Prague eyes stronger trade and investment ties with Erbil, Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Czech Republic is seeking to expand its economic and diplomatic presence in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Czech Ambassador to Iraq Jan Snaidauf told Rudaw on Friday, highlighting new agreements and business opportunities in sectors ranging from energy and healthcare to agriculture and infrastructure.

Snaidauf emphasized the positive developments in Iraq over recent years stating, “We have seen the country becoming stronger, more stable, peaceful, and prosperous. The trend is really positive,” he said.

He further noted that Prague views the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as “an important partner.”

The ambassador also welcomed the recent resumption of Kurdish oil exports following a tripartite agreement struck Monday between Erbil, Baghdad, and international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Kurdistan Region.

“I certainly welcome this agreement and hope Iraq continues in this positive direction,” Snaidauf said, stressing that the accord “opens the door to more agreements, stronger cooperation, and increased oil revenues.”

According to Snaidauf, boosting economic ties is now a top priority. He noted that cooperation between the Czech Republic, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region spans several key sectors, including agriculture, infrastructure, defense, and healthcare.

He also highlighted a new initiative focused on sharing expertise in modern agricultural techniques, such as vertical farming, to help address water scarcity challenges.

On the security front, Snaidauf acknowledged “major improvements” across Iraq and gave “special credit goes to Kurdistan and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, who were key in fighting [the Islamic State - ISIS] Daesh from the very beginning.”

He reaffirmed the Czech Republic’s commitment to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s security through its participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

The following is the full transcrip of the interview with Jan Snaidauf:

Rudaw: Let’s begin with the Iraqi electoral campaigns. Campaigning has begun amid the unique challenges Iraq and the entire region are facing. What is your opinion on the legislative vote?

Jan Snaidauf: I think this election comes at a very important time for Iraq because we have seen the country over the past years becoming stronger, very stable, very peaceful, very prosperous. I think the trend is really good and the hope is, I believe, that this election will confirm the trend. Whatever the next government, if the trend of improvements continues as we have seen it until recently, I believe that will be a good outcome. And I also believe that the complicated situation in the region should not be impacting the election of Iraq. It's Iraq itself, its own challenges, its own issues that should be the matter of the election, not the happenings around.

How do you view the recent resumption of Kurdish oil exports?

I believe this is a very positive development that the agreement was found between the parties. And with this, I think the relationships between players within Iraq, be it the state government, be it the government of the Kurdish region, are easier. It opens the door to more agreements. It opens the door to good work together. It opens the door to further incomes from the oil that is exported through the pipeline. So I certainly welcome this agreement and would only wish that Iraq continues in such positive things.

You mentioned Iraq earlier. How would you describe your relationship with Iraq?

The relationship between Czechia and Iraq is traditional, is long, goes back at least half a century, even longer. And I am very pleased to say that there was intensive cooperation between Czechoslovakia, my old country before the division, and Iraq. There was a lot of cultural exchange, there was a lot of business being done in various sectors such as water sector where Czech companies helped build some of the water infrastructure in Iraq. For example, in defense industry when Czech companies supplied Iraqi armed forces with guns and equipment. These are just some examples. Also in the oil sector. And my hope is that we will continue developing this relationship and right now we are at a very good stage. After the visit of His Excellency Prime Minister [Mohammed Shia’ al-] Sudani to Prague in February of this year,I am seeing a number of happenings. During the visit we signed an agreement on civil aviation, we signed several memorandums of understanding between
the government ministries. Right now we are negotiating an agreement on the protection of investments. We are negotiating an agreement on prevention of double taxation. So really, I think this is a positive time where our two countries are finding space, how to remove barriers, work together, and I think it will continue.

As you mentioned, you have a strong relationship with Iraq. How is your relationship with the Kurdistan Region?

The relationship between the Czech Republic and Kurdistan has been varied and intensive until now in various sectors. Much of what I mentioned before, the water infrastructure in the last century was actually done in Kurdistan as an example. But we have had also common projects in culture and historical heritage. The Citadel of Erbil, for example, some parts of it were reconstructed by Czech expert companies and healthcare and hospitals is yet another example.

My country was able to provide equipment devices to a number of hospitals in federal Iraq and Kurdistan, which I think is a very meaningful thing to do and we would like to continue also in this sector in healthcare to develop our relationships. Of course the Czech Republic has a representation directly in Kurdistan, in Erbil, it's our consulate general which is responsible for Iraqi Kurdistan and has direct contact with various players on the ground here in Erbil as well as Suleymaniya and the other cities. And we will have a new Consul General incoming this year in November. And I will very much encourage him to be very active with the Kurdish partners from the start.

Do you hope to expand your country’s consulate in the Kurdistan Region?

Yeah, the head of the consulate is incoming, the new one, in November, and indeed we will be developing the relationship between our country and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Regarding visa issuance to the citizens of Kurdistan, what facilitations do you offer and are there additional plans to ease the process for tourist and business visas?

Yes, of course. The Consulate General is responsible for issuing visa to Kurdish people. There is a fixed procedure which cannot be circumvented. It always requires proper documentation. It's a proper process, but we take very good regard in that respect to our mutual interest. So those applicants for visa who want to come for business matters to my country, have invitations from business partners and so on, for them by definition it's highly likely that they will obtain the visa and go. So once again, while we have applicants who apply for touristic purposes, which we welcome, as well, there are many who apply for business purposes and there we are even more inclined to grant the visa seeing the mutual interest in those business relationships. But once again, the process is fixed and the requirements cannot be circumvented for issuing the visa. And this is true for all the countries of the European Union because we share the same process for issuing the visa.

The Czech Republic is focusing on economic diplomacy in the Kurdistan Region. How do you define economic diplomacy in this regard?

I understand the diplomacy of myself and our embassy in Baghdad as doing really the facilitative work, so helping with establishing connections between Czech companies, Czech business operators and those in Iraq. We already have had some good developments. For example, a business delegation visiting Iraq earlier this year for the energy exhibition in Baghdad. I hope to see more business delegations coming to the country in various sectors and we of course also welcome the interest on the Iraqi side to go with a business delegation to our country to establish the connections.

There are already in several sectors very strong existing relationships. I can repeat those sectors. It is in the petrochemical industry where several Czech companies share in developing projects for oil refineries and their construction. It is in healthcare, indeed, where we have been supplying equipment to the hospitals.

Have any agreements been signed as part of this effort? Are there plans for more agreements in the near future?

In the health sector, I think we are planning. In the defense sector, some agreements are right now being established. In the petrochemical sector projects are already ongoing, so the scene is really varied. I'm very happy that things are happening, but it could be more. It could be more and Czech companies can offer very high quality of service, very high quality of products. And the tradition that we share with Iraq from the past, I think is per se a sign that we have a lot of potential for the current time as well.

Why is the economic sector a focus area for the Czech Republic in Kurdistan?

No, no, I think our focus is comprehensive, so we maintain political relationships. Just myself now, during my visit to Kurdistan, in Sulaimani and in Halabja. In Erbil I was already before, so I saw a number of partners at the political level, the local administration level. I saw and discussed with partners from civil society, of course also from the Chamber of Commerce. So it's not business only, not at all. We really see Kurdish region and the Kurdish government as an important partner and develop relationships at all levels. But the main institution on our side is the Consulate General in Erbil, which is a permanent presence. For myself, it's only the repeated visits that I come to Kurdistan, which I very much like.
But I am not able with my embassy in Baghdad to be so much present here.

The Czech Republic has strong expertise in water management, agriculture, and renewable energy. How do you plan to transfer this experience to Kurdistan?

Thank you very much for the question. I think this is a very, very important field also given Iraq's challenges and climate change and lack of water. Agriculture is of course crucial and we have developed a project with one foundation in Baghdad to share experience, bringing our university experts and some very specialised companies for discussions into Baghdad to exactly develop discussion on new ways of agriculture. There are several very innovative models of how agricultural products could be treated. You may have heard about the concept of vertical agriculture and other things. So this is all things that we would love to discuss with Iraq, share with Iraq and possibly for future find business opportunities. I also want to mention of course that we have been providing some assistance to Iraq in various sectors so that we can be useful in this country.

Kurdistan and Iraq are experiencing extreme climate change impacts. Other countries focus on creating more green spaces. In this regard, what project do you have for Iraq or Kurdistan Region?

Again, we recognize that this is very crucial and Iraq is in a place where the climate change is directly impacting people. So we are looking for opportunities also in Kurdistan to work together. I mentioned what we have been planning in Baghdad actually to develop a proper discussion on what solutions are there in the arid conditions in terms of agriculture and greening and so on. Right now we have not had a project in Kurdistan yet, but I think this is the field where we will be looking for to develop a concrete cooperation in the coming years.

Regarding trade between the two countries, what are the main exports from the Czech Republic to Iraq?

Our exports to Iraq are in machinery, some machinery parts. I believe this is the biggest. By the way, Czech companies have also a very traditional history of producing things like agricultural machines like transport vehicles, trains and trams for cities and so on. So yes, machinery is the biggest part. What's also included is the healthcare technologies and healthcare devices. I think that's the two biggest things. In some years, defense industry products military vehicles, equipment or weapons were a big, big part, but that's not every year. That depends on on when the opportunity is there and when agreements are made. I can quote one example. Some years ago, we provided the Iraqi Air Force 12 subsonic airplanes, for example, which are in use until this day. 

During the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), the Czech Republic supported the Kurdish Peshmerga as part of the US-led coalition. In your view, does ISIS still pose a threat to Iraq?

We have seen much improvement in Iraq in terms of security. We know that it is too early to say that the Islamic State (Daesh) is completely eradicated, yet we know there are some remnants. But the change has been immense and I want to congratulate Iraq on this, that it is now a really much more stable, peaceful, safe and secure country than it was before. Special credit going back to the years of the fight against Daesh belongs to Kurdistan, belongs to Kurdish forces, to Peshmerga forces, because they were a key force that helped from the very start helped prevent the spread and conquer by ISIS, by Daesh, and we cherish that. That's fantastic. The Czech Republic has been involved in the coalition against Daesh with some personnel remaining in the coalition until today, while also being part of the NATO mission in Iraq, the NATO Alliance, which helps modernize and transform and train the Iraqi armed forces to be even more capable to fight Daesh and similar threats on their own and with our support. So I think this is yet another aspect of a very close relationship that we share with Iraq and that is in the interest of us all. Stable, peaceful and prosperous Iraq is essential for Iraqi people and Kurdish people. And it's also essential for security of the broader region and globally, including my own country.

How many military advisors does the Czech Republic currently have in Iraq? 

This time it's 10. It's 10 through the NATO mission and through the coalition. It is a small group. 

How many advisors are in the Kurdistan Region?

To my knowledge, all of them are in Baghdad right now, but with the transformation of the anti-ISIS coalition with the move to Erbil, I think part of our group will come along to Erbil, but it is small numbers. Our whole group is 10 personnel, it's only 10, and some of them may be coming to Erbil. The final decisions have not been yet done.

What are your thoughts on the Peshmerga forces, especially regarding efforts to unify them?

Yes, we are aware there is a reform ongoing in the Peshmerga forces, capacity building of their capabilities but also organizationally and with the aim of integrating them under the ministry of Peshmerga forces of the Kurdish government. This is a very good process to have them as one integrated force in Kurdistan and cooperating well with the Iraqi armed forces and not having them as two or more very autonomous forces in Kurdistan with little integration. We think that is not the way to go. The right way to go is to join them together.
In that way, they will also be the strongest and best capable to fight the enemies, whether it is Daesh or somebody else.

What are the Czech Republic’s future plans for supporting the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces?

We don't have capacity to provide a big program on our own as Czechia. Czech Republic is a mid-sized country which takes part productively and intensively in the programs that help Iraq. And we are happy that we work with allies. We work with the allies in NATO and with fellow members of the European Union. By the way, the European Union also has an advisory mission for Iraqi police and the Interior Ministry, which we support. But we are not developing a program on our own as the Czech Republic, because we don't think it would bring added value at this point in time.

That concludes my questions. Would you like to add anything else?

Well, thank you very much for having me on this interview. I cherish that, I appreciate that. I have known Rudaw as a very trustworthy media, already established well in Kurdistan and the whole of Iraq and actually globally with the offices you have. I find your reporting objective and high quality and I keep my fingers crossed that you stay on the Iraqi media scene as you are, that you develop further and that there are even more media with the same quality and trustworthy assets you have.

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