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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Rome has upgraded its consulate in Erbil and enjoys “excellent” ties with the Kurdistan Region, Ambassador Maurizio Greganti told Rudaw.
“I'm very happy to tell you that our consulate has been recently upgraded to a consulate general because we thought we felt that this was the appropriate level for the relationship that we have with the Kurdistan Region. And the consulate general is very active, as you know, here, and the relationship is excellent,” the Italian ambassador to Iraq told Rudaw’s Nma Nabaz in an interview that aired on Friday.
He added that Italians and Kurds are emotionally very close.
Greganti noted that his country is helping Italian investment in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
“Our business is very active already. As you go through Erbil, you see so many, and Sulaimani, so many shops with Italian brands. And it's a pleasure for me as ambassador of Italy, of course,” he said.
“So the business is already doing a lot... but we are also trying, as a government, to help as much as we can to try to bring here Italian investment and facilitate the relationship between the Kurdish and the Iraqi businessmen with the Italian ones,” he said.
Italy is also a member of the global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), which was formed by the United States in 2014 when the group seized control of a swath of Iraqi and Syrian land.
“I think we did a great job. I mean, the Iraqi security forces, the Peshmerga, and all the other forces, and the international coalition worked very well in defeating ISIS, which is defeated today, as we all know,” the Italian ambassador said.
ISIS was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017.
“There are still some minor cells which are present in some parts of the country, but they are no longer a challenge to Iraq and to Kurdistan. They're still there. If they are still a threat, this is actually the work of the high military committee between the coalition to fight Daesh [ISIS] and the Iraqi security forces, the Iraqi military, including the Peshmerga,” he said.
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