts to diversify the economy by strengthening the private sector. In recent years, the KRG has worked to improve infrastructure, support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and promote entrepreneurship across the Region. “20 percent of total investment is foreign, where the total size of investment in the Kurdistan Region is 73 billion dollars, and we are trying to make it more,” Mohammed Shukri, Chairman of the Kurdistan Region’s Board of Investment, told Rudaw. Shukri added that foreign investors are active in sectors such as health, education, technology, industry, agriculture, and tourism, though oil and gas remains the dominant field. Foreign investors now ”have their eyes on working outside their country, and this is a good opportunity for us as the Kurdistan Region, where investment opportunities are many, and we can show them and coordinate more,” Shukri said. The Canada Kurdistan-Iraq Business Council is expected to create a broader and more effective gateway for commercial activity and investment between Canadian investors and their counterparts in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Canada is a member of the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), which was formed in 2014 after the radical group gained control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land. Canada in April closed its office in Erbil, months after announcing plans to end the mission, citing changes in Iraq’s security landscape and the defeat of ISIS amid ongoing progress toward stability. Ranja Jamal contributed to this report.
