ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – All activities of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s [KRG] Foreign Relations Department, including foreign representatives, will be reviewed in light of the financial crisis but no offices will be closed, according to an announcement issued by the department on Tuesday.
“We have to adapt ourselves to the financial situation of the government for now, and for this, we will go over the working procedures and composition of our representatives in other countries,” the statement reads.
The foreign relations department stated that there is no plan for closing international offices, “but there might be some changes in the activities, composition, number of staff and locations of the offices.”
On Monday, the KRG’s representative in Moscow, Aso Jangi Burhan, told Rudaw that his office had received no funds for eleven months and was facing closure.
The KRG has 14 foreign representative offices in Germany, Italy, America, Iran, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Russia, Poland, Australia, Sweden, Belgium, and Switzerland.
Representatives will remain in their offices to continue their work, the department’s statement confirmed.
“We also announce that the KRG has plans to open new representative offices in other countries to strengthen its ties with the international community.”
The Foreign Relations Department said that some nations had requested the KRG to open offices in their countries, “But this will be decided when the financial situation of the region is better.” The department did not provide details of which countries the KRG was considering sending representatives to.
Head of the department, Falah Mustafa, previously told Rudaw that the cost of the Region’s foreign representatives is $15 million.
The Kurdistan Region has been facing a severe financial crisis since 2014 as Baghdad has cut its share of the Iraqi national budget, the region is engaged in a costly war with the Islamic State, and is hosting nearly 2 million Iraqis and Syrians displaced by the conflict.
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